I’m going to try and keep this short.

Wenger has brought us some beautiful football over the years and when it worked we applauded their beautiful game and when it doesn’t we try to analyse why. Some of the following reasons has been given by both pundits and Arsenal fans alike:

1) We are unlucky with many injuries to key players
2) Our kids are still learning, not enough experience
3) Teams prevent us from play by “kicking us off the pitch”
4) We didn’t get the ref decisions when it mattered
5) Our players weren’t committed and had poor work rate

I can go on and on about various reasons why we have not been able to win silverware since our 2005 FA Cup, but these problems are NOT unique to Arsenal. They happen to all teams to varying degrees.

What IS unique to Arsenal is our style of play and the players Wenger have purchased to suit that tactic. Wenger’s footballing philosophy dictates that a team can win a game by dominating possession with intricate passing to create space to attack. Being technically sound, mentally sharp, and physically fit are key requirements in an Arsenal player while most other teams just need to have “committed” players with a good “work rate” in order to nullify those “Arsenal Type” players. When we don’t get a result, you will remember that these are also the 3 most used excuses by Wenger when explaining why things didn’t work out.

Not only do Arsenal players have to be at their fittest and sharpest in order to play the “beautiful football” that we enjoy, they also have to deal with injuries throughout the season. That’s a tall order for any player to always try to play the game in it’s purest form when there could be other less demanding alternatives.

How about playing more direct passes with an intension to shoot at the goal rather than passing around the box looking for that “PERFECT” goal? Man United also play very beautiful football but they’re more direct with their play and as a result they are more efficient at getting a goal NOT because they’re better at passing but because they playing higher percentage passes that result in a shot on goal while ours usually ends in loss of possession in the final third of the pitch.

Given our injury situation now, is it still wise for Wenger to persist in playing beautiful football or is it time to play some more direct and efficient attacking football? When our key players are neither fit nor sharp, we shouldn’t expect our 2nd string to do things the hard way. It’s no wonder why at the business end of the season our players seemed knackered – you would too if you had been trying to play “PERFECT” football for most of the season and it’s no wonder why we dropped points against lower opposition when Man United dispatched those same team playing no-non sense, direct, and efficient football.

I think I’ve made my point. It’s almost embarrassing to claim we play the most beautiful football but yet have no trophies to show for it. Function always precedes aesthetics!