When was the last time Arsenal looked so pathetic?

Today, they were defeated 3-0 away against Manchester City in a game where it could have easily been 4-0 or 5-0 to the blue half of Manchester.

I’ve never seen so many poor passes from Arsenal in one game. Their first half performance was dire. Man City’s play in the first half wasn’t that much better either but it took a defensive error between Gael Clichy and Mikael Silvestre to give Stephen Ireland the opportunity to knock the ball into the back of the net.

In the second half, City replied with two more goals. A beautiful chip by Robinho and a late penalty winner by Daniel Sturridge.

Arsenal deserved to get a goal back in the second half when City goalkeeper Joe Hart lifted the ball into the air before kicking it, but Robin van Persie nicked in and slotted the ball into the net. Unfortunately, referee Alan Wiley disallowed the goal.

There were so few highlights for Arsenal in this game. Whenever Arsenal received the ball, Manchester City players quickly pressured the Gunners to prevent them from playing their sleek attractive passing game. Watching this game, it didn’t really look like Arsenal on the pitch. They were that awful.

I was surprised by the performance of Arsenal. I honestly thought that William Gallas being away from the team would galvanize the players and help them focus on the task at hand. This Arsenal side is desperately lacking experience and, without Cesc Fabregas due to suspension, is missing a true leader.

Arsenal have now lost in the league to Manchester City, Aston Villa, Stoke City, Hull City and Fulham. Before the season started, most people who have put money on the Gunners to win all those games. Now Arsenal languish ten points from first place.

It’s time for Wenger to go back to the drawing board. His decision to start Gavin Hoyte for his first Premier League debut seemed mistimed and a poor decision in hindsight. When Aaron Ramsey came on for Hoyte in the 60th minute, the Welshman made an immediate impression which benefitted Arsenal’s midfield play.

Wenger doesn’t have much time to right the ship. Arsenal plays Dynamo Kiev on Tuesday night in the Champions League. And who is their next Premier League opponent? None other than Chelsea at Stamford Bridge next Sunday. Luiz Felipe Scolari will be licking his chops in anticipation.

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What does it say about Arsenal when their reserve team last night beat Sheffield United 6-0 in the Carling Cup? Maybe the tournament should be renamed the Arsenal Youngsters Cup?

Here are some of the impressive young starlets who played last night:

• Kieran Gibbs. Midfielder, 18 years old, only made his second appearance for Arsenal last night. His debut was one year ago in the Carling Cup when he came on as a substitute against, coincidentally, Sheffield United.
• Mark Randall. Midfielder, 18 years old, made his fifth appearance for Arsenal yesterday — but only his second start for the club. His debut was August 2007 against West Brom in, you guessed it, the Carling Cup.
• Francis Coquelin. Midfielder. The 17 year old made his debut last night for Arsenal although the Frenchman did make a couple of friendly appearances this summer after joining the Gunners from French side Laval.
• Henri Lansbury. Midfielder, 17 years old, made his debut one year ago against Sheffield United and played again last night, coming on as a second half substitute.
• Jay Simpson. Striker. 19 years old. This is another player who made his official debut last night for Arsenal against Sheffield United. Last season he played on loan at Millwall scoring six goals for the London club.

The teammates who played alongside those youngsters were:

Lukasz Fabianski, Gavin Hoyte, Alexandre Song, Johan Djourou, Fran Merida, Aaron Ramsey, Jack Wilshere, Carlos Vela and Niklas Bendtner.

The amount of talent that Arsenal possesses is staggering. Many of the players fielded last night were essentially C Team players with little or no first team experience. Yet the team still clobbers Sheffield United six nil. Unbelievable.

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