Are Arsenal happy to be also-rans?
By Avenell Dave
It's been a miserable, quiet, uneventful week, memorable only for us Addicts trying to come to terms with the devastation of Sunday, the wake-up call that reminds us that while we punch above our weight so often, class is class.
I use that last phrase because Andrey Arshavin has today bemoaned the situation - and I can understand why.
He may flit in and out of games, but he knows and alludes in an interview that we're punching above our weight AND that he is struggling playing as a forward.
Arsene Wenger has today revealed that he was very close to signing someone on Monday, which raises all sorts of questions.
Was he in the process of signing someone and keeping it quiet simply for terms or agreements to falter at the last minute?
Or did he decide after Sunday's capitulation that we simply had to sign a new striker and he had to pull out the stops to make just the sort of last minute, panic buy that he claims he would never make?
Either way, it makes no difference.
We know we need players in certain positions to turn from good to great and the fact that a deal was not concluded means that either we did not have or were not willing to sump up the cash or that the search was too narrow.
It's as much an admission that the squad needs strengthening as we will ever get.
We can speculate about whether it was Remy, Huntelaar, Dzeko (as if!), Chamakh or even Carlton Cole but the fact is, we will probably never know.
The strange thing was that Wenger said in the post M*nure press conference that he would not be signing anyone on Monday, so perhaps things DID change overnight and he realised the size of the shortcomings in the squad.
CEO Ivan Gazidis said a year ago that coming fourth is not good enough for Arsenal. We can't be glory hunters expecting to win trophies every time we enter a competition, but reaching finals, having a team worthy of competing rather than just being gallant also-rans has got to be the focus of the next six months.
I read an article on Europe's most threatening strikers this morning and, according to Opta, the most effective in the first half of the season was....you guessed it, Robin van Persie.
The Dutchman had seven goals, seven assists and created a chance every 26 minutes - more than Shrek, Drivba, Torres, Ibrahimovic and Higuain.
It explains why Wenger rates him so highly and we all know he is a class act.
The problem is that he misses half a season every season and I'd take a player with a slightly lower threat if we could rely on them for more of the season.
The same magazine wrote of how Theirry Henry's pace and threat has waned to such a degree that he is almost certain to leave Barcelona in the summer.
Make no mistake, re-signing him would not be a good move and I'm sure would never happen.
Wenger will buy a striker in the summer - we'll be the last ones to know.
More on Sunday's game tomorrow - the fact is we all have hope that we can get something at Stamford Bridge. Losing would be a bitter reminder of the lessons we all learnt on Sunday.
But I take you back to Arshavin's remark and have to say, if one of the club's top three performers (I include Cesc and Verminator in that list) thinks we've been playing beyond our real level and that we need players, what on earth does Le Boss think?
DA
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Reader Comments (4)
Our top performer has been Song. He was out of sorts Sunday, which is why we lost. Prior to his departure for Africa he was the rock in the midfield, which allowed us to be such a threat upfront. His absence was like Flamini's departure, making us soft and vulnerable through the center. Same thing happened to Real Madrid when they sold Makelele.
Below is a letter I sent to Ivan Gazidis on Monday - I believe many Gooners out there think the same:
Dear Mr. Gazidis
Before I begin, please let me state that I am in no way the type of person who has a knee jerk reaction to a football match result. However, the concerns I am about to reveal have been simmering for a while and I suspect many other Arsenal fans feel the same, some even more so.
Firstly, I am a great admirer of the way Arsene Wenger has operated under the financial constraints placed upon him due to the move to the new stadium. To have consistently delivered champions league football as a result of this has to be admired.
Although the role you now occupy is newly created, the player transfer & contract negotiations segment was performed by Mr. David Dein for a number of years until his departure in 2007. He oversaw the successful conversion of our old stadium to an all-seater in late 1994. He gave an interview in a newspaper, in which he said “we have a world class stadium – now we need a team to play in it”. Subsequently, he played a huge part in not only bringing in world class players (Bergkamp, Vieira, Henry, Pires) but also in keeping them at the club. He delivered on his statement.
Your tenure so far has brought in players like Arshavin and Vermaelen, and we are ever so grateful for the important part you played in recruiting them. However, the following points are causing the fans some anxiety, and although I do not expect you to divulge answers to each and every one, I do hope that you will take them on board and consider their implications.
• The number one goalkeeper (Manuel Almunia) has made some grave errors of judgement, particularly in the big games, and his record in coming out for crosses and making match defining saves is somewhat few and far between (I can only think of Manchester United away in the Champions League last season). He has cost the side points (both Manchester United games this season), and our perception of him is that he does not instill confidence in our defenders. With both Lukasz Fabianski and Vito Mannone having done better than Almunia in the games they have played, is it not ideal for the manager to give them a chance seeing as our current goalkeeper is not making a positive difference?
• Our player options up front have been decimated with multiple injuries, yet no reinforcements have been brought in, even on loan to just cover for the amount of time that the injuries will take to recover (namely the absence of Robin van Persie). Why are we constantly told that there is money to spend (“up to £30m on one player if Arsene so chooses” – quoted from Peter Hill-Wood) but when there are options to bring in one player on loan (Klaas Jan-Huntelaar) we still stick to our depleted resources, the folly of which was laid bare last Sunday when we created chances but had no one to put them away
• The impression I get is that the defensive side of our game is lacking in that we do not know how to play when the opposition has the ball. If Arsene cannot adequately address this on the training pitch himself, would it not be prudent to bring in a defensive coach who can? We did employ Martin Keown in 2005-06 to do such a thing, and the result was that we did not concede one goal in 6 Champions League knockout games involving Real Madrid, Juventus and Villarreal.
• I do not advocate a laissez faire attitude to transfer spending, but without requisite investment in our squad at times which require for it to happen, we run the risk of being left behind. By all means, if the young players are maturing and fulfilling their potential then all is well and good, but competition for places is a good thing in that it eradicates complacency and makes the players try harder. What really rankles with us is that Manchester United no longer have the services of Cristiano Ronaldo and Carlos Tevez, with Chelsea’s ageing squad a year older, but the games in which we have played them this season have showed no signs of us catching them up in terms of ability to challenge them. This is not acceptable as one of the things Arsene has said is that the team will mature with experience, something we (the fans) have not yet seen. If we were to play either of these sides in the Champions League this season, then it is not inconceivable that our team will get humiliated once more.
• With a majority of fans skeptical about our chances to challenge for (let alone win) the remaining two competitions that we are involved in, there is a huge risk that many will vote with their feet and simply refuse to renew their season tickets for next season. When they already pay the highest prices in the whole of the division, and with the constant selling of the future that Wenger always falls back on, with no player investment or big name players that we can look to when games like last Sunday are going against us, then you really cannot blame them. We pay the wages of these players, but when you realize that the performances of players like Almunia and Denilson will not see them replaced in the starting eleven, then it appears that Wenger is more concerned with protecting their morale than trying to get our club at a competitive level.
I apologise if I have overstepped the mark in my criticisms, but these are valid concerns for us Arsenal fans. Please can you ensure that these are relayed back to Arsene Wenger, and that the trust of the fans is seen not to be taken for granted.
Many thanks for your time in reading this.
East End Gooner,
That was a wonderfully scripted letter. It fully deserves a written response. There were some well thought out points, and commentary. Excellent Job, and well done.
Cheers Mate
good letter here's hoping one of our fellow fans beats up wenger in the car park and knocks some sense into him.