Arsene and Arsenal’s ghosts are resurrecting

You know what they say about the dark and how children [and some adults] fear the dark and the myth of ghosts rising. Arsene Wenger and Arsenal are at that crucial place where they have to bury their ghosts or wither in fear as they stroll through their corridors.



“The two goals are offside, which is very difficult to accept in a game of that stature. Enough is enough for us because we got some bad decisions for the whole season and today I looked at the goals — both are offside.



“But, as it is well known, the referees are protected very well, like the lions in the zoo, so we have to live with their decisions. I want them to be very well protected. But if they could make the right decisions it would be even better.



In the 2-1 loss to Everton, Wenger also moaned about the referee that led Everton manager, Ronald Koeman throwing this jibe, “I'm sorry Arsenal, we won through the referee.”



The rose-tinted spectacles must be taken off
“We had a horrible week, absolutely horrible. What is worse, out of two good performances we get zero points.” Absolutely shocking statement!!! It always seems that Wenger watches one match while the rest of the world is watching another. In the analysis after the loss to City, it was shown that the Gunners had two touches of the ball inside the City box and had one shot on target in the 90 minutes… How is that a good performance? And Wenger should know that in FIFA’s offside laws, the benefit of the doubt is to the attacker and that is what Leroy Sane enjoyed on Sunday.




Great players are consistent
Mesut Ozil, no doubt is a good player but if he must become a great player then his form must be more consistent. He cannot decide to go AWOL in some matches and then score world-class goals against the Ludogorets of this world. Against Everton, he rather casually squandered an opportunity to put his team back in the lead and then shirked a body block on Ashley Williams as the Everton defender headed in the winner. Against City, he won only 25% of his personal duels against City, lost the ball 14 times and played just one key pass in 90 minutes – for a would-be great player, that is definitely not enough!



The Mustafi Factor

Whether they have to clone or manufacture, Wenger needs to find another Shkodran Mustafi in the January transfer window. It is very interesting that Arsenal have lost all four matches in which the German defender has not played this season.

The four defeats that Arsenal have suffered this season have been on the opening day against Liverpool, the EFL Cup match against Southampton and then the consecutive losses to Everton and Manchester City in the league. Wenger has to find a solution to his team’s apparent discomfort when they lose a member of the first XI.



“I can understand City look very happy, I would be as well. The second one is five yards offside. But what can I do? We have to live with that and look at ourselves and analyse why we lost the game [Yes, do that!],” Wenger continued after the 2-1 loss to City.



Former referee Graham Poll said, “The second is more subjective as David Silva is definitively in an offside position as Raheem Sterling shoots. For the officials, his position did nothing to distract or affect Petr Cech in the Arsenal goal.”



But analyse that game properly and truthfully and he will have to berate himself and his players for not taking advantage of a City side that was there for the taking after scoring the first goal with the first attack.



Why couldn’t they build on that first goal – that should be the main analysis!