If Arsene Wenger was wondering what that hideous noise was on Tuesday night, it was the sound of his underperforming team hitting rock bottom.

Wenger has been living on past glories for seven years nowa, and the fans’ patience has worn dangerously thin- James Calvert

Enduring their worst overall start to a Premier League campaign was bad enough. Being outclassed in the league by the likes of Swansea and Norwich, worse still.

But getting knocked out of the League Cup by a team from the old fourth division – well, things don’t get a whole lot worse than that.

Traditionally, in this particular competition at least, you could put this sort of shock result down to the Premiership team fielding a reserve side.

But the Arsenal team that faced Bradford on Tuesday was not just strong, but pretty close to the strongest Wenger could have played.

That tells you one thing: Wenger was desperate for success in this ‘lesser’ cup competition to finally stick a trophy in the cabinet and keep the wolves at bay.

Which only makes the Bradford result all the more surprising.

Reading the message boards after the game I was astonished by the amount of Arsenal fans that actually want Wenger to go, and go now. It’s not that long ago that he was seen as an untouchable, a man who had the job for as long as he wanted it.

But I suppose every set of fans has its tipping point. Wenger has been living on past glories for seven years now, and the fans’ patience has worn dangerously thin.

It’s hard to know what Wenger can do about the current predicament really, other than maintain his own self-belief while trying to get his players to rediscover theirs.

But this isn’t just about the Bradford game. The team may only be hitting new lows now, but the symptoms of their decline have been evident for several seasons.

Yes, Wenger’s job has not been made any easier by the departure of key players like Cesc Fabregas, Alex Song and Robin Van Persie in recent years. But last summer they actually spent a bit of cash and yet the situation has deteriorated rather than improved.

Maybe it is just a fact that Wenger and Arsenal have outgrown each other. Maybe after 16 years in charge, the club needs a change, a new man on the training ground to freshen things up. Maybe the style of football Wenger introduced to such wide acclaim a decade-and-a-half ago is no longer as effective as it once was.

To be honest, it’s very hard to pinpoint any one area where things have been going wrong for the team. They still play pretty football most of the time and can be a joy to watch when in full flow.

But those full-flowing moments are become less regular. And even when it all clicks and the passes are strung prettily together, there is frequently no end ­product.

Wenger claimed he played such a strong side against Bradford because they don’t have a game until Monday, plenty of time to recover. And while there might be an element of truth in that, the reality is much more to do with the fact that he knows he needs a trophy this season to stop the growing murmurings of discontent turning into a full-blown outcry.

The Premier League title is pretty much beyond Arsenal for yet another year and the Champions League will almost certainly prove too competitive for them.

Considering the way things are going for the Frenchman and his team right now there are only really two certainties, both of which will happen in January.

Firstly, he will be spending some money to at least show the supporters he recognises there is a problem.

Secondly, when their FA Cup campaign starts, don’t expect anything other than his strongest team from the word go…

Of course, it would be unfair to write anything about the Bradford match without giving the League Two club at least some of the attention they deserve.

Bradford were outplayed by Arsenal for much of the match and only some inspired goalkeeping and dogged defending got them through.

But that shouldn’t detract from their superb achievement in reaching their first ever League Cup semi-final and I would love nothing more than for them to go all the way to Wembley now. Maybe even win it.

And what about their penalty record? Tuesday night’s shoot-out made it an incredible nine in a row that they have won.

Maybe the England team should start taking a spare set of Bradford kits to major tournaments…

Dutch tragedy nothing to do with football

When I first read about the death of a linesman at the hands of players last week, I feared football had sunk to depths from which it may be impossible to recover.

Richard Nieuwenhuizen, 41, was kicked and punched to death by players while he was running the line during a game in Holland, a staggering act of brutality.

However, once the full story emerged over the following days, it became obvious this had little if anything to with football, despite the sensational way the media portrayed it.

Had the murder – because, let’s face it, that’s what this was – been carried out by professional players, then yes, it would have been a horrific scar on the face of football.

But it wasn’t. This attack was carried out by lads aged 15 and 16 taking part in a youth team game. Practically children. To make the incident that much more mind-boggling, the players and the linesman in question were members of the same football club. And to add an even more tragic twist, Mr Nieuwenhuizen’s own son was taking part in the match.

Although football’s image has undoubtedly been tainted by this horrific attack, it was much more about the mentality of the people involved than what they happened to be playing.

There is every chance that if they hadn’t descended into barbarianism during this game, it would have happened outside a nightclub or at a bus stop or at a game of rugby. Anywhere where their questionable intellects would have felt the need to resort to violence to win an argument.

As tragic as this incident was, it had absolutely nothing to do with football and don’t let anyone tell you any different.

Jury out on Bale

Okay, so we all know I hate diving. But even so I still feel compelled to come to the defence of Gareth Bale amid the wave of recent accusations that he is a diver.

Yes, Bale does tend to fall over a lot even when there seems to have been minimal contact. But have any of these finger pointers bothered to take into account a crucial factor in this equation: speed.

When you are running with the sort of pace Bale has, it often only takes the slightest of touches to throw you off balance.

I have seen one or two of the incidents involving the Welsh winger and I have to admit at first glance it does look like he has gone down too easy. But when you take into account how fast he was going at the time, it becomes slightly more plausible that he wasn’t actually looking to con the ref.

If you were talking about Didier Drogba then that would be a different kettle of fish. The former Chelsea striker was built like a brick wall and could easily fend of a whole back four if he wanted, yet still went down at the first sign of a stiff breeze.

Bale is different. He is relatively light, built for speed, and it shouldn’t be entirely surprising if a tiny nudge disrupts his equilibrium.

I get the sneaky suspicion that, in its desperation to eliminate the simulation disease, football might be looking for a scapegoat in a player who doesn’t deserve to be one.

sportscolumnist@timesofmalta.com
Twitter: @maltablade