Roughly a year ago, I wrote a blog entitled ‘Arsenal’s End of Season Review’, bemoaning yet another trophy-less season for the Gunners and suggesting that the blame lay at the feet of Ivan Gazidis. As the 2012/13 season draws to a close with the now familiar battle between the London teams for the prize of 4^th place, nothing much seems to have changed in the last twelve months. Except at least one thing has – my view on what the Gunners need to do to end the rut.

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As I write this, Arsene Wenger has been in charge at Arsenal for just over 6,000 days. And since the FA Cup victory in May 2005, around 2,850 days have passed. In themselves, these seem like two unnecessarily geeky facts to be bringing to your attention but for me they’re crucial in bringing a sense of perspective to proceedings. Barring a sudden overhaul of the fixture lists, this means that by the time the Gunners could next win a trophy (the Capital One cup in February 2014), the ‘hump’ point will have been passed for Wenger – that being, more of his time at the club will have been trophy-less than trophy -laden.

Wenger is an icon at Arsenal, embodying the club’s values, responsible for an unprecedented turn-around in fortunes on and off the pitch, and for many Gooners the only manager they’ve ever known. However, there are a growing number of AFC fans calling for Arsene to bring a dignified close to his spell at The Arsenal, and there do seem to be three key areas in which Wenger is culpable.

Tactics

Wenger is known to be a stubborn man and this is nowhere more evident than in his choice of formation. Since the 2005 Champions League final, Arsene has stuck with the 4-5-1 using quick, creative players buzzing around a central striker. As I mentioned last year, this is great when the central striker is of the quality of RVP, or you have a burst-through-the-middle player such as Cesc Fabregas. However, when your middle three tend to sit, and your central striker tends to rely on pace, this becomes ineffective, indirect, and therefore inept. This refusal to adapt was evident against Sp*rs, with Wenger publically stating that the team would play no differently despite Bale’s searing form.

It’s also been obvious in-game too – coming back from 2-0 down against Liverpool in January, Wenger chose not to bring on any substitutes, resulting in the pace of the attack waning in the last fifteen minutes as the players who had flown out of the 2^nd-half blokes started to feel the impact of their efforts. When was the last time you heard a commentator or reporter saying that ‘Arsenal have won the tactical game there’ or ‘Wenger got his tactics spot on’? It doesn’t happen, and this has to be concerning.

Lack of mental strength

If one criticism has hounded Wenger’s team in the past few seasons it is that of being mentally weak. From William Gallas’ Captain’s capitulation five years ago to Newcastle’s four-goal comeback last season, the trophy-less seasons have been characterised by a lack of leadership and a failing to hold on to leads. Indeed, Arsene has often described his team as ‘playing with the handbrake on’, suggesting a lack of confidence in themselves or an uncertainty in their own style of play. These issues with leadership and confidence could be down to two things – that the players purchased aren’t naturally mentally strong, or that Wenger’s management is either causing the issue or is unable to rectify the issue. Whichever of these it is, the blame rests at the manager’s feet.

Motivation

This is a third area that seems to have cropped up recently, which may give an insight into the relationship Wenger has with his players. The team have started many games slowly, often going behind or not registering a shot on target until after the ref has had his half-time cup of tea. In the second half of many of these matches the team has come out fighting, winning games from tough positions and dominating for long spells. However It’s not only limited to League games either – against AC Milan last season and Bayern this, a poor first-leg performance has cost the Gunners a place in the next round, despite excellent second-leg performances providing some of the best results in the clubs history. In many of these situations the team seems to play without limitations, playing free-flowing football and looking like world-beaters – which raises the questions – why can’t they do that from the 1^st minute, rather than the 46^th?

So what to do? As a life-long Arsenal fan, I’m torn. My heart wants Wenger to stay, looking to the future with our English core, Captain Jack, and Financial Fair Play. I’d hate to have the Chelsea revolving door or the Manchester City sit-com at The Arsenal, with stability, good football, and financial solvency something that most football fans in England dream of in their football clubs. But my head is less sure – Arsenal are performing below standard in a league that has got worse, frequently making silly mistakes and hoping to win trophies rather than expecting to.

So here’s my compromise.  If we make the top four Arsene stays, with the hope that a stable summer (with no big players left to leave), a maturing team, and a couple of signings to sort out the defence producing a stronger season. But if we don’t, then the board have a choice to make. Either they stick with Wenger, giving him the much-touted ‘war-chest’ to buy big or a change is made at the top to re-motivate and reorganise the players already gracing the Emirates’ grass. Failing this, it will just be another carbon-copy summer of low spending with Arsene in charge, which brings to mind Einstein’s definition of insanity:

‘Doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results’

 @johnjsills (Arsenal fan)