Arsenal must look closer to home

There has been a lot of press lately suggesting Arsenal fans should laden the blame for this season’s failings on the departure of Robin van Persie.

Traitor. Deserter. Conspirator. Defector.

Or maybe the reality of the Gunners’ lack of success lays much closer to home than fans and insiders may wish to acknowledge.

The Dutchman made his switch to Manchester United from the Emirates ahead of the new season and although he received a hostile reception from Arsenal fans on Saturday his former teammates provided a plethora of evidence to validate his decision.

Van Persie opened the scoring in the third minute for his new club at Old Trafford as they moved to the top of the Premier League for the first time this season with a 2-1 victory over his former side.

In the build-up to the match boss Arsene Wenger urged fans to refrain from distasteful language against the former favourite but the vile torrent of abuse which was hurled at Van Persie was misguided and leaves many pondering how mislaid the blame is for Arsenal’s recent shortcomings.

From the first whistle Van Persie’s former colleagues produced enough indication to suggest his departure alone is not the major issue.

Arsenals performance could be summarised simply; limp, scattered, motivation-less and powerless.

A club with such rich history much be contemplating how it has ended up with so many players who seem unwilling and almost unable to add to their iconic heritage.

In the opening minutes it was a mistake by Gunners’ skipper Thomas Vermaelen which opened the door to allow Van Persie to open the tally.

The Arsenal defence of late has appeared to have some kind of over-confident façade despite a clear inability to keep their cool under pressure, or clean sheets for that matter.

Andre Santos. Arsenal fans must cringe or feel a shiver down the spine each time they hear the name.

Sir Alex Ferguson probably felt he already had tactical advantage when reading Santos’ name on the team-sheet as Antonio Valencia and Rafael da Silva were granted all the space they could wish for throughout the encounter.

It is difficult to come up with a suggestion which would not be better than having Santos in the Arsenal line-up.

Possibly the most bizarre moment of the match on Saturday was when Santos approached Van Persie in the tunnel at half-time to ask to swap shirts, to which the Dutchman responded by giving away his shirt but did take the Brazilian’s in return.

Followers of the backstage movements at the Emirates rejoiced in hearing of Steve Bould’s promotion to Wenger’s assistant, responsible for defensive training.

Yet the calamitous miskick by Vermaelen which left Van Persie in on goal showed little signs of improvement at the back.

However, not all the culpability can rest on the field as Wenger himself failed to handle situations well during Saturday’s encounter.

Ferguson used a tactical substitution to replace Tom Cleverley after he picked up a yellow card in order to prevent a red card.

But in opposing fashion Wenger left Jack Wilshere on the field with a caution to his name and subsequently suffered the consequences with the England midfielder seeing red and taking an early shower.

Few will argue Arsenal would have been in a far superior position if they had contested the final quarter of an hour with 11 men, even it would have meant Francis Coquelin entering into a defensive midfield role.

Although the margin of defeat was narrow the deficiency in the Arsenal camp is blatantly obvious.

From defensive frailties to tactical faux pas there is a vast array of issues to be resolved, but one thing is for sure, it is time for Arsenal to move on from the time of Robin van Persie and acclimatise to life after their former talisman.

Ben Hampshire (@BH92)

Old Acquaintances

One thrives. One rues.

Arguably two of the biggest moves ahead of the 2012/13 Premier League season were Robin van Persie’s switch to Old Trafford from Arsenal and Brendan Rodgers’ decision to take charge of Liverpool.

Both deals dominated headlines throughout the summer and continue to do so but for contrasting reasons as one enjoys high-flying success and the other struggling to get off the ground.

Shall we take the good news or the bad first?

Ahead of Sunday afternoon’s Liverpool Newcastle clash at Anfield, Mr Rodgers faces significant pressure and will be desperate to see his side start to gather momentum.

Take a moment and reminisce on Swansea City’s recent years which have seen them rise to fame.

Fluid football. Classy performances. Attractive style. Barcelona-esque comparisons.

All have become synonymous with the Swans’ as their artistic panache and flair have made them household names in the top-flight.

However, much credit for this philosophy of football being brought to the Liberty Stadium must be given to Rodgers.

Yet, despite his departure from the Welsh club a dramatic fall from grace has not followed because what Rodgers had begun forging at Swansea was a culture.

Indeed, Chairman Huw Jenkins pulled somewhat of a masterstroke by bringing in Michael Laudrup to succeed Rodgers but many will be left thinking the Irishman made a move to a ‘big name’ club naively.

Evident was the success Rodgers enjoyed at Swansea City, gaining promotion to the Premier League and registering an 11^th-place finish in their first top-flight season, but the challenges facing the 39-year-old are extremely different on Merseyside.

A club rich in history with dedicated and passionate fans, Liverpool has potential to be a manager’s dream appointment. Or maybe nightmare in equal measure.

The die-hard fans lining the Kop week in, week out have expected silverware and success at the club for many years and now additions to the famous Anfield trophy cabinet are long overdue.

