Tuesday, December 02, 2008

Arsenal's frustrating season continues

Why do I say it is frustrating? Because how can you lose to Stoke, Manchester City and Hull, draw against Tottenham when you have a 2 goal lead in the 89th minute and then turn around and beat Manchester United and Chelsea. Similar to the past few seasons, Arsenal just seems to tease the fans with some great performances only to follow with a series of less than top notch performances. For Arsenal to challenge for a title they need to win games against the middle and bottom of the table on a regular basis while hoping to hold serve against the other "big 4." Arsenal needs to win or draw games as they did against the Red Devils and Blues, which they have been able to do so in the past...but they frustratingly lose to teams they should beat!

I have harped on this in the past, but to me this is due to a lack of veterans and of toughness that allow Arsenal to play to the level of their competition. Without players like Pires, Vieira, Bergkamp, Edu, Gilberto, Henry, Campbell, etc Arsenal do not have the leadership to motivate and get the team up for a game against Stoke just as it would against Chelsea. The road to a Premiership title is a slog, especially in the cold hard winter months. Arsenal needs to start rethinking some of their strategies when it comes to veterans, otherwise I fear this maddening inconsistency will only get worse.

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