On Arsenal

And finally its come to an end. The big soap opera at north London closed shop on tuesday, but dont worry, this august its gonna start again!!! Yea, mates its the Arsenal F.C's fortunes which once again brings me to this page......as a Gooner I feel that once in a while I be allowed to ruminate on the state of affairs at the Emirates. After seeing Manchester United shove the gun up our arse, a humiliating defeat I should say, I have been flooded by what needs to change at arsenal- who do people think I am, Wenger's understudy? phbbt!!!!

Anyway,cutting straight to the matter, getting down to the brass tacks, what exactly is wrong?? Arsenal posses an assortment of players, who have been touted as the next big things in football, an array of talented modern players, who hold a barrel of promise.....but that is as far as the good part goes, all the "progress" that we claim to have achieved are dwarfed by the barren trophy cabinet which has had no work to do for four years.....Wenger has put trust in techinically superb players who also happen to be young. But let me tell you , it was not always so. Four or five years back, Arsenal possesed men like Viera and Henry, who were big men who could play. And still Arsenal played beautifull football, good enough to rival the breathtaking stuff Fabregas and co. puts out when on form. And to add to that, the trophy cabinet was not unemployed for four seasons....

Arsenal have played some fantastic, breathtaking football this season. But at the end of the day we are trophy-less for yet another season. If the dark clouds don't change their act and start dishing out a considerably bigger slice of silver linings at an early date, many fans may have to reconsider their alliances and even go in search of greener pastures.

Its imperative that Wenger stops taking the risk of being imprisoned for child labour , and brings in a few experienced legs. After all, Arsenal has proved this season that experience is important by their lack of it.

Arsenal urgently needs a heavy weight midfielder, some one like Viera, who can win the ball in midfield and leave lightweights like Nasri, Fabregas and Arshavin to do what they do best- attack. And if anyone is suggesting that Song be the defensive midfielder that we need, I can only think of heavy drinking as a possible explanation.

And then we come to the part called defence, a part that has not been our best for a couple of seasons. Bacary Sagna has been decent as a right back, one of the few positives for Arsenal this season. The rest haven't risen to the task. Arsenal need a center back who strike fear into the hearts of strikers and make them think twice before performing a fancy stepover. Arsenal need not and should not goback to CG days, but thats no excuse for not tightening up your defence. Gallas has let his temper get the better of him, Djourou needs to go a long way and Silvestre is not what he used to be. The fact that Silvestrre may be slighlty over the hill was demonstrated in the first leg of the champions league semi final, when he forgot on quite a number of occasions the way transfer markets work and played for his old team. He has been in this business for quite a few years and he is not one to shirk duty merely on the fact that his jersey was slightly different in colour from those of his erswhile mates.

Manuel Almunia has in recent times justified himself as an Arsenal goalkeeper, though his feet are yet to grow to the size of Seaman's boots, has been showing improvement. If he keeps on the good work, you never know!!!!

And finally the frontline......an area thats frustrsted Wenger and fans alike so much that I spotted a few wrinkles on my Byronic face last week!!! Robin van Persie for all his briliance is too inconsistent and a bit injury prone. He needs to put in consistent performances. Adebayor is at best a tap in specialist. Now, if he would confine himself to that role all would have been well, but he insists playing like a playmaker he is not-winning a ball on the wings, trying to create chances, and thus rendering himself useless. The injury monster has marked Eduardo for its own. If he comes back fully fit for next season, maybe Arsenal could have renewed firepower. The less said of Bendtner, the better. He probably will have to go, though I wish he would not because he is tall and gets into such good positions. Its a pity that I can finish better than him. So, one may safely say that Arsenal lacks a talismanic center forward, like the likes of Rooney, Drogba or Torres. Robin van Persie is the only striker in that mould and comparisons with the aforementioned would only give van Persie a fourth place.

Anyway, there is no doubting Arsenal has plenty of talent. Wenger has to prepare to splash a bit of cash else Arsenal wont win anything for the fifth reason n a row. wow!!! cant even imagine it. We got a game against Chelsea this Sunday and then Manu(hope we get our revenge).
Having Arshavin and a much fitter van Persie will help us. Maybe we can put in a last round rally!!!