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da wazamba： Injuries strike again – Either Arsene Wenger is particularly adept at spotting future injury prone players or Arsenal have had a terrible amount of luck with injuries again for a second successive season. I’d subscribe to the latter view. Captain Fabregas struck up some truly devastating form this season and scored 15 and assisted the same amount in just 27 games in the league, and with him fit all season who knows what would have happened? Injury sadly struck again with a broken leg immediately after taking a penalty in the away tie at boyhood club Barcelona in the Champions League quarter-finals and he now faces a race to be fit for this summer’s World Cup. Gallas has had his troubles and has made only 25 league appearances, Andrey Arshavin started just 25 league games too, and most crucially perhaps, the club’s leading striker Robin Van Persie, was ruled out for the majority of the campaign with a broken ankle. In his 16 league appearances this term he scored 9 goals and struck the woodwork a further 12 times, more than any other Premiership player throughout the whole season. When he’s fit, he’s frighteningly good, but his career up until now has been constantly hampered by injury and if kept fit throughout the entire campaign, Arsenal surely would have sustained an even stronger title challenge. Walcott has only been involved in just 23 games, 11 as a substitute, with Rosicky, Denilson and Nasri all struggling throughout the campaign with their own injuries too. This is not to even mention the horrific injury suffered by Aaron Ramsey against Stoke. For my money it was definitely a strong challenge by Ryan Shawcross, and one that was clumsy and looked bad on a replay, but malicious? I don’t think so, more of an accident in the heat of the match. The story ran and ran in the news in part because of Wenger’s inflammatory and irresponsible comment, which in the intense atmosphere of a post-match press conference with emotions running high this is to be expected, but also because the parallels with Eduardo’s own injury two seasons before were hard to take for some, Wenger in particular and particularly poignant for others. The potential is there in this side though, but keeping everyone fit has remained a constant thorn in manager Arsene Wenger’s side. Man Utd’s defensive crisis was troubling but Arsenal’s persistent problems are nothing short of debilitating and they coped well with all things considered.
Mental Resilience – It’s a characteristic that’s often been used as an excuse for this Arsenal side’s lack of recent success, but after this season, it’s most definitely an out of date view that needs dispelling. They were ruled out of the title not once, not twice, but three times, yet they still found the mental strength to bounce back. After going on a superb run of losing only 2 games in 20 from the turn of the year, the game that sticks most in the memory is the away trip to the Britannia Stadium on February 27th. After going one down to a Danny Pugh header, Arsenal pulled one back through Nicklas Bendtner. But on 70 minutes, a heavy touch from young Welshman Aaron Ramsey resulted in a horrific looking injury after a crunching tackle from Stoke centre half and England hopeful Ryan Shawcross. Memories of Eduardo’s broken leg two season’s before away at Birmingham, a game and incident that proved the catalyst for months of indifferent form, left some players in tears and others simply shaking their heads in disbelief that they had witnessed another of their teammates suffer a truly nasty injury. As I stated above, I don’t think it was intentional, to use the often used cliché, but whilst a committed player, I really don’t think Shawcross is that type of person, as could tell by his distraught reaction as he left the pitch. The type of player he is though is a big and clumsy one and in my opinion it was all just a case of bad timing. But Arsenal’s reaction was brilliant and kept their faint title hopes alive. Two goals followed, the first a penalty from skipper Fabregas and the other coming from new-boy Thomas Vermaelen and they ran out 3-1 winners in what was a difficult away game for all involved. In one fail swoop they had banished the demons of Eduardo’s injury and injected new found momentum into their title bid. This side is made of sterner stuff than they’re given credit for.
Alex Song’s emergence – One bright spark from the season has been Alex Song’s emergence into a defensive-midfielder of genuine quality. Most were surprised at Song’s persistent inclusion at the start of the season but what has stood out is his composure in possession, ability to break up play and all-round level of performance. With fans crying out for a defensive midfielder to be signed last summer, they’d be hard pressed to find a better one around at the minute at Song’s age. They could probably still do with another player of Song’s ilk just in case of injury, suspension, dip in form or should the occasion simply call for it, but Song’s been outstanding and he was my own personal choice for PFA Young Player of the Year.
Walcott stalls – I understand that Walcott has had his injury problems this season, as I mentioned above, but it’s worth asking whether he’ll ever keep himself fit enough to truly deliver on his undoubted promise. It’s worth remembering that he’s still only 21 years of age, but in his four full seasons at Arsenal has barely progressed as a footballer. Some would even argue that he’s regressed as a player and that he’s lost that instinctive and raw ability to turn a game on its head that he had when he first burst onto the scene and made the country sit up and take notice. He can quite often mark himself out of games with his lack of intelligence in the timing of his runs and poor ball retention, and despite all the natural talents he possesses, he lacks a footballing brain. The best analogy I can think of was one that I read a few months back about Fernando Torres’ place in the Spain squad; it stated that the entire team was like one big cog with Torres being the spring waiting to uncoil at any minute and burst into action, a quality not many in the Spain squad possess. Whilst obviously not the same extent with Walcott, the principles remains that for such a technically proficient side with excellent skills on the deck, Walcott can stand out like a saw thumb, and if not used correctly, he’s barely noticeable. He may come good next season and I may be wrong about him, but that’s the sort of thing we always afford to young talent, time and excuses. It’s time he delivered on a consistent basis, because at the moment his final product is quite frankly rubbish and barring a good 20 minutes here or there against quality opposition, he’s not been worth the fanfare he’s attracted and he remains an immensely frustrating player. Just looking at Jack Wilshere at Bolton, a 18 year old youngster playing week in week out against much more physically intimidating opponents and he’s been excellent, and he’s also been much more consistent and threatening than Walcott has ever been in the Premiership for Arsenal. 21 years old is no longer young for a footballer anymore and Walcott is running out of time to show his true self or he may have to move over and let the new breed come through.
