How long can this yearly pattern remain acceptable? February arrives and Arsenal's season is reduced to a rescue job. Arsene Wenger's anger on Monday was directed at the media, but he must also be exasperated that his current group of players is by no means the match of its predecessors.

The bald facts of repeated failure should be evidence enough, and Bayern Munich's easy win pushed the case for the prosecution beyond all reasonable doubt.

Even when Arsenal staged a second-half ...

Read more