Arsenal: The players are to blame, but that’s why Arsene Wenger must go

Arsenal were pitiful in Sunday’s Carabao Cup final against Manchester City. Lacklustre, distracted, unmotivated, and unmoved, they faltered while City flourished. It is the players who are to blame for that performance. But precisely because of that, Arsene Wenger must go.

There is little defending Arsenal’s performance in the Carabao Cup final on Sunday. Even Arsene Wenger, in his post-match interviews, wanted to distract from his side’s display, more than happy to invite ridicule by complaining at the fourth official and his time allocation for injuries at the end of the match.

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What was perhaps so frustrating was that Wenger actually made the necessary tactical alterations to put his players in a position to succeed. Manchester City, while certainly lacking the same sharpness in possession that they shown all season long in the first half, were ruffled by Wenger’s strategy: Flood the central areas of the pitch by playing Jack Wilshere and Mesut Ozil as wingers; ask the two wing-backs to marshal the flanks; compact the space in the final third with three accomplished centre-halves.

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Until Sergio Aguero’s goal, it was Arsenal that created the better opportunities. It would be a little ambitious to say that they were in control of the game. But they had a foothold. Against a team of City’s inexorable dominance, that is all that you can ask for. Control is but a fleeting concept. Wenger got it right; his players let him down.

Not only was Shkodran Mustafi woefully exposed by Aguero for the opening goal, naively allowing himself to be nudged by the City striker, flailing his arms as he desperately searched for an undeserved foul that was never coming, all after he had foolishly positioned himself in front of the Argentine from a direct goal kick where offsides do not come into play, but Arsenal lacked any semblance of effort, energy or fire in the second half. As an impassioned Gary Neville noted in commentary, walking was the most prevalent of pastimes.

In a singular, 90-minute, isolated example, that is not Wenger’s fault. Taking the City loss on its own, abandoning the context of the two clubs, the season, and the changing standings, reputations and trajectories of the teams, Wenger should be absolved from criticism. He got it right.

But that, obviously, is a futile and irresponsible process. Life is lived in context, and Arsenal’s is not a happy one. This performance is not in isolation. It is not an anomaly. It is not a blip on the radar, a slight nudge of the needle that can be excused as error on the day. This is now the expectation, the normal, the ordinary.

When events repeat themselves, there is a systematic, cultural, underlying reason, both positively and negatively. During Wenger’s early years, for instance, there was an air of winning that stemmed from his management. It flowed through the halls of Highbury. It was felt by every player, every coach, every staff member. It set the precedent, and from that, the results came. In the very same way, the precedent of mediocrity, soft-centredness, denial, and failure is now exuding through this club.

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That is why it is time for Wenger to go. Sunday’s performance was just a symptom of those issues. It was a hallmark of mismanagement. It was the sign that the end has come. It was not Wenger’s fault in isolation, but in context, the blame very much lies at his door.