Terrible Goalkeepers – It’s an issue that’s needed addressing for quite some time and one that Wenger finally looks willing to admit defeat in. Manuel Almunia is a deeply average goalkeeper. This season he has the 17 lowest saves to shots ratio out of all the Premiership’s regular goalkeepers. You simply don’t win anything without a stable and consistent custodian between the sticks, Almunia is far too erratic. Against Barcelona he produced some stunning saves to keep his side in the first leg, but this is the exception and not the rule. He wouldn’t have been able to get in any other Premiership team’s first eleven this season other than perhaps Hull’s or Burnley’s on ability and before becoming Arsenal number one, he had failed to command that position at any other club in his career, including lesser lights such as Osasuna, Celta Vigo and Recreativo. The less said about Lukasz Fabianski the better. Vito Mannone looked half decent though and I hear the club have high hopes for young Polish stopper Wojciech Sczcesny, so perhaps all is not lost in that department.
Barcelona sort men from the boys – Arsenal looked pretty impressive in Europe this season before drawing Barcelona in the Champions League quarter-finals with a 5-0 thumping of a decent Porto side at the Emirates proving a highlight. But as far as styles go, the quarter-final just served to highlight how far Arsenal are from their illustrious counterparts in terms of quality. It was probably the ideal scenario for Barca, playing a side as open as Arsenal and similar yet inferior to them in style. Yet the feeling persists that Wenger’s stubbornness to play the beautiful game his way or the highway so to speak might be holding Arsenal back. The all conquering ‘Invincibles’ side could play the beautiful game, yet they had intimidating figures all over the pitch in Campbell, Vieira, Gilberto Silva and Martin Keown. The majority of their squad was 6ft tall or more and they could rough it with the best of them. Is Wenger forsaking substance for style? Sure they can hurt great teams on their day, and they could have gone ahead at the Camp Nou if they had a bit more composure in front of goal, but the statistic that they haven’t won against nearest rivals for title Chelsea or Man Utd in their last eight attempts tells its own story. To win the league, or at least come close to it, they’re going to have to beef up, otherwise this young and talented side that lacks the sort of dominant leadership figures that they had in abundance in the past, will lose their way and will forever be remembered as the bridesmaid and never the bride.
Poor defending costs Arsenal dearly – Manager Arsene Wenger has targeted defensive reinforcements this summer stating that “If you divide the season into two – going forward we have done very well but defensively we have been average. When you concede 40 goals you don’t win the championship and I want to rectify that.” Arsenal do have 15 clean sheets to their name but it’s clear that a dominant centre half is required, with Brede Hangeland linked for a second successive summer along with Senegalese defender Pape Diakhate. William Gallas’ contract is up, and with his wage demands reportedly way too extravagant for Chairman Peter Hill-Wood’s pocket, let alone discussing the issue of the actual length of any proposed contract, with Wenger strictly sticking to his principles of only offering players over 30 years of age a 1- year extension no matter what their value to their side, it looks as if he may be about to fly the nest. Sol Campbell has done reasonably well, in particular a good performance against Spurs in the North London derby and is probably worth another 1-year deal. Thomas Vermaelen has been excellent but could do with a new regular partner if Gallas departs. Johan Djourou looks promising yet injury-prone. Phillip Senderos looks to be searching for a way out and some regular football and Mikael Silvestre is just hopeless. Torn a new one by Lionel Messi in the second leg of the Champions League quarter final this term, this in itself is not a massive problem, but his hand in several of the goals with misplaced passes, poor positioning and a failure in the most rudimentary of defensive tasks, the ability to tackle, most definitely is. He’s neither a centre half nor a left back, and you have to ask yourself why Sir Alex Ferguson would sell a player to such a bitter rival such as Arsene Wenger is, so willingly for such a pittance as £500k, if he truly was any good anymore. The answer is because he’s not and if deadwood needs to be shed in the summer, he should be top of the list. The full back positions seem well stocked with Clichy and Gibbs down the left both being very good full backs and Bacary Sagna a steady right back, even if he has gone through a bit of a slump this season, and there’s always Eboue as cover if he fancies sticking around for longer. But the centre half question needs to be answered, and quickly.
