Masters in the art of throwing away a lead

People say that when we play at the top of our game the football we produce is like art.

Yet this season the real art has been the creative way in which we have thrown away all manner of seemingly insurmountable leads.

The picture says it all

You name it, we’ve done it. We are the masters in the art of throwing away a lead.

The North London Derby was bad. The 4-4 at Newcastle was worse. The Carling Cup Final, well, that was just ridiculous.

Yet just when I thought we had done it all, Emmanuel Eboué dug deep into our bag of tricks and found yet another creative way to prevent us from winning a game.

When you win and convert a penalty to open the scoring in the 98th minute of a football match, you surely must win the game. Conceding an equalising penalty in the 102nd minute, with next to no danger to speak of, is surely taking the piss?

When Run of Play writer Supriya Nair wrote about football as comedy, she must have inadvertently been talking about Arsenal.

Mixing together the quality of the players in our squad, the expectation and ambitions that they harbour and the manner in which they have destroyed them, it is safe to conclude that this Arsenal side are the ultimate comedy team.

It’s also safe to conclude that we are no longer in the title race. Manchester United may drop points as the season goes on but a team like ours, who have found every way possible to not win games this season, will surely fail to close the gap.

We’ve improved immensely and come so close this season. Yet we remain so far away. So hilariously far away.

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Comments

  1. We’ve had some memorable scrapes with Liverpool in the past, but the team they put out yesterday was barely recognisable. This was such a massive embarrassment.

  2. the tide is turning against wenger and watching yet another Wenger inspired disaster and another cheating faking stupid contribution from that useless article Eboue it’s painfully apparent that we will lose on Wednesday and may not even finish second now. For the third consecutive home game Wenger has insisted in playing five in midfield who seem intent on making no effort to shoot, they together with the wasteful van Persie and a build up so slow the opposition can sit in deck-chairs smoking cigars waiting for us to arrive leads to no goal threat at all. Then Wenger throws a tantrum at the final whistle which makes him look more childish than usual, no wonder the likes of Eboue perform the way they do, all he is doing is copying the manager. The club are going nowhere, ownership unresolved, manager in denial, players who don’t care and supporters being fleeced for thousands that never get reinvested in the team. We are going nowhere.

  3. Until this cunt of a manager realises that we need fuckin leaders in the team we aint winning fook all. Im sooo praying this twat is shown the door at the end of the season or has some bit of shame to leave. Any more from this ignorant bastard who has ruined the clubs chances of a trophy and take the whole fckn load of these gutless mercenaries with you. End of rant

  4. The problem is with Arsenal is that we’ve lost that attacking edge. Seeing RvP isolated up front is painful.

    Even when we had to win it – to see Niklas Bendtner slot into the right of a 4-5-1 position AT HOME… is very bad tactics.

    Arsene has to do something about it – the team formation and personnel are simply just not working.

  5. I was brought up to believe that you get what you deserve in life and that while it may take years for what you deserve to arrive, it always will. This season, like the previous six, this Arsenal team and its manager will receive what they deserve, third place (if we are lucky). Yes, there were a few brief moments during the season when the more optimistic of us dared to dream that we might actually win a trophy this year, but then came the annual spring collapse and now (barring a miracle of the kind we simply don’t deserve) once again we are looking at an empty season.

    But sitting in the Emirates yesterday, I suddenly realized that truly this is what this team Arsene has built, merits. They are simply not-quite-good-enough, pretty much across the whole squad. With the honourable of exceptions of our three ‘World Class Players’ (Arshavin, Fabregas and Wilshere) this is a team of 85 percent men. Players who are just not-quite-good-enough to put the chances that fall to them in the back of the net or to defend sensibly or even to see our the final two minutes of a match we are leading. Players who don’t quite try hard enough or cannot quite muster enough self-belief. This is a team that consistently gets what it deserves, snatching defeat from the jaws of victory like yesterday, and Arsene Wenger has made it very clear that that is good enough for him.

    Previously I have been angered by the statements of what an achievement it is to keep qualifying for the Champions League and remain in the top four despite our lack of investment. But yesterday, watching players like Van Persie, Clichy and Eboue, it suddenly dawned on me that they would never win anything. Yes, there may be a false dawn or two each season (like the victories against Barcelona and Chelsea) but players of the calibre of Bendtner, Walcott and Song are simply not capable of delivering 100 percent, 100 percent of time. That may be good enough for Arsene his team of also-rans but its’ not good enough for me, I’m afraid and it should not be good enough for the Board.

  6. Firing Wenger will cost Kroenke 10 mil pound and he will never do that,it will be three more years of We have mental strength,we have learnt our lessens,Vermaelen etc will be a new striker,we believe in the believe of the believe,The pitch was unpayable etc.That is a comedy show i will turn off.

