I remember a time when Manchester United vs Arsenal was probably the most anticipated game of the season – the sort of match you would move wedding plans not to miss.
The rivalry between the two clubs was intense, starting at the top – Sir Alex Ferguson and Arsene Wenger – and filtering down through the captains, players, fans and even the pundits, who would often get heated in the studio as the game unfolded.
It was, without overstatement, an epic, twice-a-season event that sometimes even involved pizza throwing.
Not any more.
Last Monday’s game, which appropriately ended in a rather uninspiring 1-1 draw, shows have far both clubs have fallen since the time they were battling it out for titles and trophies.
This was not a clash between undisputed giants of the game, it was a rather insipid clash between two teams that are not only miles away from winning the league but look like they will, once again, struggle to make the top four.
And that despite both clubs having spent fortunes in recent years in their desperation to return to their glory days while simultaneously thrashing the ‘rebuilding’ excuse to within an inch of its life.
The reality is United have still not recovered from Sir Alex’s departure. Everyone at the club, probably the man himself included, failed to anticipate the size of the boots he would leave behind and how difficult they would be to fill. Anointed successors, established managers and untested novices have all tried and failed to recreate the Scot’s magic touch.
Despite Ferguson having departed back in 2013, the club is still floundering and has now made its worst start to a top-flight campaign in 30 years. That isn’t rebuilding, that is systematic failure of the club’s systems, procedures and structures.
Both clubs have spent fortunes in their desperation to return to their glory days while simultaneously thrashing the ‘rebuilding’ excuse to within an inch of its life
And it currently shows signs of getting worse rather than better under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.
Arsenal, on the other hand, thought it was Wenger who was responsible for their many years of title failure. And in some ways, he probably was at least partly to blame.
But I am not entirely sure that Unai Emery is a whole lot better. When you boil it down to basics, is there any discernable difference in his approach to Wenger’s?
One of his predecessor’s overwhelming problems – certainly in his later years – was too much emphasis on attack and not enough focus on being solid at the back. Arsene spent much of his time building a team capable of scoring the perfect goal, but unable to stop conceding rubbish ones.
Emery, so far, seems determined to continue in that vein.
Spending €80 million on Pepe this summer was a nice, headline-grabbing bit of business. And it was certainly a fan pleaser in the sense that Pepe is the sort of player who creates excitement.
But did they really need more attacking options or should that money have been spent on a creaky defence, where the only significant acquisition was David Luis. And, let’s be honest, asking Luis to fix your defensive issues is like asking Hannibal Lector to babysit your kids and insisting he bring a couple of bottles of Chianti with him.
Fair enough, Emery may have a long-term vision for Arsenal. However, I suspect it is very similar to the unsuccessful one Wenger had in his last few years.
In short, both clubs are struggling to regain their previous status as giants of English football and I have to confess that I miss the days when, even as a neutral, I could look forward to Manchester United vs Arsenal with lip-licking anticipation.
The day will come, I imagine, when the lips are once again moistened. I just doubt it will be under the leadership of Solskjaer and Emery.
Go after the real racists
If football’s anti-racism organisations want to be taken seriously – and I think we would all like that to be the case – then they need to be less trigger-happy when it comes to tarring players with the racism brush.
Last week, Manchester City’s Bernardo Silva posted what he thought was a humorous tweet in which he compared a photo of his teammate Benjamin Mendy as a young boy to the mascot for Spanish chocolate brand Conguitos.
This prompted an outcry on social media which was then backed up by official action from Kick It Out, English football’s primary anti-racism organisation, which reported Silva to the Football Association.
As a result, the FA decided to charge Silva, who could face a fine, a six-game ban and a racist label to haunt his career. Now, as you know, I am very much against racism and discrimination in all forms. But this particular case feels like KIO is being overzealous.
Maybe Silva’s tweet was misjudged and politically incorrect, but he meant no harm with it and certainly wasn’t attempting to be racist. As he himself said, he was just joking with a friend – the two players are apparently very close.
If Silva had posted a photo of Kevin de Bruyne alongside a picture of, say, the Milky Bar Kid, nobody would have batted an eyelid.
Again, I am not saying Silva’s post was necessarily clever. In these days of high sensitivity, he should have been more sensible and, if he wanted to tease a friend, done it in private.
But racist? That was absolutely, categorically, not his intention.
Surely if KIO had had a quiet chat with Silva, explaining what they thought was wrong with his tweet and why it could be deemed to be racist by some people, that would have been enough.
As things are, in my opinion at least, their actions have made them look a bit too keen to prosecute when they should be focussing their efforts on the real racism problems that are plaguing football right now – in the stands.
Making an example of someone who is actually one of the sport’s good guys isn’t going to help any cause.
sportscolumnist@timesofmalta.com
Twitter: @maltablade