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)
Through the sports lens 