Arsenal: Wounded by time

On the backdrop of the pitiful defeat in the hands of Swansea City at the Liberty stadium last week, people have actually started to question if this is the time when Arsenal will no longer be seen as a title contender to the league trophy, this or in the coming years. While a few argue that the 13-decade old club still has the resilience to atleast compete for the title till the very end, the major part of the football world claim that Arsenal has succumbed to the very painful yet prevalent sight in football these days - stacity. Currently teetering at the 6th position in just 11 matches, Arsenal have already provided a 12-point lead to the leaders of the table Chelsea and the recent statement by Arsene Wenger asserting that there is no competition to Chelsea this year only adds to the despair.

Wenger's faithful have played a strong role in maintaining the dignity of the Frenchman who recently completed 18 eventful years at Arsenal. They have securely upheld the notion that Arsenal still remain a top club fighting its way through the storm upto the top 4 every year, while gradually strengthening itself to one day accomplish that mark of obtaining the silverware that Arsenal have only dreamed of in the last 10 years. However, the statistics of the last 4 years do not remotely seem to be standing by them.

Since 2010, Arsenal have finished 3rd once and 4th three times in the Premier League. While this may seem substandard for a successful club as Arsenal was, the results in the Champions League are further more astonishing. In the last 4 years – Arsenal have never managed to go past the Round of 16, while it’s Premier League competitor Chelsea have managed to win the CL and reach the semi-finals of it once each in the same time! Shocking as that might be, the Frenchman has hardly shown any change in his game tactics and transfer spending to bridge the gap. The contract signing of midfield maestro Mesut Ozil and one of the most promising South American talents Alexis Sanchez in the last 2 years was a dream come true for the Arsenal family, but while Arsene Wenger has managed to deviate from his what is commonly known as ‘Money can’t buy class’ principle, he still falls far behind his competitors in the transfer market, even though clearly the team is in dire need of some horse power.

Barring Alexis Sanchez, all the transfers that have happened atArsenal in the last 3 years have made little impact to the team. The value addition seems to have reached an impasse. Arsenal have made 4 striker signing in the past 3 years and yet the replacement of the role of former captain Robin Van Persie seems to be a distant dream. What’s worse is that the striker problem Arsenal are facing is prevalent for 2 years (and four transfer windows!) and little has been done to solve it.

While the signing of Manchester United benchwarmer Danny Welbeck may seem like a light at the end of tunnel, truth is that he does not seem to be capable of getting Arsenal to the top position. With only 2 goals in 8 Premier League matches, the Englishman has a goal scoring rate of 1:4 at Arsenal - even worse than what he had at Manchester United.

Clearly, poor transfer decisions have reflected the score sheets to an even greater extent. Arsenal have time and again shown that however good they may be against some teams in EPL, they become an injured soldier against worthy opponents. Arsenal have managed to win only 1 game out of 21 played against the Top 4 teams in EPL. Last season they only won once against their top 4 rivals. The lack of confidence was evident in the away matches when Arsenal was handed a merciless drubbing by the likes of Chelsea, City and Liverpool last season, conceding an average of 5.6 goals per match.

Arsene Wenger's unimpressive "performance" in the transfer windows have not only replicated in the output of the team, but has also splashed in the shadows of the club fans. The club’s performances have inculcated a sense of complacency among the fans, who now celebrate a good performance by Arsenal like it would never be seen again!

A tie with Manchester City at home was seen as a positive sign. Gooners rejoiced in the wake of the 4-1 win against Galatasaray at the Champions League this year more than what the Chelsea fans did after the 6-0 debacle! Even a player like Danny Welbeck (whom the Arsenal fans thought of as a mediocre player till last year, lest we forget) is being compared to Thierry Henry just because he showed a good performance against a weak team. Roll back the years, and you'd recall that these things never happened back in the days.

If there was to be change at Arsenal, it would have happened long ago. A decade without a Premier League title is acceptable only if the club competes for it till the very end. But it doesn’t seem so for Arsenal in any season!

