Arsenal: Are you even surprised anymore?

Arsene Wenger said that Arsenal made two ‘surprising’ defensive errors for the Bournemouth goals on Sunday. I can’t quite fathom how he can be surprised. Are you surprised anymore?

While the furore surrounding Alexis Sanchez, his seemingly imminent departure, and the many replacements that have been linked with Arsenal only rises, there was a game on Sunday. You may have missed it, in the midst of the media frenzy. You probably wanted to have missed it. But it was there and it needs to be talked about.

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Specifically, the defensive errors that again plagued the team need to be talked about. For the most part, the Gunners were relatively stable. They controlled the game with solid periods of possession, even if they did little with it, and they were able to stifle any Bournemouth attack fairly comfortably.

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But there were two moments of extremely poor collective defending in the second half that led to two extremely soft goals. They cost Arsenal the victory.

After the game, Arsene Wenger was asked what he saw as the reasons for his side’s struggles. He noted the attacking bluntness, the absence of creativity or incision. But he also highlighted their defensive struggles. This is what he said in particular regard to the mistakes:

"“I feel, overall, physically, it was a tough game for us. We were 1-0 up, and after that, we made two very surprising mistakes. They were not forced errors; it was just a lack of the right decision making. Overall, we come out of the game thinking ‘how did we lose the game’?”"

To an extent, Wenger provides an accurate depiction of the shortcomings Arsenal displayed. There were two moments in which a number of poor decisions were made by a myriad of different players. In the context of the game, it would be fair to describe them as ‘very surprising’. But in the context of the season and the club, they are not in the least unexpected.

Arsenal have relentlessly made defensive errors. They are also usually akin to those made on Sunday: mental ones. A poor decision; an inability to sense danger; the laziness to not track a runner; a complacency at a set play; a lack of shape, structure or sound positioning. These are not signs that an individual defender is not good enough. They are signs that the culture of the team does not value and utilise good defensive technique.

And that stems from Wenger. He is famously unmoved by defending. He wants his sides to be attacking; he demands his teams focus on scoring goals, not stopping them. But when their failure to defend repeatedly scuppers the progress made, surely even a manager as stubborn and blinkered as Wenger can see what needs to change.

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The problem with that thinking is that change has never come. It would be naive to think that it ever will. This isn’t surprising. It isn’t remotely unusual. It is completely and utterly normal. That is a damning indictment of Wenger and this club.