Arsenal: Arsene Wenger simultaneously to blame and not to blame

Arsenal lost to Manchester United because of individual defensive errors. For those, Arsene Wenger is not responsible. But for their regularity, he is. He is simultaneously to blame and not to blame.

Arsenal were excellent in the 3-1 loss to Manchester United on Saturday evening. Given that they were defeated, that may seem like an odd sentence to write. But it is nonetheless the case. They were much the better side and deserved much better than they got. That, I guess, is football. It’s a part of why we all love the game.

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The reason why Arsenal did not win is, unfortunately, a simple one: Individual, defensive errors. What compounded their damage was that they came so early in the game. After just 11 minutes, United held a two-goal advantage with both scores coming directly from lapse Arsenal play in possession.

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The first culprit was Laurent Koscielny. In trying to play a swept pass to Sead Kolasinac, he invited Antonio Valencia to nip in ahead of the Bosnian, before eventually finishing the move off, after Nacho Monreal foolishly followed the ball, vacating the space in the wide channel of the penalty area.

Just seven minutes later, and Shkodran Mustafi was dallying enough that Jesse Lingard could nick in ahead of him and steal away with the ball. Three passes, and a sumptuous spin and flick from Anthony Martial, later, including some unaware defending from Monreal and Koscielny, and Lingard was slotting a shot into the far corner to put United two goals to the good.

The third goal was not much better. Monreal hared up the pitch to make a challenge he was never going to win, Koscielny was turned by Paul Pogba in the area, and Granit Xhaka was sleeping as Lingard ghosted in behind him to tap home for his second and United’s third, all but putting the game to bed.

Individually, Arsene Wenger is clearly not to blame for these errors. He is not playing. He is not on the pitch. He has no influence between the white lines. But there comes a point when individual errors are because of a systematic and deep-rooted cause, not simply an isolated incident that is difficult to reason.

Arsenal are not making one or two individual errors here and there, mistakes that can be justified by the mere nature of being human; they are making mistakes with a painful regularity that suggests that there is an underlying problem with the culture. It may be that Wenger does not demand a high enough standard from his players. It could be a settling for mediocrity. It could be a laziness or apathy. It could be a complacency that overlooks the details.

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Wenger may not directly be to blame for the mistakes of Koscielny, Mustafi, Monreal and Xhaka on Saturday. And all of the other errors that are committed every single week by every single player. But there is a pattern emerging, a pattern that suggests a deeper cause. And for that, much blame can be apportioned to the one who sets the culture. In this case, that is Wenger.