Complacency continues to jeopardise Arsene's project.
Giving youngsters regular football together encourages them to develop a loyalty to the club that gave them the chance but it also denies them the frustration of having to sit on the bench waiting for a chance. Without this negative experience, some characters may begin to take their position in the team for granted and are then more likely to put in a totally abject performance like Saturday's at the Grove.
Only Samir Nasri came out of the game with any credit and players that have a track record of giving less than 100% let the side down once again. For obvious reasons the manager was reluctant to single players out for criticism but Emmanuel Eboue, Abou Diaby and Gael Clichy were at their infuriating worse. Bacary Sagna was also a liability defensively despite proving to be effective offensively. The headline mistakes were all made by Manuel Almunia but we already knew that we didn't have a goalkeeper who is good enough for Arsenal, it was the lack of protection from the midfield and defence that was most disappointing.
There was nothing completely out of the ordinary in the first half. It was an uninspired display but not a disastrous one and the fans presumed that it was nothing more than a hangover from the Carling Cup exploits and that the cobwebs would be blown off in the second half. Unfortunately that did not happen and West Brom grew in confidence, enabling them to add an end product to their impressive general play. 3-0 down at home is a ridiculous situation to be in and not even Nasri's brilliance could salvage a point.
In the past we have had calamitous performances and bounced back but there is a growing feeling that this set of players will never learn the same lessons.
When we lost at home to Blackburn in late 2001, Tony Adams and friends lay down the law and the team reacted by finishing the season with the double. There was a similar situation in the 97/98 season and the mental strength shown at the end of the unbeaten season was remarkable.
Sadly, this group of players has made the same mistakes too many times. Losing at home to a newly promoted side can only happen if we are not fully concentrated. West Brom played very well but if we had been at our best or at least near our best we still would have won the match.
We were led to believe our collective defensive strength had been improved but the match on Saturday would suggest otherwise. There is still plenty of time to rectify the mistakes by having a consistent run but recent history suggests that we have too many players who are liable to lose concentration at crucial times.