Arsenal fans can enjoy the almost forced enthusiasm about an FA Cup final in order to prevent utter misery, but it does not hide the fact that the league campaign has been nothing short of a disaster.

Week after week Arsenal have shown their lack of talent and tactical direction. Much is made of the lack of desire of the players, however I believe that this explanation is invalid. For most players nowadays, football is a job, and the fortunes of their team a bonus rather than a passion.

For some teams, such as Leicester last season, they outperform consistently due to an instilled appetite for success, however do not forget the tactical genius that Claudio Ranieri used while guiding them to league victory. I do not accept that Chelsea players care more or play more for their manager, rather they are more organised and can thus work more efficiently.

Fundamentally, the players are not good enough. Other than Cech, Koscielny, Sanchez and Ozil on his day, Arsenal’s squad is startling mediocre. Giroud is the main striker, Ramsey a regular starter, Monreal a centre back and Oxlaide Chamberlain a right-back. These players are not league winning material, nor are they Champions League winning material, as they have proved year after year.

If Arsenal want to keep pace with the top four, they need to make good signings and follow the lead of evolving teams such as Spurs, who, as much as it hurts to say, taught us a footballing lesson on Sunday.

With Champions League qualification slipping away, the only mark of pride Arsenal have had in the last 13 years, a wake-up call is very much needed. The Gunners must respond immediately to this failure and come back stronger, if they want to prevent the Europa League from becoming a regularity.

If the team respects the abject despair at Spurs fans singing about Arsenal playing on Thursday nights while they play in the Champions League, they will modernise their tactics and overhaul their squad without hesitation. Arsenal's consistent mediocrity must end.

Joshua Korber Hoffman is a 16-year-old football fanatic and Arsenal supporter. He writes a football blog called The Young Gun, in which his love for writing and the beautiful game intersect