Any hope the Groundhog Day scenario Arsenal have found themselves locked in for a decade would be broken by Arsene Wenger’s decision to sign a two-year contract extension is over – and it’s taken just two games of the new season.
A chaotic 4-3 opening day win over Leicester was followed by a defeat at Stoke which showcased traditional defensive shortcomings, a failure to turn the overwhelming majority of possession into goals and a disheartening lack of leadership or combative edge.
Discounting the obvious financial incentives, it is no wonder a host of key first team players have either had enough of the broken record Arsenal have become, or are hedging their bets ahead of next summer’s window, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain being a case in point.
The England international’s departure, even if it were to occur before the current window closes, would not have a catastrophic impact on Arsenal’s ambitions for the season ahead. But the handling of his situation, and indeed his career as a whole, neatly encapsulates the failings which continually undermine Wenger.
Mishandling of injured players
Having sailed through the formative years of his career, Oxlade-Chamberlain suffered the sort of serious injury which has hampered numerous young Arsenal players.
Little or nothing could have been done to avoid the knee ligament injury which ruled Oxlade-Chamberlain out of the first half of the 2013/14 season. But the fact he has missed so much football since, 75 matches as a result of nine separate injuries, eight of those muscular, suggests his rehabilitation from the initial damage could have been handled more effectively.
Wenger’s insistence on rushing players back, or asking them to play through the pain barrier, has had serious ramifications for the likes of Jack Wilshere, Aaron Ramsey and Santi Cazorla. The Frenchman’s treatment of Alexis Sanchez’s hamstring injury two seasons ago played a huge part in Arsenal’s failure to keep pace with eventual champions Leicester.
Doomed projects
In the aftermath of the move to the Emirates Stadium and the premature break-up of the Invincibles, Wenger entrusted Arsenal’s immediate and long-term future in the hands of a group of players still in their formative footballing years.
Early promise gave way to inevitable failure amid a chronic lack of experience and Arsenal’s austerity saw the core group of that team break-up before it had a genuine chance to achieve anything tangible.
Oxlade-Chamberlain’s arrival was timed as that era ended and another dawned in the shape of the ‘British core’ who it was hoped would form the basis of Wenger’s next great team.
Of that group, only Aaron Ramsey could now be considered anything like an automatic first team starter, while the careers of Wilshere, Kieran Gibbs and Carl Jenkinson have nosedived.
A loosening of the purse strings has seen Wenger able to spend like never before, yet Arsenal seem just as far away from the title with the likes of Mesut Ozil and Alexis Sanchez on board as they did without them. The only common denominator in a decade of stagnation is the manager.
Haphazard transfer strategy
Were Oxlade-Chamberlain’s contractual situation a one-off it could, to an extent, be forgiven.
That at least three central first team figures could walk away on free transfers next summer, however, represents a catastrophic lack of foresight and joined up thinking. Sanchez, Ozil and Ramsey, whose deal expires in 2019, and their potentially Chelsea-bound teammate represent somewhere close to £250million worth of talent in the current climate.
‘It’s not an issue,’ Wenger had the temerity to claim earlier this month, attempting to paint a farcical scenario as a positive.
‘I think it’s an ideal situation. Because everyone has to perform. When you’re a football player, you perform until the last day of your contract. Do you really think they sit in the dressing room and think: “Oh, I have one year to go, I will not play well today.”’
On the contrary, it will create a huge issue the moment one of that quartet, assuming they stay, puts in a sub-par performance.
Ozil has already been the subject of some undeserved criticism for his display at Stoke last week with Steven Gerrard questioning whether his heart is really in it, despite the fact the Germany international has already created a league high 10 goalscoring opportunities this season.
This scatter-gun approach to transfer dealings and contract renewals has undermined any attempt to make genuine progress since the move to the Emirates Stadium.
It took half a decade to get over Robin van Persie’s defection to Manchester United. Olivier Giroud has scored 99 times for Arsenal since the Dutchman moved to Old Trafford with less than a year left on his contract but he has never scored more than 16 goals in a single Premier League season.
Van Persie scored 56 in his two most prolific campaigns in England and only now, in the shape of Alexandre Lacazette, do Arsenal appear to have found a suitable replacement.
The ramifications of a mass exodus next summer will take far longer than five years to recover from.
Putting square pegs in round holes
A hefty pay increase is no doubt fueling Oxlade-Chamberlain’s desire to seek a new challenge but equally you can comprehend his frustration at having been shunted here, there and everywhere.
Flying winger, wing-back on either flank, central midfielder and emergency full-back. The 23-year-old has been deployed in just about every position going over the course of his six-year Arsenal career.
Ironically, Oxlade-Chamberlain has produced his most consistent run of form in an Arsenal shirt since Wenger’s shift to 3-4-3 and were he to move to Stamford Bridge, his best chance of regular first team place would be as a replacement for Victor Moses.
A victim of his own versatility or the bi-product of a confused manger, lacking in the courage of his convictions? Wenger has spoken regularly of his belief that Oxlade-Chamberlain’s long-term future lies in central midfield, but he has never been given a run of games to prove his potential in that position.
The former Southampton player is far from alone in having been crowbarred into roles they are wholly unsuited to. Nicklas Bendtner, Wilshere and Ramsey have all been shoved out on the wings in order to crowbar more senior players into their favoured positions.
The muddled approach to dealings off the pitch has been mirrored by the confused and erratic systems and tactics on it. It’s no wonder so many appear to have had enough.
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