Uninspiring Arsenal Deservedly Lose to Organized Newcastle United

It's games like these that make Arsenal fans dread their fortunes, or misfortune in such cases, where an uninspiring, insipid Arsenal side played with no character against the organized and resolute Newcastle, a team that they hammered by four goals on their own home turf less than a fortnight ago.

Where teams like Manchester United get the result, even when they play without their strikers and display poor football, a team like Arsenal falls to even the most diluted of teams such as Newcastle and West Brom, and at the Emirates Stadium of all places, a place that was once a fortress that made Chelsea and Manchester United dread their visits to N5.

Arsene Wenger will take part of the blame, the Arsenal team will take another, while Lukasz Fabianski and Laurent Koscielny will take the chunk, for they have deservedly earned a place in the reserves for the next months or so, especially the latter.

This isn't an article that goes all out, "Sack Wenger, Arsenal is doomed." But rather, this is an article that intends to state the obvious.

Arsenal is a maturing team, but they are a slowly maturing one, which isn't good enough at this level, where they were able to grind a result and thrash Newcastle in the League Cup, they lost to them in their own backyard in the EPL, the game that matters the most.

Another issue is that of the players. Yes indeed, Fabianski has improved significantly in the past few games, but progressing from an abysmal goalkeeper to a decent one still isn't good enough to cut it as Arsenal's No. 1.

Manuel Almunia was a lost cause for the last couple of years, Wenger needs to take one for the team and face the fact that goalkeepers win you games just as much as attackers do in games like these, when there are few chances throughout the game, and the first team to make a mistake usually loses all three points.

The Arsenal manager has been commended for the low profile youngsters he brings and transforms to world class players, but Koscielny has been near useless from day one at the club. The No. 6 shirt at Arsenal should be worn be a guy like Thomas Vermaelen, not by Senderos or Koscielny, two players who are being remembered for being error-prone more rather than being brick walls in the Arsenal back line.

Arsenal at the moment does not deserve to be champions for any tournament thus far, the game against Shakhtar and the game against Newcastle are a prime examples of that.

True champions make remarkable comebacks after they were written off from the get go, the home game against Barcelona was one of those rare moments where Arsenal came back from the brink, but the Gunners are yet to truly cause a shock to the footballing consortium.

November has been the worst month in the history of Wenger's managerial career. The Arsenal manager has lost more games in November than in any other month, and with the first two November games already lost this season, this stat sadly seems to stay intact for at least another year.

Should Chelsea win the game against Liverpool that is being played at this moment in time, they will be eight points ahead of Arsenal, while the Gooners will state that there is still a ways to go before the end of the season, they need to understand that it's near impossible to imagine Manchester United and Chelsea losing to the likes of Newcastle and West Brom, especially after witnessing Chelsea dismantle them by six goals to nil.

Arsenal will be hoping to see its rivals stumble this season, but true champions do their own work and get maximum points, not hope that the other teams do their dirty work for them.

Speaking of dirty work, the Gunners desperately need a Machiavellian amongst their ranks, someone who gets sh*t done despite the aggressive play and the inadequate refereeing decisions that comes his way, only then will the Gunners learn how to consistently scrap their way through victory no matter who the opposition might be.

Arsenal's start to the season has been inconsistent, but the real worry isn't the dropped points at the moment, but the fact that the red and white army refuse to learn from their mistakes. The loss to the likes of West Brom at home was usually considered a one off in the past decade, nowadays it's a yearly tradition, and with the fresh loss to Newcastle, it's starting to look more like a rule rather than an exception.

Arsenal must focus on its next couple of games, should they survive November when all is said and done, then there's a good chance they'll still be prime contenders, seeing how consistency is the Gunners' biggest weakness, getting three points in every upcoming encounter seems unlikely.

Wenger needs to shuffle his squad, and consider Koscielny's red card a blessing in disguise, and think long and hard about a fixed formation, because only with a regular starting 11 will Arsenal be able to find its top form.

Arsenal fans will hope Wenger breaks his tradition and swallow his pride, and reinforce in the winter transfer window. Arsenal is a couple of injuries away from a major catastrophe at the back. As things stand for the Gunners, one thing is certain.

January can't come soon enough.