After the 8-2 drubbing it’s almost an exercise in masochism to start writing about arsenal. A million or so pundits have brought down their verdict on how Arsenal has failed as a club. Being a staunch supporter of Wenger’s ways I still refuse to acknowledge that claim.

However from being invincible to deplorable the fall has been very transparent. Six years without any trophy and here are the six things which I feel led to our fall from grace.

1. Debt

Following Wenger and his ways has taught me more economics than my classroom ever did. When you invest more than 360 million in a state of the art stadium, your transfer kitty is bound to take a hit. Wenger was forced to hone his scouting skills and discover talents like Cesc, Eduardo, Nasri while others teams like Chelsea splashed the cash on real talents. So a faster learning curve for the established players and slower for the academy grown players

2. Mental Strength

I think it’s a euphemism for balls. We had very few characters of steel post Highbury. We sold Lehmann who would ethnically cleanse anyone if he tried to bully our defenders in set pieces. Instead we had a Hugh Laurie Doppelganger (Almunia) who was definitely meek both in talent and character compared to the previous compatriots.

Add to this the woe in the holding midfield area. You need Central Defensive Midfielders like Viera who could dominate the midfield with pure strength. Gilberto Silva did that to an extent but Alex song though being talented couldn’t dominate the midfield as much as we would have liked him to.

3. Being Clinical

This was a real blow to the cojones. We missed a no nonsense striker who would just shoot inside the penalty area. While that would be a huge caveat to the orgasmic passing which we did time and over, it cost us crucial points. A goal is a goal, when in a mess it’s not a crime to shoot at target. However Wenger’s insistence on beautiful football back fired a lot of times and cost us the crucial points.

4. D.E.F.E.N.C.E

I know it’s impolite to type in caps while writing an article. But I am literally screaming at my screen when I typed it. Set pieces, defensive organization, communication and most of all experience. While you can have a prodigy in the attacking front, without experience one cannot learn the art of defense. Our youth policy should have had the provision to educate the defenders by making them play along quality center backs.

Gallas was half decent while Toure regressed, add to that the woeful signing of Sylvestre it meant we never really had a defense to boast about. Except Vermaelen of course.

5. Positional Irregularity

This is a point which I often do not see in many of the so called “expert commentary”. We had brilliant wingers in the past, but with Walcott being still a kid we never really had a proper left winger. In recent years, Nicklas Bendtner is being substituted in the wings while replacing Arshavin. Even for a staunch Wenger fan is ludicrous. Also the transition from 4-3-3 to 4-2-3-1 hasn’t been smooth as we expected to be. And formation is everything to a football.

And if you are caught wanting and need to defend a goal, there is nothing wrong in being defensive which treads against our football-ing philosophy.

6. Predictable

Last but not the least, our attacking style and the whole game plan is predictable. Though extremely entertaining (pun intended) it is not even for a knuckle head team like Blackburn to break us. Bully the defense; tackle the mid-fielders as if fouling is going to go out of fashion. And voila a break in spirit leads to a goal. And especially at a time when we are in misery without the genius of Henry, Pires or Cesc. The need to adapt becomes alarmingly important.

With all being said and arsenal being hung out to dry, I still believe Wenger is the man to build the team. And I have not included the clichéd response of how luck didn’t favor us in the past or we should buy more players like Manchester city or Chelsea.

Beaten, broken and scarred but Arsenal FC forever.

-Dhanesh (Gunner for life)