Arsenal have played relatively boring football for a while and it annoys the hell out of me anytime we come up against a weaker side and the commentators start going on about "beautiful Arsenal weaving their pretty patterns." It's not something that Arsenal should get credit for anymore. This isn't 15 years ago and Arsenal aren't special for passing the ball along the ground. During the long drought between 2004 and the first of Arsenal's most recent string of FA cups, I was perfectly accepting of being a middling side because of the MORAL VICTORY of always playing attractive football. This current Arsenal team hasn't done anything to deserve that distinction and I'm frankly bored to death most matches.
I don't even blame the players anymore. I firmly believe that Wenger is solely responsible for killing any inspiration and creativity the players might have, from strewing them all over the field in unfamiliar positions, to urging certain players to change the styles that brought them success in the past (telling Elneny not to shoot anymore, off the top of my head), to consistently benching our new players at the start of every season for the sake of adjustment.
I swear Arsenal are the only team that does this last point. Morata's already out here banging in a goal a week and Lacazette's coming off the bench. Every year we get a new, exciting player, they start on the bench or quickly find themselves on the bench for the sake of 'adjustment,' then they lose crucial early season time to mesh with the squad and gain confidence. Then they come on sparingly, never adapt to the rest of the team, make mistakes, never score, never win favor and lose any excitement they might have had for their new team (Peres Peres Peres).
Giroud is a saint for putting up with this every year. Personally I no longer blame any of our more creative players that want to leave or won't sign a new contract, They're being set up by the manager to look like shit, ruin their potential, and lower their market values,--that's if they can actually escape Arsenal.
Often when we sign a player they come out about how Arsene was a factor in their decision, but surely this is just a platitude at this point. These players cannot be excited to play for Arsene anymore. Even if that does still hold some cache, we're slowly getting to the point where any young, exciting player we want to sign wasn't even born the last time Arsenal won the league.