Arsenal: The Cult of Failure

It is now de rigueur to trot out the statistic about how long it has been since Arsenal actually won something other than an individual football match; that this is now seven years is repeated on an almost daily basis by a gleeful media intent on feeding the mob's endless voyeuristic passion for the football equivalent of a car crash on the other side of the central reservation.

An hysterical media's blood lust aside, ever since Patrick Vieira's penalty shootout kick secured Arsenal's last (and wholly undeserved) trophy in May 2005, Arsenal have systematically failed at almost every key moment of a campaign. It is almost as if the more crucial the winning of a match, or the prevention of an opposition goal is, the more likely Arsenal are to concede the victory or the goal.

This trend for self-destruction appears to be quite separate and distinct from extraneous factors such as the loss of top players and the club's odd transfer policies (such as allowing for the departures of Flamini, Diarra and Gilberto in the same season). Consider the Champions League as an example.

In the 2006 Champions League final against Barcelona, when many of the so-called "invincibles" were still in play, the team came within 20 minutes of winning—having had to play with 10 men due to a completely unnecessary sending off (seemingly aimed at making things as difficult as possible).

The longer that game went on and the closer Arsenal came to a historic victory at the highest possible level, one could almost sense that the team was stuttering under the weight of expectation. Twenty minutes to keep calm and simply continue doing what had been done fairly well for the previous 70, even notwithstanding the self-imposed handicap of having only nine outfield players. But no, it was not to be.

The blueprint for failure, the cult of failure, appeared to be set in that match and has continued to this day.

Anfield 2008 in the Champions League quarterfinal second leg. An away goal by Adebayor levelled the tie at 2-2 with six minutes to go, six minutes to hang on for a semifinal place. Again, no, it was not to be. Within two minutes, Kolo  "invincible" Toure needlessly fouled Ryan Babel to gift Liverpool the penalty that took them back in the lead and consign Arsenal to the role of failures when it really matters. 

The Emirates 2009 and the visit of Manchester United in the same competition at the semifinal second-leg stage. A narrow 1-0 defeat at Old Trafford in the first leg left everything for Wenger's men to play for—until six minutes into the game. On this important occasion, the team needed most of all to settle into the game (as opposed to keeping composed at the end of it). Not conceding an early away goal was absolutely critical. However, a near suicidal start gifted the away goal to Man United and that was it—game over. In six minutes, it was as if Arsenal set out to do the exact opposite of what an intelligent and organised team would do. 

Watching Arsenal has at times become like watching a nightmarish recurring car crash in slow motion, but being unable to do anything about it. You see time and time again the car lock its wheels, begin to skid off the road and the tree it is going to hit. Nothing you can do can prevent the inevitable, sickening  impact. You have seen it time and time again, yet you are powerless to do anything to prevent it. Sixty thousand people have seen it time and time again and know what is coming; however, the 11 drivers on the pitch appear completely oblivious or, at worst, apathetic to the events unfolding around them.

Change channels to the Premier League. Wenger's team of Galacticos are four goals up away at Newcastle at halftime yet manage to draw 4-4; countless leads against Tottenham are simply thrown away. Two points against Liverpool are cast away in the last second of the 100-plus minutes at the Emirates in April 2011 when victory would have brought Arsenal within four points of Man United.

Once again, Arsenal simply needed to hold on to a lead. Van Persie scored in the 98th minute, and the defence (perhaps sensing that victory was close) gave away a stupid penalty four minutes later. Crunch—the inevitable impact with the tree that everybody, except the Professor's band of disasters, can see coming.

And the recurring nightmare recurred again against Norwich three days ago. Norwich at home—a victory would have all but ensured the coveted Champions League qualification place. This is not Real Madrid, not Milan, not even Man City (who have been defeated at the Emirates) or Chelsea. Mid-table Norwich. 

Let's ignore the pathetic (but immensely foreseeable) first-half performance that saw an early lead squandered. The fact is that Arsenal scrapped back to take the lead after 80 minutes. This left 10 minutes simply to hold on against a mid-table team with no ambition other than pride to play for. Was it too much to expect Arsenal simply to not concede a goal for 10 minutes for the sake of the entire season?

The answer is, of course, yes.

Careless play by the midfield gifted the ball to Norwich, who made full use of Arsenal's apparent masochistic (or sadistic, if you are one of the 60,000 watching the same car crash yet again) desire to implode when it matters most.

We are talking about skilled professional footballers, paid a small fortune to do no more than kick a ball to members of the same team who are helpfully wearing the same coloured shirt. Yet this basic requirement, something that these players could almost do with their eyes shut on the training ground, simply cannot be delivered when it really counts.

Whether it is the pressure, stupidity or simply not really being that bothered (perhaps  the 11 multi millionaires in red being overly preoccupied by the difficult choice of colours for the new Bentley Continental), the fact is that Wenger has consistently produced a team, seemingly irrespective of its personnel, that fails at every important moment.

Many will point to injuries, bad luck, the post, the referee, the position of the planets, solar wind—a myriad of "if only's." Yet if Arsenal cannot even prevent a mid-table team from scoring at the Emirates for 10 minutes in order to virtually guarantee Champions League football, one has to wonder whether the collective culture of failure at Arsenal , the acceptance of coming second, is now so ingrained that watching Arsenal is now akin to seeing a bucket with an enormous hole in it being filled by a succession of nearly men.