Although I don't go to anywhere near as many away games as I used to - travelling so much for work has removed my desire to go up and down the country at the weekends - I am still a sucker for an opportunity to visit a football ground I've never been to before. So, Stoke City away in the Premier League was an opportunity that wasn't going to be missed in a hurry. On an absolutely freezing day, we hit the M1 to head for one of England's less remarkable towns.
And utterly unremarkable it was too - the Britannia Stadium is just off the motorway, in the middle of an industrial estate. Pre match entertainment consists of a crap branch of Harvester, and the surroundings include factories, car parks, and car showrooms. All very boring - there are lots of new grounds like this (including Reading, Bolton, and many more); and every time I visit one, I thank our lucky stars that Arsenal built their new stadium close to civilisation, rather than by the motorway.
Because of the lack of anything whatsoever to do outside (and the cold and windy weather), we headed pretty quickly into the ground. Luckily, the pies on offer were the best thing about the day, so it was good to have plenty of time to enjoy them! The chicken balti pie actually tasted of something, and the pie tasting in general was the absolute highlight of the day!
When the game started, the locals were very predictably small time and bitter, with plenty of chips on their shoulders. Of course, as an Arsenal fan, you encounter all the bitterness about us being a "Champions League" club; and are also hated for coming from London (of which many Northerners seem to have a pathological hatred - they should remember who subsidises them!). In addition, given our foreign players, the locals often also resort to old fashioned small minded patriotism - the "In Ger Lund" song was first aired a whole 2 minutes after kick off. So all in all, the Britannia Stadium is one of the less hospitable grounds in the Premier League for an Arsenal fan.
I said that the pies were the highlight of the day - they didn't have much competition from the football. Arsenal just didn't seem up for the game at all, and Stoke took full advantage. We did start with some taller players, to counteract Stoke's long throws and aerial ability - it would have been nice if Toure in particular had tried jumping though - his lack of any effort to clear a Delap long throw led to the first goal. Toure didn't want to jump up to head it away, Almunia didn't fancy coming to get the ball either - Arsenal players just didn't really seem to care about having the ball all day. Given that, Stoke's superiority in effort and application meant that they thoroughly deserved the win. The game was marked (again) by a lack of any creativity from Arsenal - we hardly created a chance all game, and the norm was for passes to find the opposition rather than a yellow shirt. Adebayor limped off just after the second goal, and Van Persie got himself sent off with a ridiculous and unnecessary challenge on the goalkeeper soon afterwards. He obviously couldn't be bothered to stay out there any longer, and as a result is now banned for League games against Manchester United and Aston Villa - just when he had watched fellow striker Adebayor walk off injured. Thanks Robin, you are a genius. If that doesn't get him fined a couple of weeks' wages, nothing will - but I suspect that Wenger will defend him as usual.
So, we have now lost to Fulham, Hull and Stoke - 2 newly promoted teams, along with a cast iron favourite (as usual) to be relegated. Along with disappointing draws against Sunderland and Spurs, and the fact that we still haven't played a decent side yet, and it is all very depressing. With our next 4 League games against Manchester United, Aston Villa, Manchester City and Chelsea, this could get a lot worse before it gets any better. And the buck for all of it has to stop with Arsene Wenger, and his decision not to strengthen the squad in the summer. If he honestly thinks that there is no player out there that could make our squad better, he has lost the plot completely.
Wenger said that Stoke were physical - they were slightly (although not overly), but if you know that is going to be the case, you buy some players to cope with it. Wenger seems to be doing little to address the obvious flaws in our squad, but is then complaining when those flaws are exposed. The whole game was such a disaster that there were Arsenal fans fighting amongst themselves by the end. A real day to forget. The title challenge is over, and Arsenal fans are no longer in any doubt that we will face a real battle to finish in 4th place this season. We have an abject lack of bottle, determination, "mental strength" and decent leadership in our side at the moment, and I think that many people will rightly be questioning whether Arsene really "knows" anything any more.
Some good stuff has been written in the aftermath of this game, firstly by Gunnerblog, and secondly by Arseblog. I would agree with both - it is sad what is happening to Arsenal at the moment, and we have to hope that it does not get too much worse, before it starts to get better.
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