The once Invincible Arsenal, known to the football world as a robust team, is now being written off for the title even before the league starts. Performances are deteriorating, yet the manager seems to be unperturbed, satisfied with a Champions League qualifying position. This will leave us with the likes of Chelsea and City dominating the Premier League for some time before an actual change is carried out at Arsenal.

A shame for the Premier League, in all honesty.

-Vib_H [Follow me on Twitter @Vib_Hafc ]

Why Arsenal wouldn't have won the league even without injury woes

Arsene Wenger played it well. He always does play it well. Amid one of the most insulting defeats against the Top 4 clubs (other than Arsenal, of course) and the exacerbating conditions in the away matches of English Premier League for Arsenal which gave rise to excruciating questions and a feeling of intense doubt among Arsenal fans, Arsene Wenger once again, politically correct as always – very beautifully veneered away the blames in the shadows of excuses that involved FFP, referee misjudgments and majorly injuries.

“When we came out of Christmas, we were in a strong position and what you want then is to have your strong players available in March and April, but we had too many injuries”, said the Frenchman as he looked up at the reporter with his blunt smile as usual, depicting the expressions that are never expected and the answers unprecedented.

Giving excuses is what a manager is good at, but with Arsene Wenger it has become a tradition. In a club as big as Arsenal that ranks fourth in the world in terms of revenues, money is really not as big a problem as it has been portrayed to be. The frugalness and economic spending that has been attached to the club is really not as much as Arsenal’s as it is Arsene’s. Getting the club to a decent position without spending much is what Arsene Wenger is good at, but the word ‘decent’ in Arsenal’s dictionary has been deteriorating year by year.

“If we don’t win it (Premier League title) I will take full responsibility."

These words spoken by Arsene Wenger in February 2014 still reverberate in the minds of passionate Gooners as they look up at the Premier League standings, which in a month saw Arsenal sliding to a position which was never even thought of this season. And towards the end of the season, all the words we find out of the mouth of the manager are ‘injuries and injuries’.

So now let’s get deeper into the scenario. Would Arsenal have won the Premier League title if all Arsenal players were fit?

The answer is as simple as it can be. No. 

Arsenal’s major problem this season like every other season has been a face-off against big teams. When the season started well off by defeating teams like Liverpool and Tottenham, people thought that this might just be what Arsenal needed. But in the next few matches Arsenal revealed their Achilles’ heel. The problem was the attack. 

All the teams could potentially judge the fact that Arsenal’s attack is just not good enough even with the help of world-class playmakers such as Cazorla, Ozil and the rest of the army. Even a layman could understand that Arsenal’s frontmen Oilivier Giroud and Nicklas Bandtner were far from able to helping Arsenal to the title. The team with full strength got defeated by Manchester United who were at their worst form in the past 20 years and soon after that a shameful 6-3 defeat at Etihad made situations worse. 

In all these matches, players like Ramsey and Walcott did not prove to be of much help. Reason? Because these players are in the process of being club greats but they still lack the potential of being consistent in every big game. It was clear as day that Arsenal needed a DM like rock, and a prolific striker that could convert the brilliant passes of Cazorla and match the speed of Rosicky.

Would you think that a match against Manchester City, in which Arsenal conceded luckily only 1 goal in the last 10 minutes inspite of City hitting more than 25 shots on target (and still making a total of 6 goals) was ever to be considered an even sided match? Clearly the team was not underperforming; it was incapable of matching the strength of Manchester City even with its full strength. 

Still, somehow other big teams stumbled and Arsenal managed to remain on top till January. But these rankings were a hallucination created which Arsene Wenger couldn’t foresee. While he was too complacent looking just at the then standings, the bigger picture could be seen by many. Teams like Manchester City and Chelsea ranked below Arsenal only because they stumbled in less important matches against weaker teams and they obviously had the potential to come back strong against these teams. On the other hand Arsenal lost to the teams against which it ‘could never win’. This clearly meant that even though Arsenal ranked ahead of the others, it needed reinforcements more than them.

Why then, did Arsene Wenger did not get a replacement of Olivier Giroud/Nicklas Bendtner? Only Wenger knows.

