Harsh Assessment of Arsenal's current situation

Well what to say about the past couple of weeks for Arsenal Football Club. It started so promisingly with a last-gasp winner at Sunderland in the League, thanks to Thierry Henry’s (probable) last ever goal for the club. But this quickly turned sour, as we were run over in Milan, and dumped out of the FA Cup by Sunderland in a matter of days.

The backlash after these defeats was understandable. Twice in a week we saw our boys get completely outplayed, without any real sign of passion, desire, or fight. And when that happens two games in a row, let alone two Cup competitions in which our only realistic chances of silverware were present, it’s fair enough to be asking serious questions about the mental state of the squad.

Even more so, when Arsene Wenger repeatedly bangs on about how ‘mentally prepared’ his Arsenal sides always are. Well in the previous two matches, our players were nowhere near ready mentally.

I can’t offer an explanation for this. I don’t sit in the changing room, have access to the players during the week, or know what kind of preparation they have pre-match. But something hasn’t felt right about this Arsenal side all year. Is it something to do with the horrendous summer we suffered, where we lost three of our best players and were reduced to replacing them with last minute buys, perceived by many as ‘panic’ purchases? It’s possible. But if a squad had real mental strength, they’d have got past that long ago.

We all know how easy it is to complain about Arsenal’s defence. The definition of Arsenal in recent years has pretty much been ‘brilliant attacking football, but very leaky in defence’. So it’s rather concerning that we’ve been unable to fulfil the former part of that definition recently, whilst the latter is very much still in full flow.

Arsenal simply didn’t create enough chances against Milan and Sunderland. The midfield trio looked completely out of gas, and were over run on both occasions. There’s no doubting the quality that Alex Song, Mikel Arteta and Aaron Ramsey have, but they just haven’t been good enough lately. They had no answer to a dominating Milan midfield, and when Sunderland got in their faces and gave them no time to be comfortable, they crumbled. Ramsey has his moments, but in reality none of them have the creative capabilities required for Arsenal to keep pace with the leaders in England and Europe. Tomas Rosicky is useful as a squad player, but isn’t going to change games. And Yossi Benayoun isn’t getting any kind of a look in. The man we need has been injured all season. Who knows what could have happened had Jack Wilshere been available all year.

And when your midfield doesn’t click, it’s almost impossible to expect your attackers to produce the goods either. They’ve been starved of the opportunities they’re craving. Theo Walcott, Gervinho, and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain are all full of pace and skill, yet none of them have been able to get into our previous two games. Credit where it’s due though to The Ox, who has given absolutely everything (a lot more than most others), and was very unfortunate to have his name in the Own Goal column after Sunderland in the FA Cup. I thought Bacary Sagna’s return to the team would bring back the best in Walcott, but he’s been even more non-existent than he was a month ago.

And how can we expect Robin van Persie to score goals, when he has nothing coming his way from the midfield, or out wide? Well, we can’t. This is worrying for more than just Robin’s goal count. He must be seriously debating if this set of players is truly who he wants to be playing alongside next season. He’s 28, running out of years, and has a very empty trophy cabinet. I’d love to think he’ll stay. And I’m not buying into this ‘he owes us’, or even ‘we owe him’ crap. Wenger needs to match RVP’s ambition, buy him a decent strike partner, and convince him there are glory years ahead for him at Arsenal. If not, he’ll be gone this summer. No doubt about it.

So if last week was debate and angst over the state of our on field problems, this past week has endured similar debate, and largely similar angst, over the state of our off field issues. Most of which stemmed from Monday night’s Arsenal Supporter’s Trust meeting. And it just happened to be the first one I’ve attended.

I won’t bore you with the full details again, as these were posted at the time, re-posted again, and then some more as a large portion of Gooners suddenly became accountants as they dissected all that was revealed on Monday. Which in truth, wasn’t a whole lot of new info.

Basically we pay the fourth highest wages in the League. Have about £60m cash (although expected to be closer to £50m). Will lose around £45m cash if we don’t finish top four. We pay too much for tickets, and are pissed off that none of that seems to be put back into the squad.

There was obviously a lot more discussed than that. I’d recommend having a read of @LittleDutchVA’s piece on Vital Arsenal with all the main points from the meeting.

I’m not going to pretend to know much about finances in general, let alone for Arsenal. As I said, it was my first AST meeting so I was more interested in seeing how the meeting played out, and listening to what was said (and tweeting as if my life depended on it).

One of the most blatantly obvious failings at Arsenal right now is how we pay our fringe players so much more than we should. Diaby, Djourou, Squillaci and Almunia all earn above £40k a week, and their big wages are not only eating our total bill, but will make them difficult to shift over the summer, when Wenger will no doubt be looking to offload most of them (although Djourou’s new contract suggests he’s likely to stay) and bring in some fresh and exciting faces.

