A year of change, where all is the same...

A season that promised so much, predictably disintegrated over the run in stage and Arsenal are back into the fight for fourth place as the season edges towards completion. Although, not all is gloomy. A FA cup final match against Hull City could provide the silver lining that the fans have been waiting for all these years, a trophy. That combined with a Champions League qualification should have been considered to be a satisfactory season, and one most fans would have taken had it been offered to them at the start of the season. However, it is best not to count your chickens before they hatch, for there is still much that can go wrong. With the sublime form of Everton, that fourth place qualification spot is no certainty, and the League Cup final defeat against Birmingham in recent times is still fresh on the minds of most Arsenal fans.

But this season could have been so much more. A team that tops the table for twenty three game weeks cannot be a fluke surely? Sure, Champions League was a long shot, although even there it could have been better had it not been for their own fallacies. So let's analyze some of the things that went wrong over the course of what seemed to be a very promising season.

1. Tactical blunders

I'd hate to say it, and I have been one of his biggest fans, but Arsene Wenger's consistency in coming up second best in the tactical forefront when up against the big oppositions is a cause for much worry. Time and again he seems to come out with the belief that his brand of football will be enough to nullify and overwhelm the opposition and their tactics and time and again he has been caught out. Sure, on their day some of the football Arsenal play is mesmerizing and is enough to dazzle smaller foe into submission, but as the days go by, their brand of football is losing its sheen. Their link up play in the final third is poor, with most of their passing accomplished in front of the oppositions defensive line with no sign of penetration or threat. Secondly, the speed of play is honestly painful to watch. There was a time when those lightning quick one-twos used to unlock the sturdiest defenses, but now the quickest ball player in the team is Tomas Rosicky and the man is 33. In recent times, the lack of pace through the center has been compensated by the wide men, namely Theo Walcott and Oxlade Chamberlain, but with injuries to the two mid way through the season, Arsenal have struggled and struggled bad. Now they lacked the ability to get in behind the defenses with their passing, and were also too slow to initiate successful counter attacks to take on the opposition. They have relied solely on individual brilliance or lapses by the opposition and the hope that some one or the other would come up with a moment of magic that would change the course of the game for them. So much for football being a team sport.

Next we come to defense. On most occasions, the defense has looked promising. Szczesny has cut down on his eccentricity and has been pretty consistent. Mertesacker and Koscielny have formed a formidable partnership at the heart of the defense, while the ever reliable Sagna has been consistent as ever. The left back though is a position that is a cause for concern. Last season, it seemed as if the problem was finally solved with the purchase of Monreal. The Spain international made solid starts and proved to be a perfect back up to the brilliant though injury prone Kieran Gibbs. However, his second season has left a lot to be desired. His confidence has taken a nose dive, and opposition managers have time and again targeted him as the weak link in defense and exploited that to great efficiency. The next biggest problem with the defense is that of the defensive midfield position. While Flamini has been a great buy, and has instilled much needed steel and tenacity in the midfield, Arteta does not cut it in that position. He has been a great stop gap buy no doubt, and has delivered to his potential, but I believe his time at Arsenal is coming to a fast end. He is slow, most of his passes are sideways, and never does he attempt to unlock defenses. He is played in defensive midfield, while that works well enough against teams against whom we dominate possession, it is against the big teams that he gets exposed time and again. He may be a good back up player to be had, a calm presence in pressure situations but he should no longer be a permanent presence in the first team picture. The third and most blatant tactical blunder that gets exposed time and time again is the high line that Wenger insists his defense on playing. Now for a possession based team, a high line philosophy is nothing new, but the problem is that a high line should always be compensated with high pressing up the field, putting pressure on opposition players to force them into a mistake and capitalize on it. That aspect of the game is sadly missing in Arsenal's play. So what we get is a high line with no pressure on the opposition players who have all the time in the world to thread a defense splitting pass for their runners. Teams further capitalize on this obvious fallacy by pressing hard on the Arsenal players, and when they make a mistake, they are more often than not trapped in no mans land, with the opposition getting in behind with consummate ease.

2. Fallacies in the transfer market

Although Wenger has been heavily lauded for the capture of Mesut Ozil, and I for one was thrilled at it, for Ozil is one of my absolute favorite football players, he has been heavily negligent to other areas of more urgent need. Most notably and obviously, a striker. Everyone was crying out for it, the man himself knew it and yet did nothing about it. Now I am one of those who believe in Oliver Giroud and am of the opinion that he is a good player to have on the roster. His link up play is excellent, he works hard, wins header, holds the ball up well for the runners to get in behind. He is an excellent choice to have when we have the services of Walcott and Podolski who will make those runs and finish those nicely weighted lay offs. However, there are two aspects of his game where Giroud is lacking. The first and most criminally, his goal scoring ability. It is almost laughable that a striker of one of Europe's premiere clubs cannot score goals. He is slow, wastes a lot of shots, although his movement is intelligent and that is the source of most of his goals, he is not one who can create a goal out of nothing. His shooting and his finishing are lacking in that finesse that Arsenal fans have been used to over the years with the likes of Robin Van Persie, Henry, Bergkamp etc. What further compounded the matter was that Arsenal had no back up strikers (not counting on Bendtner). So Giroud was and has been carrying strike force of the team single handedly over the course of the season. It was absolutely essential that Arsenal sign a top quality striker over the summer, one with qualities that compliment Giroud's giving the team more options in attack. Did the man whole heartedly try to correct that? I don't think so. Bidding forty million and one for Suarez? As the Joker would say, "And I thought my jokes were bad." There were other big names available, notably Higuain who apparently was a sure shot to join us before he went of to Napoli. Even considering the fact that no big names were available, and he signed Ozil, who transformed the team mentality and they played some ruthless football through the start of the season. When the winter market arrived, it was taken for granted that with the team faltering recently, and Giroud's strike rate falling off the usual low standards, Wenger would once again focus on a striker. Now, the window is notorious for deals and it is pretty certain no team would part with their star players in the middle of a season, but he could have atleast signed a promising back up player. Not a star studded signing but one, on whose day could be expected to deliver the goods. He did not. Instead, he brought Kim Kallstrom on loan, who immediately fell in line with an age old Arsenal tradition and got injured. Wonderful.