Taking an evolving team on a journey from lower-league to top flight is an inspiring narrative but attempting to transform a club under the spotlight and in turmoil requires far greater dogged determination.

A midweek Capital One Cup fixture will surely have torn the heart strings of Rodgers as his former club visited Anfield and left 3-1 victors.

The Swans then went on to hold league leaders Chelsea to a 1-1 draw at the Liberty Stadium to cap off a fruitful week for the club.

Two wins in nine Premier League encounters leaves Liverpool a lowly 13^th and struggling to inspire Kopites and footballing audiences worldwide.

On the opposite end of the spectrum Robin van Persie is in glorious form at the head of Manchester United’s strike force.

With his former club Arsenal the visitors for Saturday’s lunchtime kick-off Van Persie made clear early why he sits first in the race for the Premier League’s Golden Boot.

Eight goals already have seen Van Persie become an instant favourite at Old Trafford and a third minute goal against the Gunners during United 2-1 victory will inflict further wounding on his former teammates while delight will sweep around the Red half of Manchester.

Reports this week have suggested the Dutchman turned down a £300,000-a-week deal at Premier League champions Manchester City to join their city rivals United.

Few can argue Van Persie has made a bad move as he has seamlessly become a pivotal player in Sir Alex Ferguson’s line-up.

Arsenal’s frailties were all too easy to see once again in Saturday’s match with a lack of ambition and poor defending the resonating tones from Arsene Wenger’s men.

Van Persie must be left feeling he got out at the right time and to the right place.

Vastly opposing stories here.

Rodgers – wrong time, wrong place?

Van Persie – right place, right time?

What do you think?

Ben Hampshire (@BH92)

It’s All Action

It never fails to serve up a surprise.

With the parameters of the league system dictating the level at which teams can compete there is no substitute for the magic ignited on a night of cup football.

Despite autumn truly taking a hold of Britain with darker evenings and bracing conditions on the terraces the heat provided on the field is far from simmering.

An exhilarating night of football in the Capital One Cup fourth round saw five matches each with unique talking points and all worthy of stealing the headlines.

All of Tuesday night’s fixtures featured top-flight teams, two proceeding and three eliminated from this term’s competition.

Sports editors country-wide will not have pondered too long on the centre-stage story of the night which without a doubt occurred at the Madejski Stadium.

Arsene Wenger’s Arsenal side would not have expected to face 120 minutes of football featuring eight yellow cards and an extraordinary 12 goals.

Within 37 minutes of the kick-off Reading has taken a four-goal lead against the Premier League side on home turf.

A second half comeback from the Gunners, inspired by two goals from Theo Walcott, levelled the match at 4-4 taking it into an extra half hour.

Arsenal took the lead just before the half way stage in extra time before another scintillating twist in the saga saw Reading draw level once again.

With penalties beckoning it was beginning to look like the tie could only be decided through the dreaded shootout.

But, as with any theatre, there had to be a final dramatic twist. This time virtue of Theo Walcott as he completed his hat-trick before Chamakh put the tie to bed with a historic finish resulting in a 7-5 victory for the Gunners.

However, Reading and Arsenal were not the only ones to provide an evening of sporting theatre.

League Two side Bradford City travelled to the DW Stadium to take on Wigan Athletic.

Having managed to hold Roberto Martinez’s Wigan side to a goalless draw after 90 minutes few would have expected what was to follow.

A further 30 minutes saw more heroic defending and passionate rallying from the Bradford players meant the deadlock remained.

They say penalty shootouts are a lottery, Bradford City will claim it is a test of true steel after they triumphed 4-2 from the spot to knock out a Premier League side for the first time since 1995 when they beat Nottingham Forest in the second round.

Furthermore Southampton produced a below-par performance at Elland Road as Leeds United sealed a quarter-final spot.

The home side took a first half lead against Nigel Adkins’ Premier League side before goals from Diouf and Becchio completed a 3-0 victory of the Whites leaving Southampton on the wrong end of an eventful evening of cup football.

Meanwhile a spirited Swindon team under the leadership of Paolo Di Canio fought back to scare Aston Villa at the County Ground.

The top-flight outfit were two up at the interval but a brace from Miles Storey brought the League One challengers well and truly back into the game.

Paul Lambert’s Villa managed to clinch victory without overtime or embarrassment as Christian Benteke doubled his tally for the night giving the visitors a 3-2 victory.

Finally, Middlesbrough became the second Championship side to make the last-eight following their well-earned win against Sunderland in the Wear-Tees showdown.

A lone first-half goal from Scott McDonald was the difference between the two as Tony Mowbray’s men continue to march on in their league cup campaign.

Recounting all the drama from the night’s action reminds of the beauty of the cup.

The cup allows teams who should not be meeting according the footballing hierarchy to test their skills against each other and the result, dazzling sporting theatre.

Long live the magic of the cup.

Mere reflections on a phenomenal night of footballing action.

That’s all.

Ben Hampshire (@BH92)