And the result we all know has been ever disappointing - shameful defeat in the hands of Liverpool by 5-1 which saw the first chance of the match missed by Olivier Giroud, and then conceding 5 goals. Wouldn’t the equation be different had Arsenal taken the lead then? 

And how can we forget the match which Wenger would never forget – his 1000^th against Chelsea, we all know what happened there. Same old story.

Arsene Wenger might be putting himself off the blame a little too much. The problem is more the attitude than the result. The man is too stubborn to accept mistakes. The ‘You cannot buy class’ thing has gone a little too far with Arsenal. On the other hand, Manchester City, inspite of losing their main striker Kun Aguero are managing to win the title because their bench of forwards are better than Arsenal’s main men upfront, and Manuel Pellegrini has been as quite as ever.

The FA Cup might be a trophy in itself, but it can never be redemption of the insults that Arsenal have endured in the Premier League. And what’s even more disheartening is the latest statement by Arsene Wenger in which he claims to buy a forward but openly states that it would not be a replacement of Olivier Giroud. In short – he assured you all that the main striker will still be Giroud. And the next season if the same thing happens – the answer will also be the same - ‘Injuries’.

-Vib_H (Follow me on Twitter @Vib_Hafc)

Arsene Wenger: The Professor who lost the race against time

"If you don’t believe you can do it, you have no chance at all”

These words by Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger are still fresh in the memories of the Arsenal fans, who have maintained a lot of patience in the last 10 years but have started to feel the heat of the trophyless years that are eclipsing the shadow of the Emirates. It would be quite fair to say now that after Le Professeur himself has admitted it would be difficult to chase leaders Chelsea after a defeat against Stoke City, that he is contradicting his own statement a bit.

Agreed, the faith that he has shown in some of his players is commendable, especially when they were going through difficult times. The dressing room still echoes the words "In Arsene we trust" and so do most of the Arsenal fans around the world. The players have reciprocated by putting their faith solely on the manager, standing by him with all his decisions, fighting the critics and believing that the trophyless era will soon be over. Some fans have even gone to the extent of hating on Arsenal legends Tony Adams and Ian Wright for their comments against Wenger’s managerial decisions. So much loyalty and faith can only be dreamed about.

However, amid all this, there seems to be a vibe that is slowly chiming in the minds of Gooners, a vibe that is steadily fading the trust out of their hearts and arousing questions in their minds. A vibe which very much is justified now that Arsenal seem close to completing a decade of EPL title-less and 9 years of barren trophies. This vibe was recently sped up after the mastermind Chelsea manager dubbed Arsene Wenger as a "specialist in failure", although many football pundits predicted it way earlier when Wenger decided not to buy an acclaimed striker in the January transfer window.

Frustration among fans has boiled to a level where disrespectful banners against the manager have been put up during Arsenal matches. One example of it is of ‘Buy Buy Wenger – Or Bye Bye Wenger’, which was showcased in the last few days of January transfer window. To be honest, the love that Arsenal fans have shown for their manager is unmatched, but there is always a limit to everything. We can load the camel with lots of straw, but finally it will be too much and the camel's back will break. And it is only a single last straw that does the complete damage.

So what’s the problem? Does Arsene Wenger not see what the world sees? Did he not know in January that the present attack of Arsenal is mediocre compared to those of the other top teams in EPL, or is it the trust that he puts in players that has backfired?

The answer to all the above questions is a ‘Yes’. The problem is that Wenger is still stuck up in his world of ‘creating talent and not buying it’, so much so that he was not ready to replace Giroud, who we all know looks average compared to the likes of Suarez, Rooney, Aguero and van Persie. A better striker, even though costing the club a lot in transfer fees as well as wages, would provide Arsenal with an attack that has been leashed since 2 years.

The tactics that are played by the Arsenal men during transfer windows are sharp but they are starting to grow roots. The transfer saga of Luis Suarez was one example of a failed attempt by Arsene Wenger and his men. The very fact that he bid '£40 million and 1' for him showed that not only is he disrespecting Liverpool, but he is also not taking Suarez seriously.