Reinvestment is needed – Which all brings me all rather neatly to my next point, the fact that certain areas of the playing staff need some serious reinvestment. Arsenal have a fine young squad there’s no doubting that, and they’re gaining experience more and more every season, but if we are to believe the constant harpings on from the board that Wenger has a substantial transfer kitty to play with, it would be in the club’s best interests if he were to use it. Wenger is a deeply stubborn manager, sometimes too stubborn for his own good, but what is most grating is that this Arsenal side aren’t too far away in terms of quality and with the right signings here and there they could be serious challengers. It is difficult to judge fully what positions need adjusting and tweaking as the playing squad is barely, if ever, all fully fit, but to my mind they could do with a new goalkeeper, a commanding centre half, another holding man to help out Alex Song and another striker to compensate for the inevitable injury breakdown he’ll have next season. Eduardo has looked a shadow of the player since returning from injury, and if I may be so bold, he wasn’t even that good before it. People’s views are often overtly distorted due to the horrific nature of his freak leg injury but the fact remains that he only scored 12 goals in 31 games that season before being ruled out for over a year in February after the Birmingham match. I think he’s more than shown this season that he’s not up to the job with a rather paltry return of 6 in 32 games to show for his, erm, efforts. Carlos Vela has sat on the bench for most of the season and despite his manager extolling his virtues earlier on in the campaign, he’s obviously been deemed not ready for regular action just yet. Nicklas Bendtner has been a decent target man in spells and he’s a decent squad player but can’t be relied upon regularly to hit the back of the net. He’s better than people give him credit for, but still not as good as he thinks he is himself. Maroune Chamakh is a decent deal if it goes ahead on a free transfer but a top bracket striker is definitely required.
North London power shift? – Will Danny Rose’s wonder strike in Spurs 2-1 win at White Hart Lane this April, be the moment that people look back on in years to come as the start of a power shift across North London? Well no is probably the answer to that one, sorry to disappoint all you chirpy Spurs fans out there but I think Arsenal as a club are in just as good a position as their local rivals. Sure Spurs have qualified for Champions League football, they have potential and a strong squad, but until Rose’s goal they hadn’t beaten Arsenal in their previous 18 attempts. Arsenal have an excellent manager, one of the best in the world, an admirable footballing philosophy, despite Spurs fans claiming you pinched their style of play? A bizarre claim considering how much football has changed over the years and a young and supremely talented squad. It’s certainly getting closer to call between the two but I wouldn’t go changing my mind over anything just over the evidence of one result
Domestic Cup mistakes – Arsenal under Wenger have for the last few years used a policy of utilising the clubs younger players in the earlier rounds of domestic cup competitions, in particular the league cup, but after going five years without a trophy, surely it’s time for the Arsenal faithful to demand a little more than experimentation in the cups. Every club likes winning trophies obviously, but the fact of the matter is that Arsenal haven’t won one in 5 years and haven’t even been in a final since their 2007 league cup in a fiery encounter that resulted in a 2-1 defeat to Chelsea. This season they went out away to Man City in the Carling Cup quarter-final phase 3-0 away from home, sticking to his principles, Wenger fielded a largely inexperienced side with only Silvestre, Rosicky, Song and Eboue what you would consider calling first-team regulars. Fast forward a month to the FA Cup fourth round and they exited away from home at the hands of Stoke 3-1, with Wenger handing starts to the likes of Francis Coquelin, Jay Emmanuel-Thomas and Craig Eastmond, whilst Arshavin and Rosicky sat on the bench. Surely it’s time to ditch the experiment? 5 seasons without a trophy, 3 without a final, for a club the size of Arsenal is simply unacceptable. League challenges have faltered on a regular occasion in that period and a cup run would be a nice distraction for a club steeped in cup tradition. Perhaps it’s time Wenger took them a little more seriously for the benefit of the club and its fans. If Wenger wants a youngster to gain experience, like Craig Eastmond or Emmanuel-Thomas, then simply send them out on loan for a few months or even an entire season, there’s no need to demean the country’s two domestic cup competitions in the process. It all started out as a canny idea, and others sides have copied it, it has to be said, but not to the same extent as Arsenal and not for the same period of time either. It’s got to the point of insulting now and it’s time Wenger realised that. I don’t want to nag on too much in some self-righteous rant that ‘the fans pay their money, they should get what they want’ because it’s Wenger’s prerogative to do as he sees fit with a club that’s by now completely in his own image, but it does seem like it’s about time Arsenal took them more seriously. The League Cup’s last four winners were Chelsea, Spurs and Man Utd twice, it appears that other big clubs are taking it seriously now, so why aren’t you Arsene?
Arbitrary marks out of ten – 7.5/10 – Arsenal were many people’s tips to be the big club to make way for Man City in the top four at the beginning of the season, but despite suffering some terrible injuries and failing against top opponents, for the majority of the campaign they’ve been a consistent and at times an exciting side as ever to watch. I just wish Arsene would spend some bloody money, calm down a bit in post-match interviews with his rashly inaccurate comments and take the domestic cups a bit more seriously, then everyone would be a winner.