Following on from our article yesterday in which we implied that Manchester United and Manchester City were waiting for London to catch up as usual. Well, with the exception of Chelsea, they are still waiting.
Chelsea beat a lacklustre Everton who, having played away at Manchester City last Monday then away in Croatia on Thursday looked as though they were feeling the effects of a tiring week.
This would be no consolation to Manchester City fans who will bemoan the fact that they got them at the beginning of the week when they were fresh and motivated. So, a bit of luck there for Chelsea.
The game itself was moderately entertaining although the home side could, and should, have scored more than the two goals they ended up with.
As for Ronald Koeman, well he will hope that future weeks don’t hold either such daunting fixtures or such long distances to travel.
Arsenal’s game at Liverpool was a joy to behold if you are a Liverpool supporter and a joke to behold if you follow Arsenal.
The board of directors at The Emirates, in sanctioning a new two year contract for Arséne Wenger, can now be officially included in the contenders for the “worst decision of the year” award.
Wenger himself appears to be no wiser now than he was ten years ago as to what he needs to do to get Arsenal back on the winning-big-trophies-track. He is the overused “definition of insanity” which, as everyone knows, is doing the same things over and over again, whilst expecting different results.
Arsenal were an embarrassment. Their “big” players looked very small and not one of that team could come off the pitch saying they had given their all. In fact we would be surprised if the kit even needed washing!
Sky Sports punters, who included ex-Arsenal great Thierry Henry, were less than impressed and slated the players, the board and, to a lesser extent, the manager.
We here at WSA take no satisfaction from having suggested, months ago, that this is what would happen if Wenger was allowed to remain in charge.
The problem appears to be a complete lack of leadership and any ruthlessness from individuals, both in and out of the team. Everybody at Arsenal is too comfortable and the club is now in urgent need of a major shake-up from top to bottom.
The two emotions that motivate individuals are fear and greed. Arsenal players don’t appear to be greedy for siverware, (except for Alexis Sánchez, who doesn’t feel he can win any at The Emirates), and they certainly have enough money so the motivation, in their case, has to be fear. Unfortunately, there doesn’t appear to be anybody capable of instilling that fear in them within the football club.
What the Arsenal dressing room needs right now is a Roy Keane or Alex Ferguson type. They would very quickly discover what fear was after that performance!
The game itself was like a training session for Liverpool who dispossessed Arsenal at will and made them look like a Sunday pub team.
What was surprising was that the score was only 4-0 to Liverpool, it could have been many more!
Tottenham scored first at White Hart Wembley and then, as usual, conceded in the closing minutes, just as they did against Chelsea. This time Burnley couldn’t quite “do a Burnley” as they did at Stamford Bridge, but they will be happy that they managed to leave with a point.
With Arsenal not in the Champions League and Spurs expected to exit the competition in the early stages, they will both be contesting the Europa League. This is not the ideal scenario if you also wish to challenge for the Premier League title.
The way things have started with the London teams, only Chelsea will provide any sort of challenge to the top of the Premier League and Tottenham and Arsenal will be lucky to make the top six.
If things don’t improve at West Ham United and Crystal Palace we could also lose two of the London clubs from the Premier League this season.
What a pity! How sad!
WHY SAY ANYTHING? 