Amongst the plaintive cries and mounting anger surrounding Sunday’s loss of two more points Scott’s words keep ringing in my ears - ‘We have become the Arsenal’ - plain and simple and compounded by an observation from TBB [on another thread entirely] when he added that we seem to want to pass the ball into the net all the time. So true, yet so early in Scolari’s reign has this metamorphism taken place we have had little or no time to make the critical assessment as to whether the new order is to be regarded as an achievement or a retrograde step. Had the transition, for want of a better word, not occurred quite so noticeably early doors, but instead at the end of the season, we could then at least have pointed to either a complete lack of silverware or a scrambled gathering up of the last Champions League position in the Premiership league table as evidence that the whole experience was a disastrous one never to be repeated, or a rollercoaster ride laced with nail biting excitement, or both.

As it is all we have to go on at the moment is the galling number of missed opportunities we’ve let slip to go clear of the rest of field, clearly a failure directly attributable to the Gunner’s disease spreading all too rapidly through our ranks since we began mentioning their style of football in the same breath as our own, dearly departed, but dourly effective, previous approach. A nippy winger 'tweak' here or a new central striker 'adjustment' there might make the whole thing look, feel and perform a little better than of late, but, to be quite honest, we are at present hitting buffers previously pummelled by Wenger’s boys over a three year period and you have to be as myopic as he is if, in your heart of hearts, you didn’t think that the road to more entertaining football was going to be a smooth bright yellow bricky one from beginning to end.

Much as we would have liked it to happen instantaneously, Scolari’s arrival and instigation of an immediate cultural change, embracing samba style and success, was always going to take time and the interim distraction otherwise known as Robinho never materialised, which didn’t exactly help matters. Nevertheless, as far as we are all aware, it’s still what Roman wants us to be long term and until he starts booing the players off the park along with the rest of those disgruntled fans we must assume that becoming Arsenal, albeit a successful clone, is still the aim of the game. So, with this in mind and with half-term fast approaching let’s take a look at how we compare, whether we really want to, or ever wanted to, or not, as your particular preference might be.

Certainly from my point of view I initially looked forward to the prospect of change [to more entertaining football] but not at the expense of winning football. For me, even one season in the wilderness, such as the last one, had become an unacceptable state of affairs and I am only too pleased to place the blame for this selfishness squarely on Jose Mourinho’s shoulders. His seasons in charge have made me what I now am in the football firmament, just as Arsene Wenger’s longer span of years in charge have taken Arsenal fans on a journey from belief right on through to reservation. Chippy would doubtless say that Jose got out before he was found out, but I start my comparison of the clubs at this early stage for one reason and one reason only - timing is everything and whereas Jose will forever be a Chelsea success story, Wenger’s legacy will be tarnished by the club’s latter years in the doldrums and Scolari’s will be defined, if it has not already been severely shaped by, a need to combine the best of these two in his one, and probably only, Chelsea creation. How ironic it will be if, at the end of this season, Wenger and his beautiful football cede their Champions League place to Villa, while Scolari clings on by compromising with a traditional old English 4-4-2 and no wingers.

The other [obvious] comparable ground is occupied by players, young and old alike. We are criticised for our decrepit midfield and they are crying out for experience in the same area. They have Jack Wilshere knocking on a door that needs to be opened by someone twice his age and we have Gael Kakuta who, if I am being brutally honest, could have done no worse than Deco in recent games and might have done a lot better given his chance arguably two seasons ahead of schedule. Never destined to happen, due largely to the fact that Deco is a Big Phil signing, similar situations also exist in defence where Bosingwa flatters going forward and deceives at the back, yet nothing can hide the fact that he too is a Big Phil selection that will always be made ahead of Ivanovic, Paulo, Mancienne and that impressive young utility loanee at MK Dons, Shaun Cummings.

Meanwhile, Wenger can leave his full back positions in the safe hands of Clichy and Sagna, but would give his right arm for central defensive cover such as Alex or Ivanovic, both of whom could leave us in January, as we reportedly try to scrape together funds to buy another striker. Funny old world this one of comparisons and when we toddle off to the Emirates in May I’m sure there will be even more tales and tittle-tattle for good friends Arsene and Felipe to josh about from their respective dugouts. Then again, maybe they will both have other things on their minds, what with the teams bound to be 4-4-2-ing and mirror-matched, there being little or no possibility of Theo Walcott coming face to face with Miroslav Stoch, and a fourth place Champions League spot up for grabs, should, of course, Villa and Everton falter. Can’t wait myself, how about you?

Nice post Dorset.

Apparently we sacked Jose because Roman wanted entertaining football, although I don't believe this was the reason myself.

I wonder what Roman makes of things at the moment, because it certainly doesn't entertain me, and the ONLY fans to consistantly leave the bridge happy these days are the away fans.

Arsenal of about 2-3 years or Chelsea under Vialli are fair comparisons, although Vialli's side seemed to have alot more flair, perhaps thats just selective memory. - over to you Mike O...........

The other [obvious] comparable ground is occupied by players, young and old alike. We are criticised for our decrepit midfield and they are crying out for experience in the same area. They have Jack Wilshere knocking on a door that needs to be opened by someone twice his age and we have Gael Kakuta who, if I am being brutally honest, could have done no worse than Deco in recent games and might have done a lot better given his chance arguably two seasons ahead of schedule. Never destined to happen, due largely to the fact that Deco is a Big Phil signing, similar situations also exist in defence where Bosingwa flatters going forward and deceives at the back, yet nothing can hide the fact that he too is a Big Phil selection that will always be made ahead of Ivanovic, Paulo, Mancienne and that impressive young utility loanee at MK Dons, Shaun Cummings.

Meanwhile, Wenger can leave his full back positions in the safe hands of Clichy and Sagna, but would give his right arm for central defensive cover such as Alex or Ivanovic, both of whom could leave us in January, as we reportedly try to scrape together funds to buy another striker

Good post.

Ive seen comparisons here on other threads wtih United about atacking options, and yes they have far better atacking options then us, but so does Barca, Real Madrid, Bayern and pssibly Inter.

But like Dorset said, any of these clubs would give anything to have 4 world class central defenders like we do.

Not only that but these european top clubs would be happy to only have two world class central backs, none of them do.

The only cb pairing worth mentioning is Vidic/Ferdinand and still far from our class in that departement.

And even our central midfield with Lamps, Ballack, Essien and an impressive and constantly improving Mikel is a central midfield that other top clubs envy.

Just look at uniteds central mids: Carick, Scholes Fletcher,Anderson.

That said our atacking options is where we need improvement.

You mentioned Kakuta, i would definately give him a run his speed and skill is Messilike from what ive seen from him.

And if we do buy a top class winger or winger/striker which i think we should then i would much rather see Kalou or Malouda (maybe both) going and not Alex.

If he goes that far and sell Ivanovic in order to bring an atacker then i really wonder about LFS.