By ALAN SHEARER
THE LAST rites on Arsenal’s season will be read at the Allianz Arena this week.
Unless of course the battle for fourth place excites the Gunners faithful.
It has been like that for some time.
A club that contested the 2006 Champions League final and used to battle for the highest domestic honours are now mere also-rans.
They can’t even claim bragging rights in North London — Spurs are now the team that thrills in that part of the world.
The defence for Arsenal has long been the fact that they ‘play football in the right way’.
But I’ve always hated that nonsensical term.
The right way to play football is to win and Arsenal have not been doing that enough in major competitions for some time.
Eight years without a trophy and counting.
I’m still yet to jump on the ‘Arsene Wenger out’ bandwagon — Gunners fans have to ask themselves who is available that would do a better job.
They may not be challenging now but who could guarantee the consistency Wenger has brought to the club?
They have not finished outside the top four since 1996.
But the truth is he has overseen a stagnation in recent years and this year a top-four finish is looking doubtful.
You look at the team and you see a defence devoid of organisation or leadership — and this is where the problem lies.
Arsenal’s attacking flair and success was always built on solid foundations. Wenger inherited a fantastic back four when he arrived in 1996.
He then bought Kolo Toure, Sol Campbell and Lauren to take the club forward alongside Ashley Cole, who came through their youth system.
Jens Lehmann took on David Seaman’s mantel in goal.
But Cole was allowed to leave in 2006, followed a few years later by William Gallas, who is still plying his trade in the Premier League.
And they have not had a world-class keeper since Lehmann’s departure in 2008.
There is no doubt that Theo Walcott can be exceptional on his day.
And, yes, Jack Wilshire has potential but he cannot reignite this stuttering engine on his own.
The attack is hardly one that strikes fear into opponents. But they have no chance of building a fearsome forward line on such rocky foundations.
Wenger should be allowed to address this in the summer but he will have to spend.
We know how far Arsenal have fallen behind the best in this country and I fear Wednesday night in Munich will brutally expose how far off the very best in Europe they are.
Nobody was surprised by what happened at the Emirates in the first leg of their Champions League last-16 tie as they went down 3-1 to a far superior Bayern side.
Then again it is not only Arsenal who have left us questioning our place in the order of things on club football’s biggest stage.
We have seen another awful European campaign from Manchester City. Chelsea, last season’s European champions, were humbled in the group stages. Then on Tuesday Manchester United were dumped out at the first knockout stage having failed to get out of their group last term.
I think Nani’s red card provided a cover for their failings in the tie.
If Nemanja Vidic or Rio Ferdinand had been sent off I could understand it.
But Nani, someone who didn’t even get on the bench in the first game, was not going to alter what happened defensively in that game.
United simply lost their nerve and crumbled. Yet, for me, they had handled the whole tie as if they were the underdogs.
Wayne Rooney was employed as something akin to a wingback in the Bernabeu to negate Real’s attacking threat.
Then in the return leg he was not even a starter because the manager felt Danny Welbeck would close down Xabi Alonso better.
It all seemed to be about stopping Madrid rather than asking how they could stop United.
For me it was not a question of a straight choice between Rooney and Welbeck for the game in any case as they had played together in the first leg.
Are we really to believe Rooney was not a better option than Nani on the night despite the Portuguese winger forcing the own goal?
Despite protestations to the contrary, I am convinced something is wrong there and I would not be surprised to see Rooney gone in the summer.
I do not believe Ferguson has forgiven him for his attempts to leave Old Trafford back in October 2010.
The fact that he nearly went across town to Manchester City made it even worse.
Fergie kept him then because he believed he still had one of the best players in the world.
Tuesday told us that now he does not even believe he has that.
