Gooners, Gooners, Gooners despite your club becoming the laughing stock of English football, many of you still expect to easily finish in the top four and in turn qualify for the UEFA Champions League. I am of the opinion that this will not be the case and here are five reasons as to why.
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| The last time they'll be in this draw for a while |
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| File this one under 'Crap' |
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| The Old Guard |
Reason 1 - Arsene Wenger - Many experts in the game believe that as a manager, Wenger is on the wane and I tend to agree with them. The general consensus of Arsene's success in the early years is that yes, he got his team playing some scintillating football and yes, he signed average players and turned them into world beaters. However it is also widely accepted that the success stemmed from the defence, George Graham had built in the years prior to Wenger's title winning teams. The likes of Dixon, Adams, Bould, Keown and Winterburn and Seaman were all in place long before the arrival of the 'professor'. Since then for every Campbell, Toure and Lauren there has been a Cygan, Senderos, Luzhny, Stepanov, Silvestre, Squillaci and most recently Mertesacker. The inability to buy half decent defenders is just one of his flaws which have become apparent in recent years. As mentioned earlier I am not alone on my view of Wenger, former Arsenal, West Ham and Coventry player Stuart Robson said this about Wenger, "I have to wonder whether Arsene Wenger understands the tactical part of the game. When things go wrong he always says the players are tired or that they didn’t play at the right tempo. I don’t think he ever gets to the bottom of why they don’t played well. It’s just general throwaway comments". Even one of Arsenal's greatest ever players, Ian Wright believes the end is nigh for Wenger,"It is a unique position that Wenger is in – I think that any other manager in any country, in any world, with a record like this and no prospect of light at the end of the tunnel – they would have been gone by now".
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| RVP - Clinical |
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| Gervinho - Donkey |
Reason 2 - RVP - As I stated in my preview of the season, you cannot sell your best player and expect to qualify for the Champions League. Arsenal's forwards have a combined 17 Premier League goals this season whereas Robin Van Persie alone has 13 Premier League goals, as a result Manchester United sit top of the table and Arsenal sit comfortably in seventh just outside the Europa League spots. The men tasked with filling Van Persie's boots have had indifferent seasons, Theo Walcott is playing some of the best football of his career...however he has yet to sign a new contract and looks odds on to be the next next 'big star' to leave the Emirates. Oliver Giroud is very similar to Thierry Henry in the fact that he is French and......no that is where the similarities end, slow, lethargic and not exactly what you would call clinical or worth the reported £12 million that was paid for his services. Another expensive import from Ligue 1 was Gervinho and you only need to watch his miss against Bradford to know how deadly he is in front of goal. Lukas Podolski was a promising signing who has yet to hit top form, this isn't surprising considering his previous big money move to Bayern Munich where he struggled for form and only scored 15 times in 71 appearances. So the money spent hasn't resulted in goals as opposed to a certain Swansea striker.
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| The hunt is on for signings |
Reason 3 - The Transfer Market - Apparently there is money to spend in January, despite this I believe it is too late for Arsenal to start spending now. The 09/10 season was when the should have spent big, on the back on getting to the semis of the UCL and F.A. Cup and with Cesc, Nasri, Clichy, RVP, Song, Rosicky and Arshavin (Both in their pomp) in the team all that was needed was a top keeper, centre half (with Vermaelen having been signed) and a couple of world class forwards and another great team could have been well in the works. However they failed to do this and since the summer of 2009 their top players have all left or suffered a severe loss of form. Adebayor and Toure in 2009, Gallas in 2010, Clichy, Cesc and Nasri in 2011 and RVP and Song in 2012. Their status as one of the biggest clubs in the world has taken a huge hit over the last few years and as a result world class players won't join Arsenal, not even good players like Huntelaar want to join. I also wouldn't trust Wenger with any money the infamous Arsenal board want to give him.
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| Bould The Ball Boy |
Reason 4 - Steve 'The Saviour' Bould - Promoted to assistant with the remit of sorting out the back four, despite initial improvement the defence has since returned to its natural uncertainty and inability to deal with the long ball. I'm still not convinced by Szczesny, in my opinion he believes his own hype and needs to refocus on doing the basics right. Mertesacker was always going to be too slow for this league and doesn't look an 'Arsenal player' whatever that is these days. Arsenal's best defender Vermaelen has if anything gone backwards this season looking nothing like the leader Arsenal need. Gibbs isn't in the same league as Gael Clichy, let alone Ashley Cole (He is better than Andre Santos, just). It was also rumoured in late October that Wenger had a rift with Bould over how to train the defence . Whatever the case, I can see no improvement in the Arsenal back line compared to this time last season.
Reason 5 - The Other Teams - Spurs, Everton, West Brom, Liverpool, Stoke, Swansea take your pick all of them look like a better prospect for 4th place than the Gunners. Spurs and Everton are leading the race at the moment and I honestly cannot see either finishing below Arsenal. In my opinion Spurs will get 4th place even with AVB at the helm, they would have beaten Arsenal 4-0 at the Emirates if it wasn't for Adebayor's sending off. They have a striker on fire in Defoe, one of the worlds best players in Bale, a solid defence and a world class keeper in Lloris.
So there you have it Gooners you have no chance of finishing 4th, but the majority of you already know that and are campaigning to oust the board and Wenger. Despite this article I like Arsenal as a club and enjoyed my visit to the Emirates and would return. I for one hope you can rebuild as a club and become a force again for the sake of you the fans and for English football.
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| More of this |
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| Less of this |
