Desperate times call for drastic measures - and these times are very desperate

Remember his defence?

There is little point in picking over the coals of what happened yesterday. It is, perhaps, enough to say that it was shameful for an Arsenal team to concede eight goals in a game. I do not have it in me to be upset with the players. It is simply not their fault. Carl Jenkinson had a rough day yesterday, but I certainly liked his willingness to tell Walcott to "f***-off" after Walcott had failed (again) to track Patrice Evra, before having a go at the young full-back. Leadership was again missing yesterday, especially from a Captain who became Mr Timid while standing over a pressure penalty. In the back-four there was no communication in the absence of Vermaelen (it's no coincidence that Jenkinson was out of position a lot yesterday with Djourou and Koscielny silent alongside him - Vermaelen had talked the lad through the previous two matches where he had not looked out of place at all). 
Leaving aside all the general abuse etc there was one thing in yesterday's game that typified Wenger, and his complete lack of tactical awareness. At 3-1 we were holding United reasonably well and creating one or two things - 3-1 would have done me as a result after going 3-0 down. So what does he do? He takes off his defensive midfield player (Coquelin - who certainly didn't let anyone down) and brings on a poor lad of just turned 18 to make his debut (Alex Chamberlain must be wondering what he's done to deserve such a thing) and we let in 3 goals in the next 5 minutes. From then on it was just a training exercise for United, and not a very difficult one. You would think that someone on the bench (Pat Rice, I'm talking about you) would have been pleading with Wenger not to make such a substitution. Has Pat Rice no sense of pride in himself? Or is he just a complete yes man? 
For Arsenal FC to concede 8 goals is such a shameful thing that the Manager should have been sacked immediately. It's beyond unacceptable. Quite how Arsene Wenger can not have resigned after such a humiliation is beyond my comprehension. He can blame injuries, suspensions, fatigue (after 5 games?) all he wants to, but the FACT remains that Arsenal's team yesterday was put on the pitch through his actions. He has summarily destroyed everything he built.


A question I often hear when Wenger's head is called for is "who would replace him?" Let's forget the fact that it's a stupid question as there are plenty of people out there who can replace him, but I want to frame it against our current position. If Wenger was to resign, or be sacked now (or at any time until Christmas), it would mean a Manager coming in and having to work with what has been left for him. In my view there is only one man suitable to come in and be appointed for the rest of the season and that is George Graham. Time is a great healer (and, in time, we will only really remember the good things about Arsene Wenger's reign) and George's misdemeanours (including being manager at Tottenham) are now long ago. We need a Manager who can organise our defence, and instill proper discipline in the players (there is little more galling to an Arsenal traditionalist than the slovenly state of our players as they arrive for a game in tracksuits and over-sized earphones - what has happened to the class of the Arsenal blazer?)
Roy Hodgson has proved at Fulham and West Brom that even poor defenders can do very well as a unit as long as they are coached and drilled properly. There is nobody better at that than George Graham, whose methods save Leeds from relegation and won Tottenham their only trophy in a near twenty year spell. So what if the attacking instincts of certain players are curbed a bit, as long as we stop letting in stupid goals. The likes of Arshavin would get a serious rocket up their arses, or find themselves playing at Barnet on a wet Monday night (just ask Charlie Nicholas how George deals with lazy star names). These are methods we should all be welcoming of in the current situation.
These are desperately dark times to be an Arsenal supporter. It's time to bring in some Arsenal men. The fans who went to Old Trafford and sang their hearts out throughout the game understand what I'm talking about as they know what it means to be Arsenal (I'll ignore those two stupid cows with the Arsene Wenger banner) - I couldn't quite understand Martin Tyler's commentary when he said how quiet the Arsenal fans were at about the twenty minute mark as they were all you could hear, certainly you didn't hear the 70,000 muppets until they were six goals up. 
Yesterday was a dark day for Arsenal Football Club. We can only hope it never gets darker. However, until Arsene Wenger is replaced I fear things might get significantly worse. I daresay I'll get some twat abusing me for calling for Wenger to go, just as I did the other day. If there are still Wenger loyalists out there, I'd like to hear what their case is for the defence now.