  7. I have managed to comfort myself by always betting against them now…they’re making me a fair bit of money too! To be fair, Vermaelen’s injury has been the biggest problem I think but 3 results stand out. Newcastle away, Spurs at home and now this one not to mention the joke that was West Brom home and away. Only Arsenal.

  8. so sad, but this article is so true….i don’t know if our defenders are dumb or just untalented ? Or we just happen to have the worst luck in the universe?…some of the lead arsenal wasted were just surreal…surely you don;t expect that from a club who trying to win a trophy…let’s hope the tide change sooon …..keeping the faith though…but gosh its a pain to be a gooner a times…

  9. Arsenal fucked up and Wenger fucked up as well. We shouldn’t blame Ebue but blame Wenger who didn’t allow them to shoot. we scored by their mistake and they equalized by a mere mistake
    Ebue tripped and collided with him. It wasn’t deliberate so we should not make him scapegoat. Why did we wait so long to get penalty?
    Wenger bringing Bendtner in my square peg on round hole. He didn’t add value. Was especting Song and Arshavin. Charmak would have performed better.
    Bendtner love top striking while charmak love playing from wing.

  10. arsene has gone bonkers. he is just playing with the emotions of fans. his tantrums and excuses cannot hide his own deficiencies. how a team can win with one lightweight striker rvp and five featherweight midfielders only arse can tell us. it was pathetic to watch a team challenging for title could not beat liverpool’s patched up unit with four players nobody heard off. I hope new owner kronke get this senile manager booted out and start afresh offloading shits like walcott (no doubt with a player like him england do not win anything) diaby, song, arshwin, bendtner, rosicky, clichy, squallachi, blunderbus almuniam and flapinski. sign players of quality of adams, lee dixon, vieria, bergkamp.

  11. this has to be the worst of them all, arsene is to be blamed for misleading this players and the club as a whole. how on earth can you instruct a team to dance around aimlessly in front of the opponents goal without attempting to shoot at goal. wenger had better admit he has failed woefully in the last 6 seasons or the board should boot him out

  12. I‎​ believe cesc fabrergas captaincy is up @ arsenal. If he does go..can we pls get joey barton with the money from his sale…

  13. The problem this season especially is the way we lost! yeah it’s comedy! yeah it’s bloody horror movie too! What is it in this team that is so negative? I wonder if some players wanna be an Arsenal player anymore. because if you do respect that crest on your shirt u will fight for it until the end (look at Jack, a real samurai!). the team has become superficial. Change is the only solution! I don’t think some player are showing enough quality and dedication to be on the pitch such as Bendtner, Denilson or my other fav. Rosisky. So glad that some are hurt! I’m a 100% sure we have better player in the youngster team then these guys. Something is going on behind the scene. the moral is low, I’m sure there’s some fighting. We are going no where if we stay like this. Now let’s see how many of our really good players are leaving us? leaving this mess, this cancer team!

  14. Watch the footage, Lucas ran into Eboue’s path. Simple as that. He looked for it. He got it. How many teams have beaten Liverpool under Dalglish? 12 out of 14 points, not bad for a team we should beat ‘easily’.

  15. Fabregas has been waiting to leave since last summer. He’s not trying at all.

    and really, they should have realized that same set play they keep trying to do isn’t going to work at least 6 games ago.
    Everyone already knows that trick, and knows how to defend it.

    Trying the same thing over and over and expecting a different outcome is insanity.

  16. Arsenal were labelled ‘boring Arsenal’ years ago. They now play boring ‘tippy-tappy’ football – gets ‘em nowhere and never will. Time AW changed his tactics and got the odd player or two who’s not frightened to test the goalkeeper.

  17. That’s all interesting points..I must say it is quite a heartache what happened yesterday. But Eboue cannot be blamed, fouls happen, and it is obvious that he did not commit the foul on purpose. Arsenal, as a whole, has been amidst the least of their performances. Good moments, yes. But more unfortunate or bad memories to recall.

  18. it is unbeleavable how they beat themselves again and again, how many times have there been foolish mistakes, can’t believe it, it really looks like some players are paid for to prevent Arsenal from winning,
    excellent expressed in your article, I don’t find any other words to express my stupefaction

  19. For the meantime,Arsenal don’t deserve to win championship title.All are in still horrible or rubbish sate.It’s sure to be a draw or lose but not a win.Now an American interesting in basketball,baseball &football only, will own Arsenal club.God saves our Gunners.

  20. Yes,,,,ARSENAL is a CIRCUS,,,We lose everthing in the last 15 minutes. Especially when we bring on Bendtner, Rather bring in Ashavin to partner Van Persie and Walcott, not a pansy like Bendtner. Wenger has a soft spot for him. He could have tried little harder and brought in Van der Vart. Leave Bendtner, Chamakh, Almunia at the Underground station and let someone take them away to SIBERIA for free.

  21. i m very worried why arsenal was out of the title race by bolton last night up to when will arsen wenger will give a hope to to wine but not .

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