Unfit to wear the Arsenal shirt

Match Review: Liverpool 4 Arsenal 0 - Premier League - 30.08.17

It worries me that Sunday’s crushing defeat at Liverpool didn’t hurt me. Sure it wasn’t nice to watch, I was upset with what I saw, but it didn’t sting really. It’s just one more on the long list of pastings that we’ve received at various top teams around the league. 6-0s, 8-2s, 5-1s, 6-3s, so many massive hidings that we’re all sort of numb to it. Unfortunately, there will be more to come, with Chelsea away following Bournemouth’s visit to the Emirates. I don’t even fancy our chances against the Cherries given what we saw on Sunday.

Despite the lack of hurt I feel over the result, the anger is very much there. Every fan of the club should be furious with what went on on Sunday and rightly so. I can’t remember seeing an Arsenal side so disinterested and give up so quickly. The effort level from every single player was frankly pathetic and the level they played at would have embarrassed sides in League 2. Only Cech can potentially be forgiven, given that he was effectively cannon fodder for 90 minutes, but the other ten players were unfit to wear the shirt.

It was gutless, disjointed and whatever problems we have with the manager and the squad situation, the performance they delivered was not one that’ll soon be forgotten by the Arsenal faithful. Every single one of them should be ashamed. Moving on from the players, the manager should also be ashamed. Wenger’s team selection was not just baffling, it was plainly and obviously wrong. The decision to start Chamberlain, to even have him in the squad, was unbelievable. The player has unequivocally stated he is no longer interested in playing for the club and is set on moving to the very club we were playing. It makes my head hurt even trying to make sense of why Wenger thought playing him was a good idea.

Formation wise, it made even less sense. Not only is Chamberlain set on leaving, he is also adamant that he doesn’t want to play on the wing anymore, whether as an attacker or a wing-back. So to continue with this absurd shoe horning of Bellerin at left wing-back to accommodate Ox on the right is madness. Even more incredible is that we had the Bundesliga left back of the year sitting on bench, a player who has just signed and is actually interested in playing for our club.

Just as strange was his decision to drop Lacazette to the bench and play Danny Welbeck as the main striker, whilst restoring another want-away player to the lineup. Alexis is still one of our best players and despite wanting to leave, he usually gives his all on the pitch, so I can understand the thinking there. But to drop your record signing to accommodate him and not the out of form Welbeck was incredibly odd. Lacazette isn’t injured and Wenger confirmed before the game that it was a decision based on Lacazette still adjusting to the Premier League. He can’t adjust on the bench though can he?

Welbeck is a player I like, both in footballing terms and his personality in the dressing room. He’s a good player to have around and he has a lot of talent, but at the moment he doesn’t look like he could finish his dinner and is in a particularly poor run of form. Playing him up front instead of one of the highest scoring forwards in Europe and over Olivier Giroud, who is without doubt a better player, was ridiculous.

The strange selections didn’t stop there either. Rob Holding was restored to the starting XI despite being left out of the squad for the Stoke game. Mustafi dropped to the bench and Monreal played as a centre back again. Mustafi was apparently on the verge of a move to Inter, so it didn’t seem too surprising at the time, but it now appears that Arsenal have no intention of letting Mustafi leave. So why bring back a player that Wenger didn’t even want in the squad the week before and drop the player that took his place? Mustafi wasn’t awful at Stoke, so why was he dropped? Why were Mustafi and Holding not both in the line up and Monreal not used as a left back as he should be? Only Wenger can tell us, but these decisions were calamitous and his lineup was shredded with ease by Liverpool.

Teams

Liverpool (4-3-3)

Karius, Gomez (Y), Matip, Lovren (Y), Moreno, Can (Grujic 84’), Henderson, Wijnaldum, Mane (Sturridge 74’), Firmino (Milner 80’), Salah
Subs
Klavan, Ward, Alexander-Arnold, Solanke, Grujic, Milner, Sturridge

Arsenal (3-4-3)

Cech, Chamberlain (Lacazette 62’), Holding (Y), Koscielny, Monreal, Bellerin, Xhaka (Y), Ramsey (Coquelin 45’), Özil (Y), Alexis (Giroud 62’), Welbeck (Y)
Subs
Ospina, Lacazette, Mustafi, Giroud, Walcott, Kolasinac, Coquelin

Player Ratings

Cech - 6/10 - Can’t be blamed, stop it from being even worse
Chamberlain - 0/10 - Selling him for actual money would be an amazing bit of business
Koscielny - 1/10 - Terrible
Holding - 1/10 - Terrible
Monreal - 1/10 - Terrible
Bellerin - 1/10 - Terrible
Xhaka - 1/10 - Terrible
Ramsey - 1/10 - Terrible
Özil - 1/10 - Terrible
Alexis - 1/10 - Terrible
Welbeck - 1/10 - Terrible
Subs
No ratings as they came on into a shitstorm

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