It was also fascinating to find out how Arsenal has 71 contracted footballers on its books. This is a baffling amount, given that we are renowned for having very poor strength in depth in our squad. Where are all these players? It’s great to develop youth, and put a large onus on our development programmes. But realistically we’ve only produced two world-class players in the past decade through our academy, and that wage space could be better used having a wider, and more experienced, first team squad. So when we get our annual injury problems we aren’t throwing promising youngsters in the deep end like we have with Carl Jenkinson and Ignasi Miquel. Or worse, play them out of position (as has been the case with Francis Coquelin).

Since Monday night, we’ve had one of our 71 contracted footballers head for pastures new, as news broke last night of the departure of our flamboyant Russian, Andrei Arshavin, who has gone on loan to Zenit St Petersburg for the rest of the season. 

I’ll be honest, I had no idea yesterday was the Russian transfer deadline day. And I had no idea there was a serious link between Arshavin and a move back home. I’d heard the rumours, but thought ‘nah, Wenger isn’t stupid enough to get rid of one of our most experienced players in this desperate time of need on the eve of one of the biggest games of football we’ve had in recent years’.

I hate being wrong…

I can’t explain it. I’ve seen various theories; Arshavin forced a move, as he wanted to play more football ahead of Euro 2012. Or the Manager and players gave up on Arshavin after his dismal form, especially away at Swansea where his laziness was largely responsible for the Swans winner.

Both acceptable arguments, but why let him go? Why now? The most pressing question I had earlier (and I wasn’t the only one) was why weaken an already weak squad? Yes, he’s been terrible lately. Yes, he’s very, very lazy. But as he showed with ultimately his final act in a senior Arsenal shirt, the assist for Henry’s winner against Sunerland in the League, there is that aspect of quality that Arshavin possesses. It’s just unpredictable as to when you’re going to get it.

In truth, his Arsenal career has been a disappointment. He came offering so much, but delivered so little. Four fantastic goals against Liverpool. That winning goal against Barcelona, our 2011 highlight. And plenty more goals and assists in his 133 appearances for the club. But aside from that, there was inconsistency, laziness that I’ve already mentioned, and a lack of effort or commitment that ultimately might have been what ended his Arsenal career.

I feel sorry for him. He’s a funny bloke, a real character, and should have been so much more for our club. But he wasn’t, and it wouldn’t surprise me to find out there’s a future transfer fee in agreement in this deal with Zenit, for them to buy him in the summer at a cut price. Anything around £8-10m would be a bonus, but I doubt we’ll get that much. Good luck to him though. I seriously hope he can re-find his form, and show everyone what a quality player he truly is.

But it now leaves us desperately thin up top. We’ve been so unlucky with injuries this year, it’s hard not to expect something else to go wrong in the run in. A knock to Gervinho, The Ox, or Walcott would mean we only really have Rosicky and Benayoun to call upon to fill in on the wing. Neither of who have been overly convincing out wide, and have had more joy playing in the middle. But that’s a decision the club and Wenger will have to live with. We’ll see how that one plays out.

And the next place we get to try it out is at home tomorrow against some small North London club called Tottnum. Jokes aside, Sp*rs must be licking their lips about the prospect of facing us right now. On the back of probably our two worst defeats this season (yes, that includes Old Trafford), and a depleted squad still plagued by injuries (please be fit Koscielny).

I haven’t been paying too much attention to the Sp*rs squad, and who’s fit and not. I, like most, expected them to struggle after Christmas and slowly fall back into our battle with Chelsea, Newcastle and Liverpool for fourth spot. Again, I was wrong. So credit where it’s due, I guess.

Luckily form often counts for nothing in the North London derby. That’s what I’ve been reading on twitter lately, and I guess that’s all we’ve really got heading into the game. But this is the perfect opportunity to shut up all the doubters out there at the moment.

The tone of this blog might suggest otherwise, but I still have full faith in this squad. That’s a mentality I’ve had since I first fell in love with this club, to trust the side the Arsenal manager picks, and support them from start to finish.

The aim of this blog was to point out the problems we currently face. Because ignoring them would be blind and naïve, and there’s nothing wrong with a bit of constructive criticism. The questions I’ve posed about the mental and technical attributes we possess can all be answered tomorrow, and in some style too.

Really, if our players can’t get motivated and focused for the North London derby, then quite frankly there’s an issue with them that might be beyond fixable. If they turn up with the mindset they’ve shown at Milan and Sunderland, then it’s going to be another horrible viewing. Worse, given who we’re against.

But I fully expect us to come out of the blocks racing, and I think the game will be full of surprises. Hopefully for the best, and a win against Sp*rs would do wonders for our confidence, and put to bed another horrible chapter of this season.

We need an excuse to stop the negativity, and look again towards the positives. Players and fans a like. It’s going to be another year of no silverware, and it might not be a trophy (despite what Wenger might think!), but fourth is all we’re fighting for now.

Tomorrow is the perfect platform to show that we’re serious about getting it.