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Arsenal: A Team Waiting to Implode?
By Toyin | November 20, 2008
Many years ago, Highbury faithfuls coined a simple statement-“Arsene knows” based on the exploits of their team’s French manager. Recent events however may have dulled the sharpness of this statement.
Just a season ago, Arsenal rode high on the Premier league table. As a matter of fact, they had 10 more points at this stage than what they have managed so far. They lost only three matches throughout last season in the league. I’m sure you don’t need me to remind us that they have already lost four times this season to lowly clubs ranging from Fulham to Hull City.
Most significantly, the envious home record that was built over two years since they moved from Ashburton Grove has been rubbished in most shameful manners. For over two years at the Emirates, Arsenal suffered only one home defeat and that was to West Ham United, a team they totally dominated, out played but who had an inspirational goal keeper who was in top shape between the posts.
Recent losses at the Emirates, ‘am sure, left sore taste in the mouths of many a Gunner!
When I did my own special preview sometime ago on this blog of what the new Premiership season might look like at the end of the day, I must confess that my pessimism on the likely performance of the team look very positive and optimistic when compare with what is happening to them now! In making my conclusion on what I feel would be their position, I emphasized the fact that they will come short due to injuries as they did not recruit enough players to cover key positions in times of absence that may be due to injuries or suspensions.
While they have had quite a number of injuries to contend with early in the season, the main albatross of their performances (which at best have been erratic) can be summed up in one word-Inconsistency!
How do you explain away a team that played with so much conviction and gusto to beat the champions losing the next match to a team which had lost its last two matches? While everything is possible in this beautiful game of ours, contenders for a league title (or nay titlr for that matter) have always been ruthless, consistent and left little room for ‘surprises’.
In the past, a winner of the mini league within the top four teams usually wins the league. This record was dented by Arsenal when the team came out on top in 2006 and ended up scrapping for the last champions’ league position on the table. Despite the fact that they managed to beat only Chelsea at the Emirates (they drew both home and away with Liverpool and lost to Chelsea and Man U at the Bridge and Old Trafford respectively), they can look back to last season and rightfully regret all the drawn games against the likes of Newcastle, Aston Villa, Wigan Athletic, Birmingham, Middlesborough etc and not the short comings against their more illustrious rivals.
Imagine a situation where they picked all the maximum points from those games! They would totally have eclipsed Chelsea and Manchester United even before they met them in the so called deciders!
If I was asked to give my verdict for their inability to win the league last season despite their promising start; I would give another simple answer: Mental toughness! They failed to lift themselves out of the rot engendered by the horrible injury to Eduardo and the last gap penalty awarded against them at Birmingham fast enough and when the chips are down, the team failed to count.
Then again, there is the small matter of the ‘Prof’ himself! Arsene Wenger should have won more than the three league titles he has on his CV. On two occasions, the league was theirs to throw away and they did just that! I could remember vividly the 37th game of the season in 2001/2002 against Leeds United in Highbury. All they needed to do was win that game. They huffed, puffed and failed to make any significant move to get the result they needed until they fell to a sucker punch from Mark Viduka.
This type of mentality was largely responsible for the inability of the ‘Prof’ to win a “back to back” title since he arrived in England. His main rival, Sir Alex Ferguson has done this on three different occasions now while Jose Mourinho managed to do this within his first two seasons (with a lot of oil money we might add)!
Remember the champions’ league quarter final match against Chelsea at Highbury in April 2004? Arsenal led by a lone goal in the first half only to totally collapse in the second half and send Claudio Ranieri’s team to the semis against FC Monaco. This was the same team that went to the San Siro and comprehensively defeated Inter Milan 5 – 1! When it mattered most, they failed and ridiculously so.
What about UEFA cup final in Copenhagen in May 2000? They failed to make it count after wasting several gilt edged chances throughout the match. Arsenal lost to Liverpool in the FA Cup final in 2002 in similar fashion. And I ‘m sure that most of us still remember Paris 2006!
While Wenger is famously known to be a bad loser, even a sulking one at that, he has failed to get his players to exhibit enough mental toughness required to succeed continually in this game. This may sound a bit harsh but it is the truth and reality cannot be discountenanced.
When a team goes to Milan, to the Guisseppe Meassa and comprehensively outplayed a side that hardly lose at that stage of a competition (whether aged or not), the general assumption is that such a team may have turned the corner mental wise. What happened after this great feat? Liverpool qualified for the semis of the champions’ league (not without a little help from poor refereeing decision) at the detriment of a team that played arguably the best football matches up to that stage. They were within six minutes of qualification with the game tied 2-2 at Anfield. At the end of the day, they were sent packing 4-2 on aggregate after conceding a silly penalty.
‘Arsene knows’ is no longer apt within the teeming fans of this great team! It is now more like ‘what is wrong with this man’? While most teams in Europe beefed up their midfields in preparation for the new season, Wenger dismantled his! He allowed Flamini and Hleb to leave. These two guys, with Fabregas, formed a triangle that was a joy to behold.
All that Wenger needed to do was to buy a quality player to replace the aged Giberto Silva who was frozen out of the team by a resurgent powerhouse, Matthew Flamini.
Having allowed Flamini to leave (free) to Milan, Wenger went further to ‘release’ Alexandr Hleb to Barcelona. In reaction, he went French again by buying Samir Nasir and of course Amauri Bichoff (an injured player who never played first team football at Werder Bremen).
While he kept harping on the quality of the team, he failed to see what was happening all around him. From Manchester United, Chelsea to Liverpool, all bought quality players to strengthen their teams and to become more competitive. Wenger kept dilly dallying until the door was shut on his face by Rafael Benitez over the transfer of Xabi Alonzo at the twelfth hour.
Now the heat is on and the pressure is getting higher. Within the circle of Denilson, Song, Ramsey and to a lesser extent, Diaby; who can consistently cut it over a long season as a holding midfielder among these talented guys? My sincere answer is none!
Though Wenger may disagree with this, the average performance of Cesc Fabregas so far this season has a lot to do with the quality of the players around him in the midfield!
Many times this season, he had hesitated at crucial times in making decisions that would have been decisive to the outcome of some of the matches. Even though, he would be the last person to voice this out, it is obvious from his body language that he is not too enchanted with what took place during pre-season.
If Arsenal fail (I pray not) to win anything this season; and God forbid, are unsuccessful to qualify for champions league; Wenger will have his hands full in trying to keep his players at the end of the season.
While winning the Carling Cup should not be a priority for a team like Arsenal as Wenger rightly pointed out, not winning anything for four years should set the alarms ringing in any ambitious football club.
And Arsenal should match the ambition that they demonstrated when the move to Emirates was completed with quality players to complement the undoubted talents at the club. A stitch in time definitely saves nine.
Topics: Biz Football, Premiership, Success Pills, The Gaffer |
November 22nd, 2008 at 10:08 pm
Though I love the way Arsenal plays under Wenger, I am not impressed with the way they seem to falter over small teams. Can u imagine that they have lost five games already? All against teams that are not in the top echlon of the premiership. I hope they put their feet down and work hard. Otherwise…….
November 24th, 2008 at 9:30 pm
Hmmm! Yemisi, you and Toyin better advise Arsenal management to give Wenger another post or betterstill make him the stadium manager.
When a coach decides to groom players for the big teams, it shows that he is tired of winning laurels. I remember Arsene Wenger saying they will always sell players because of the debts incurred in building Emirates Staduim.
Wenger, the Financial Director. Pele o! (lol)
November 30th, 2008 at 2:19 am
Nice post u have here
Added to my RSS reader
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