We’ve hit a rough patch now – our beloved Gunners have started to gather points commensurate with their underlying play, the 22-game unbeaten streak that gave something of a gloss to sub-standard performances now in the more distant past. This rough patch has come with an associated roiling of the supporters’ waters. Garden-variety discussions about rotation have given way to exuberant (and rancorous) speculations about rifts within the club. The pleasure derived from good results via lesser play has transformed into frustration catalyzed by bad results from even worse play. And, the kicker: it’s no fun to watch. Boring, boring Arsenal.
This raises a question: can a team be both mediocre and entertaining? Is the latter quality a result of success? Is entertainment value correspondent with win percentage? Does anyone remember fun, but less talented, squads? Is this asking too much, that a team be both enjoyable to watch even while it may be devoid of accomplishment in the table? In the decades I’ve watched sports I am trying to recall teams that were fun, yet weaker. My memories lead me to baseball and those September call-ups when a team is out of the playoff picture, when the kids are given ample time to audition, to show their stuff. I go back to some 1970s and 1980s Boston Bruins ice hockey teams: inartful but tough, never a threat to win the Stanley Cup. But even in meaningless regular season games you could expect to see physical, energetic action (or, before I realized the stupidity of them, a good donnybrook).
Saturday’s game against West Ham was, more than any game this season, unenjoyable. I exclude Porto and Wolves at home – both were mundane affairs but I was there at the Emirates – therefore it was for me inherently fun. We played joyless, uncreative, mundane football. Whether that’s because our world-class creator is hurt, being frozen out, or tactically incompatible I don’t know. Whether it is because our manager is fundamentally conservative and trying to plug a leaky boat first before moving that boat towards shore is uncertain. Or whether it’s because our players are simply less talented than we think, that’s unclear.
What is most disappointing for me, in this moment, is this lack of entertainment. I can (mostly) accept the hard times, the slow and choppy transition from where we’ve been these last couple of years to something hopefully better. But if the times are going to be erratic and difficult, I do want those efforts to be flamboyant, risky, and fun. I don’t mind the flaming car wreck, the 4-3 loss, throwing it all at the wall and hoping for something to stick. That might be playing our kids and letting them run around like puppies. That might be to bite a bullet and play our central creator, to unlock the middle of the field and put pressure on the opposition. That might be to forget trying to shore up a woeful defense and just run and gun. Just to make it more fun. Saturday, especially, was drudgery – it was as if the game was a bunch of disassociated tasks, a series of chores, an exercise in damage control.
I want at least one thing from our team – whether that team is in sickness or in health, richer or poorer. And that’s entertainment. I want to watch a game and know that the two hours has been well-spent, win, lose, or draw. I want to believe that I would not have been better off re-ordering my cellar storage room, or re-caulking the bathtub. Those are chores. Watching football should not be.
Please, Arsenal. Entertain us.