Early success led to irrational exuberance: At the beginning of the season it appeared that Wenger had once again caught lightning in a bottle, in particular the emergence of Adebayor as a #1 striker. The Togolese striker was unstoppable early on, nothing exemplified this more than his second half against Tottenham where he was a complete terror, scoring a brace with an absolute smashing strike from outside the 18 yard box. In addition, Fabergas was playing at another level - adding to the score sheet for his club and running the midfield with such grace. Arsenal found ways of beating their rivals - a 1-0 victory against Chelsea due to a Cech mistake and coming back to draw with Manchester United. Arsenal also cruised through their group stage games in the Champions League....This early success gave fans a false sense of destiny for silverware.
However the depth and lack of spending soon reared its ugly head: The early success masked a number of problems that the team did not address in the transfer market. It would become painfully apparent that they were thin in many areas on the pitch and lacked the depth of a Manchester United, Chelsea or Liverpool. This was particularly
painful when Wenger did little spending in the summer transfer window. He did add Sagna and Eduardo. While Sagna was a success from day 1, it took Eduardo a time to find his game...only to see that painfully squashed when he suffered his horrific leg injury. However he did not grab a midfield dynamo...like Ribery. Maybe some depth on the back line, especially in the center back role. How can you compete in the modern day football when you do not have depth? In particular when your rivals have an abundance of depth - Manchester United can call upon Rooney, Tevez, Ronaldo and Saha up front or Chelsea can juggle Lampard, Malouda, Essein, Makelele, Ballack, Wright-Phillips, Mikel, Cole, and Sidwell in the midfield? Wenger also did not pull the trigger to add any depth during the winter transfer window....as opposed to Chelsea who went out and purchased Anelka.And lack of mental toughness did them in: To me it is no surprise that Arsenal have not
won anything since Vieira left. Granted I am a huge Pat fan, but it cannot be denied that with players like Vieira, Arsenal had a level of toughness and attitude that is sorely lacking right now. Since Wenger sold Pat to Italy, he has not found a player to assume that mantle of captain, enforcer, and midfield general. Since folks like Parlour, Keown, and Vieira graced the North London pitch Arsenal have not had much bite. Without this toughness a team cannot hope to navigate the difficulties of a long premiership season coupled with 3 cup competitions (Carling, FA and Champions League). Beautiful football can win you many games, but you need internal toughness during the difficult games playing on less than good pitches in the middle of England when you need to scrap and fight for goals and wins.So what does this mean for Arsenal?
Three things that Wenger will have to do this off season -
- This is no surprise, add some depth...SPEND MONEY. Arsenal must find another striker, a central defender, a few midfielders, and maybe a goalkeeper (not sure Almunia is your long term answer). More importantly this depth must come in the form of veteran players. Wenger has always done a fabulous job finding young diamonds in the rough and sticking with them to see them develop. Experience, however, is what is needed in combination with the existing youth to allow this team to truly challenge for silverware. Rumors are flying that Wenger will look at David Villa or at Palacio from Boca Juniors. It is also expected that Arsenal will add the French midfielder Ben Arfa from Lyon. What I fear is that these are rumors and when push comes to shove Wenger will not be willing to add the necessary bounty to land these players...much like the apparent bid for Ribery last year. The main issue is that while Wenger adds complimentary pieces the other clubs are adding the big elephants - last year Liverpool were adding Torres and Babel, Manchester United Hargreaves and Tevez.....Wenger needs to add depth and veteran talent.
- Find your soul. Again I am harping on this, but since Vieira left Arsenal has not won any silverware and have demonstrated a knack of fading down the stretch. Part of this malaise comes from the lack of depth, but another part lacks the internal s
oul and fortitude you need to navigate a long season. I am not sure where the team's character comes from now. When Vieira left, Henry took the mantle for a while, he was able to bring some determination to the squad but the team still lacked the soul it had when it had more "toughness." Without both Frenchmen, Arsenal have no natural leader or "character" player. I think Gallas and Toure are great central defenders, but neither can carry a team. Fabergas with all his talent is not the player I see as being the spiritual leader, maybe later on he will grow into this role, but not today. Silva had a glimmer in the spot light, but Flamini was determined to be the better holding midfielder which pushed that plan to the back burner. Speaking of Flamini, he has filled some of the void left by Vieira from a footballing perspective but Flamini cannot be expected to fill the leadership role that Vieira brought to the table. This summer Wenger must find or determine what the soul of his team is, and who will be the flag bearer. I believe some of that soul will be in the form of toughness which is sorely lacking. - Take every competition seriously. This might seem simplistic, but Arsenal needs to start thinking along the lines of adding silverware to its coffers....if that is a Carling Cup
great, an FA Cup better, Champions League or Premiership the best. Wenger needs to realize that when he has a chance to win a trophy he needs to be willing to put the right players on the pitch - Carling Cup finals last season, Carling Cup semis this season, and FA Cup this season were all examples of Wenger stubbornly sticking with his model of the kids playing rather than adapting depending on the situation. While I do not believe he should push his veterans for an early round Carling Cup game, when it comes to actually winning a trophy....play the games like they count. Now it might be argued that this would be an example of lack of depth...so add depth and talent and play for the silverware! Chelsea, Manchester United, Liverpool and even Tottenham......have added silverware more recently than Arsenal!!!!!
Arsene has proven to be a genius in the recruitment game, but this summer he will need to fill some serious holes for his starting line up and bench, find a soul for his team and take the quest for silverware seriously.
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