It's only taken three games but Arsenal appear to be in full blown crisis on and off the field.
The 4-0 defeat to Liverpool at Anfield was actually worse than the scoreline suggested and off the pitch, a host of players including Alex Oxlade Chamberlain and Alexis Sanchez will either depart before the transfer deadline or are going into the final year of their contracts.
The situation has piled further pressure on manager Arsene Wenger who signed a two year deal at the end of last season after guiding the club to a record FA Cup triumph.
How long can this situation go on with a significant portion of supporters furious with what is going on?
The Guardian football writer Amy Lawrence joined Off The Ball's Kevin Kilbane to discuss the crossroads the Gunners and Wenger have reached.
"It's a very strange set of circumstances and a strange environment for a club to be in that they can't seem to shake off this predilection for a really embarrassing, horrible, soul-searching type of match where you have to analyse how many millions of things seem to be going wrong there," she said.
"And yet no one seems shaken to the core enough to think, 'Okay, whatever it is that needs to change, it's got to change properly, radically and profoundly'. Not a kind of papering over the cracks."
Arsenal Chief Exeutive Ivan Gazidis (left) and manager Arsene Wenger sit in the stands. Nick Potts/PA Archive/PA Images
Lawrence added that, "It's quite a strange vibe at Arsenal where you just feel that they're never that far away from another one of those serious reality checks but then they somehow just kind of crack on."
And the way the club is run is something she also scrutinised.
"The problem for Arsenal is structurally as a club, it's not particularly functional or streamlined or dynamic. I think there is a sense of drift," said Lawrence, explaining that comes from the top in regards to owner Stan Kroenke and the board and drifts downwards, including with those in charge of dealing with contracts which has left a situation where the likes of Oxlade-Chamberlain and Sanchez are apparently close to the exit door (or at the very least heading into the end of their contracts) with little time or impetus to replace them adequately.
"The culture of the club is stale and that's why these things keep happening," said Lawrence, adding that the players are either unable or unwilling to deliver.
The summer hinted that chief executive Ivan Gazidis was keen on some structural changes like bringing in a director of football but that Wenger was reluctant for wholesale change. But Gazidis can only have limited influence as Lawrence explained.
"Arsene Wenger's situation is only dependent on two human beings on earth at the moment. One is Arsene Wenger himself and the other is Stan Kroenke who owns the club and loves Arsene Wenger," she said, also pointing out that at boardroom level that there doesn't appear to be any football people or figures with "clout within the game".
Download the brand new OffTheBall App in the Play Store & App Store right now! We've got you covered!
Subscribe to OffTheBall's YouTube channel for more videos, like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter for the latest sporting news and content.