At a time when Arsenal were desperate to sign a striker (especially when Suarez was ready to join and Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers had clearly stated that only a good sum of money for Suarez would be acknowledged), Wenger should have tied his boots to land in a situation of negotiations over the deal rather than having a word-feud with Brendan Rodgers. He didn't, and we all know the result.

The same thing happened in January with Draxler, where Schalke's owner Horst Heldt clearly stated that Arsenal did not meet the asking price. Arsene Wenger managed to calm the supporters down by convincing them that a deal for the Schalke star could be done in summer, but now it is almost probable that he is heading to Bayern Munich.

With Arsenal, it’s the same story every year. It would be fair to say that the stubbornness of Arsene Wenger in the transfer windows has cost them a well-deserved title this season. With probably the best midfield in England even a decent attacking front could charge the team to the title, but clearly the recent performances of Olivier Giroud have proved that it will take him a long time to match the level of Robin van Persie.

Change is the only thing that’s constant. With the revolution in European football and the advancements in the game of the English Premier League, it has become a must for managers to not only perform well in training grounds, but also in the transfer windows. Arsene Wenger must realize that the Financial Fair Play he wishes for the FA to adopt is only a possibility, and until it is enforced (IF it is enforced) – market activities have to be kept moving. Besides, there is no guarantee that the rules of the FFP would be in sync to Wenger's wishes.

The very fact that the last hour panic buy of Mesut Ozil was only a result of anti-Wenger rallies and criticisms proves that Arsene Wenger is not a man who likes to spend. However, it is high time he realized that his frugal game will not go on for too long as the public is starting to get frustrated. It is time Wenger accepts the fact that creating talent is important only when one has the time for it.

Gambling cannot be done in football; there needs to be a full-fledged master plan. For a club to be ambitious, it is very important for the manager to be the same. The complacency that Wenger has shown in the past years (being satisfied with top four) is clearly weakening the team. Wenger must change himself before he gets changed.

While Arsene Wenger has been quick to boast that although Arsenal have not won a title in the last 8 years, they have always been able to play Champions League Football, Chelsea have been qualifying for CL consecutively in the last 10 years, not to mention winning it once and the Premier League title thrice along with other cups. In these relatively better 10 years, Chelsea have changed their manager 8 times.

Fans might argue that the money has been holding us back. "What can we do to counter Russian billionaires when we are crippled with stadium debts?", they'd cry. However, a glance suggests that Arsenal weren't as debt ridden as the club made it out to be.

In addition to the article linked above, the fact of the matter also remains that Wenger has rashly spent the money that he did have. It's frightening to phantom how much money was thrown down the drain over duds like Aliadiere, Bentley, Stack, Stepanovs, Jeffers, Wright, Inamoto, Hoyte, Cygan, Shaaban, Awusu-Abeyie, Senderos, Lupoli, Traore, Almunia, Poom, Mannone, Denilson, Diaby, Nordtveit, Bartley, Merida, Bischoff, Silvestre, Squillaci, Wellington Silva, Arshavin, Chamakh, Gervinho, Andre Santos, Park Chu Young, Bendtner, etc. Couldn't one argue that had these players been off the books much earlier and replaced by genuine quality, we would have been in a much better position to win titles?

Wenger's selfish socialist wage structure clogged up the wage budget, which meant that overpaid deadwood were difficult to be sold once it was clear that they weren't Arsenal material. His wage structure was questioned in 2009 as well, to which Wenger replied:

"If we do not deliver in one or two years I will be responsible. We are going in the right track and everyone at the club is convinced we are doing the right thing. If we do not get there next year or the year after then I will be responsible and stand up for it, don’t worry."

It's been five years now and the club is only going backwards, yet Wenger seems to have conveniently forgotten his promise. He instead chose to deliver another at the start of this season, saying:

"I've said many times I want to do well with this club and, in the end [of this season], I will sit down and think how well have I done with the team I have had. That has to be sufficient for me to decide yes or no."

The point is moot whether this season will be a success or not, because the fact remains that Arsene Wenger has been pretty lucky with Arsenal.

-Vib_H (Follow me on Twitter @Vib_Hafc)