"It is very difficult for us to have a rational explanation about what happened today. I believe that the team want it but it was just like a few other times this year where it is unexplainable why we don't really play at our 100 percent potential."—Arsene Wenger.
Strange words coming from a person who has guided The Invincibles. It isn't a one off, if something which has already happened five times times this season against the likes of (with all due respect) Fulham, Hull, Sunderland, Spurs and Stoke, then there has to be a rational explanation.
Critics have often pointed out that the problem lies in the fact that Arsene has not accounted for the loss of Gilberto and Flamini, but experts fail to notice that this is not the case. In all these games, Arsenal did dominate the possession, and the ball-play in the middle of the park. The serious problem lies elsewhere.
The defence is the biggest chink in the Gunners' armour. Wenger has dropped the ineffective Toure, but has given the more-ineffective Gallas and Sylvestre umpteen number of chances to perform.
Clichy has been okay, but there is a sense of complacency visible in his play with the knowledge that his closest competition is honing his skills at Fratton Park. Sagna and Eboue, when fit have not been consistent.
Wenger has maintained, he will not sacrifice his principles. A glance at the Carling Cup team which is yet to concede despite playing a full strength, physical Premier League team, shows a completely different picture.
Song has not been impressive when he has played out of position in the centre of defence and at right back, for the first team. Surprisingly his Carling Cup partner, Johan Djorou, has not got his due.
Djorou has performed well whenever he's had his chance. Despite fine displays, he finds himself behind Song in the pecking order, which is certainly frustrating. He played well against United, yet was out of the Villa starting line-up.
The same with Gavin Hoyte who has been pretty good at right back. Shouldn't these two guys get starts in the main team based on Wenger's principles?
Shouldn't Toure get as many chances as Sylvestre or Gallas to perform? Wenger has said he does not pick his team on passports, but what about this case, where Gallas and Sylvestre are being given chance after chance after chance?
Delivery in the final third is also hampering Arsenal's chances. Wenger's insistence on playing with five in midfield against lowly teams is very surprising, especially coming from a person who advocates attacking football. It failed with Hleb last season, yet Wenger is adamant that it will work.
Bendtner cannot play as a lone striker, it has been proved time and time again. Yet Wenger persists with him. Arsenal certainly lack quality, up front, when Adebayor and van Persie are out.
The Gunners do have Carlos Vela, but he needs time on the pitch before becoming lethal. He isn't the super-sub that Bendtner is. If Wenger sticks to his principles, and form does matter, Vela should start ahead of Bendtner.
With Theo's injury, Randall and Lansbury can get a run in the first team, ahead of playing a central-midfield player, an experiment that has more or less failed except in the case of Hleb and Rosicky.
Wenger has to learn the following things:
- Diaby is no Bergkamp, who will fit into the "hole".
- Song is not a good defender; centre back, or right back
- Central midielders at Arsenal do not make good wingers.
Mr. Wenger, please shed your aura of arrogance. The fans believe in your principles, stick to them.
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about 1 month ago
Well written Archit.
But, Diaby is a more attack minded player who does link up well - in the last game, he wasn't allowed to do that.
This is by no means a crisis at Arsenal - and Wenger will not play Gavin Hoyte, who made his Arsenal debut (in a competition) only against Wigan. While I'm not happy about the situation, I think that January could and should be a turning point for the club.
Let's just hope and stay positive.
about 1 month ago
I think Arsene sees the Carling Cup Kids as a cohesive unit, and won't want to muck that up too much by plucking too many of the team out of that lineup to shore up what he has wrong with the senior squad. And that is a mistake.
The point of the Carling Cup Kids is to break in to the first team, not solidify as a single entity to eventually replace the first team lock stock and barrel. Every player develops and matures at their own pace, and if Arsene has serious problems at the senior level (like he does with Gallas, like he does with 'x' being his defensive central midfielder, then he should graduate reserve and youth prospects to that role.
Just look at Rafeal who came on to replace Neville, who had a forgettable game for most of United's clash against Arsenal. The teenager was confident, effective and scored a goal.
If Sir Alex has the vision to replace what is wrong with what is ready to remedy the situation, why is Arsene so stubborn not to?
about 1 month ago
Interesting article Archit.
You raise and argue your points very well.
To tell you the truth I'm not a huge fan of Song at all and think there are better players that deserve a chance. I would like to see Ramsey start against Manchester City, I think he could do a job job with Cesc out.
about 1 month ago
I'm sorry, but I cannot agree with the content of this article. I'll state my reasons:
1) You are right about one thing though. The CC side play wengerball better than the senior side.
2) If you have such a poor midfield defensively and offensively, not even the greatest defense in the world can save you against PL teams. Denilson has overshadowed Fabregas in the attacking sense because he does not tackle at all. So Fabregas feels he has the responsibility to tackle as Denilson does not sit back, but hes not very good at it. Denilson is also pretty average in the offensive sense too, he gets pushed off the ball/dominated really easily. Last season, our midfield was helped defensively because hleb and rosicky used to press well from the wings and defend everytime the opponent was attacking. And how can I forget Flamini's defending and his energy? He was great.
3) If you look at our possession against Aston Villa, we had 68% of it and Villa 32%. But did you see how much of the possession was in OUR HALF? A lot. We couldnt get the ball out of our half because Villa were pressuring us when they didnt have possession. So we had a lot of possession in our own half, but very little meaningful possession in their half. The reason for that is that we cannot hold up possession in the opposition team's half now; hleb was integral to our attacking play last year because he held up possession well. Now our attack breaks down too easily.
4) Our defense with Silvestre and Gallas has fared well i think. If you even look at the lack of cover our midfielders gave us against Man Utd, you will see that silvestre and gallas stuck to it. In the tottenham game, 2-3 goals were almunia's fault easily. Toure used to be one of my fav players, but he hasnt been the same player since last year. He cant head the ball at all, and seems to panic the other CB. He is very erratic now, and the only thing that saves his blushes sometimes is his speed. But his judgment at defending has become a problem. And another iv noticed with Toure is, that whenever Toure had a bad ACN, he had poor form at Arsenal for some time.
about 1 month ago
I certainly appreciate your comments Mr. Syed, and I do agree on the views of a central midfield partner for Cesc. Denilson isn't there yet, I'd rather play Diaby there. He is a guy who will go into the tackles and there is no harm playing two attack-minded players in midfield.
Gallas-Silvestre may be the best combination we have out of Gallas-Toure-Silvestre-Song package, but I think its high time Djorou got a game. Gallas-Silvestre were okay in the United game, not half as good as the team needs them to be. In all probability, he will play, and he should partner Gallas or Toure as Silvestre isn't there yet. Toure barely has had a run in the team and was deservedly dropped after the Stoke game. Silvestre, Gallas and Song have made more mistakes, yet they get more chances. That is alarming.
How can you expect a team to attack in the final third if there isn't anyone to finish the job? Even against Spurs, we could have scored so many more. Coming to the Villa game, we let Villa come onto us, rather than take the game to them.
Coming to the Spurs game, the amount of space the opposition attackers had in our half was alarming. Apart from the first freaky goal, the defenders should have closed down on the Spurs attackers who had enough time and space to take their long shots. Almunia is at fault, but so are the defenders.
One more thing I've noticed is that the present team is not taking enough number of shots on goal. If you were to go over the Invincibles' season, you would notice the number of goals scored by Pires, Wiltord and Ljungberg, and most of these goals were of rebounds off shots taken by Henry, Bergkamp and Reyes.
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