In the immediate aftermath of Arsenal’s capitulation at Anfield, angry fans jammed radio phone-ins to express their disgust at the way their team had surrendered without a fight on a dreadful afternoon on Merseyside.
 

A 4-0 defeat that should have been at least double that is the culmination of a steady decline behind the scenes at The Emirates that has been eating away at the club and who have failed to eradicate the disease.
 

Owner Stan Kroenke has to be held to account allowing boss Arsene Wenger to work within a comfort zone that has seen The Gunners slip out of the domestic reckoning and fail to make this season’s Champions League. It’s a comfort zone that the majority of the club’s highly paid stars feel to cosy in and one that has taken the fight out of a side that for years was built on solid foundations and was considered almost an English institution.


 

People who remember their former leaders on the pitch, Adams, Keown, Viera, can only feel embarrassed that the club’s new generation of fans have to watch defensive frailties that would tarnish the reputation of a Sunday League manager.
 

Two of their high-profile stars have seen the light however; both Alexis Sanchez and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain desperate to get out before this Thursday’s transfer deadline. The former looks to be struggling to do this, the latter possibly heading across London to Stamford Bridge. Rats deserting a sinking ship they maybe; but they are players who have ambitions that Arsenal 2017  just cannot satisfy.
 

As soon as Wenger penned his new two-year deal in North London the writing was on the wall. Players must have danced with joy when the news was announced; no new sergeant-major figure was going to walk into the club and start kicking butt, instead they were left with a man who seems to accept mediocrity on far too many occasions to reawaken the sleeping giant.
 

Yes Wenger will accept responsibility for performances such as the one on Sunday, but what will he do about it; absolutely nothing. Here we have a man who seems to think that it’s OK to let three of your most important players go into the final year of their respective contracts unchallenged, and if any Arsenal fan thinks that winning the FA Cup can be considered a successful season, then they are surely only kidding themselves.


 

In 13 years, the club has gone from being the “invincible’s” to the “unwatchable’s” and performances such as the one at Anfield is a result of too many people at The Emirates taking their eye off the ball.
 

Former Arsenal stars are crying out for the club to oversee a major overhaul, while ever Kroenke remains in power however, that scenario will sadly remain just a pipe-dream.


Steve Mitchell (@barafundler)