Arsenal: Game mismanagement indicative of total mismanagement

In Sunday’s 2-1 loss to Bournemouth, Arsenal again dropped more points from a winning position. Their mismanagement of games, though, stems from a total mismanagement of the club at a higher level.

Cultures produce behavioural patterns. Behavioural patterns produce performances. Performances produce results. It is true in any walk of life. Business. Music. Sport. The organisations, the people, the managers, the individuals and the collectives, they set, implement and preserve a culture that produces results, positively or negatively.

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At Arsenal, that culture is having a hugely detrimental effect on their results. Arsene Wenger is a wonderful manager. Much of what he has introduced at the club has changed the footballing landscape forever. But his mismanagement of basic, overriding principles and processes are seeping into his players.

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Take, for example, the lack of care and attention that he has attributed to the contract situation at the club. More than just Mesut Ozil and Alexis Sanchez, who will leave the club for far less than their market value would dictate, Arsenal have a myriad of players whose futures are far from decided.

Jack Wilshere and Santi Cazorla are out of contract at the end of the season. Aaron Ramsey, Olivier Giroud and Danny Welbeck are all entering the final 18 months of their contracts. Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Serge Gnabry and Kieran Gibbs were all sold with just 12 months remaining on their deals at the time, restricting the flexibility and the influence that Arsenal had at the negotiating table. That same complacency is taking place between the white lines, as well as in the meeting rooms.

The 2-1 loss to Bournemouth on Sunday afternoon was the Gunners’ third straight winless game in the Premier League — draws to West Bromwich Albion and Chelsea were the other two. In all three games, Wenger’s side have had a lead in the second half.

In fact, stretch the run back to the last five games, and you will see that Arsenal have dropped nine points from winning positions, as well as hanging on in the closing stages against Crystal Palace where they very nearly threw more points away with a lead late on. Those nine points would be extremely useful right now. They would put the North London outfit above Liverpool and Manchester United in second.

That is unacceptable. And it is not a lack of ability or quality. In fact, it is not, as some would suggest, because of a lack of character or grit or steel or resolve. It is, painfully, thanks to mental errors, lapses in concentration, taking up poor positions, failing to sense danger; it is because of mismanagement.

Next: Arsenal Vs Bournemouth: 5 things we learned

And that comes from the culture of the club. The culture of mediocrity. The culture of undeserved loyalty. The culture of naivety. The culture of innocence. The culture, in a word, of complacency. This is a complacent team and complacent organisation. The two, unfortunately, go hand-in-hand.