3. Injuries

Now this is no excuse, for injuries are part and parcel of the game and one must deal with it accordingly. But rather this is cue to look inwards. Over the past many seasons, the injury curse has constantly plagued the team. They lose key members in bulk in crucial parts of the season and what follows is imminent disaster. Could this all be coincidence, I don't think so. Are all Arsenal players made of glass, again, doubtful. There has to be some logical reason behind it and that can only be discovered with a link by link evaluation of the training methods and medical facilities. There is something very wrong happening there, one which screams out for introspection and change.

Every year, it is the same story, this year it is no different. Theo Walcott, our fastest player, almost solely responsible for that injection of pace that our play solely needs, ruled out long term with an injury. Those crucial goals that he scores for the team, were wiped off and the pressure to score them fell on Giroud. The rest as they say, is history,

Aaron Ramsey, undoubtedly, even with the four month injury absence, our best player this season. Running around, covering every blade of grass, winning possession, tacking, linking play, providing crucial passes and scoring goals. What has the boy not done. His injury was the final blow and that is where the season fell apart. We have no replacement even close to him.

Jack Wilshire. The prodigy. Every season, Arsenal fans hope that he would rise from the ashes and fulfill his immense potential but each season passes with the same old. He gets into unnecessary spats on the field, he is still to discover his scoring boots, reckless in the tackle and gets injured almost every month as a habit.

There are so many other cases, but you get the drift. All this makes it paramount that at the end of the season that the manager, the players and all the support staff take a good look at the prevalent issues and try and fix them up. As Arsene Wenger is beginning to realize, his spot in the team is no longer one that the fans take for granted. While I continue to put all my faith and trust in him, the support he now receives has to be taken with a pinch of salt. Each season, the fans look forward to that big leap back to the big leagues where Arsenal deserve to be, and yet every time it is a case of so close, yet so far. Soon, it will be one time to many.

Team policies have to be changed, player mentality has to be worked on. They cave too easily when up against the walls and lastly and most importantly there has to be investment. Heavy investment to plug the holes which are all to apparent now. One final look at a position by position analysis.

1. Goalkeeper

Szczesny has developed leaps and bounds and is now a trusted man under the sticks. His consistency has improved, while the occasional brain farts, though still there, have been reduced in numbers. He continues to be arrogant and confident, there are times when he appears a little over confident. For that to change, Arsenal need to sign a no.2 who can really challenge him for a place at the top. While Fabianski has shown this season that he has matured into a goalkeeper who could have effectively performed that role, but it is apparent Wenger still does not trust him for the big occasions where Szczesny's spot is secure. Additionally, with his contract up this season, he will leave, leaving the spot vacant. Wenger has to act fast and sign a good experienced no.2 who can guide the young Pole and also provide enough competition to keep him on his toes.

2. Defense

The right back position is under immense scrutiny with Sagna's contract situation still not resolved. With his consistency over the years, I believe the club should do everything in their power to keep him. In Jenkinson, they have a hard working deputy who can plug the gap when needed but is in no way ready for regular first team action yet, so if Sagna leaves, they'll have to sign another big name anyway. The cost and the settling in period might prove more costly than just giving a loyal player over the years, what he wants.

The center of defense has been well served by the pair of Mertesacker and Koscielny but they lack adequate cover. With Vermaelen likely to leave over the summer, it is paramount that Wenger signs a competent center back who can slot into the first team picture and deliver. Ideally, every team should have four center backs, and the fourth spot could be filled by a promising academy graduate. Occasional substitute appearances and starts in cup competitions could go a long way in developing a youngster for the future.

The left back is a conundrum. Gibbs is by far the first choice, but he does get knocked up pretty often which gives the back up a lot of games to play. The back up here is Nacho Monreal. It is hard to say what went wrong with him this season. He had a good solid first season, a stark contrast to his under confident, error strewn second. The manager and his coaches have to take stock of the situation and see what went wrong and if he is to be trusted for a third season in the hope that he iron outs the flaws. Otherwise, it'll take a dip in the markets, and given other needs which are bound to be expensive, I wonder if a left back is something that the club can afford to spend on.

3. Midfield

The Arsenal midfield boasts big names but they are still lacking in completeness. It is time to cut loose Mikel Arteta. He has been warrior like for the team, guiding it through the transition period where they lost Fabregas and Nasri in one window, but recent performances indicate that he is no longer up for the grind. Of course, he can be retained as a back up but with the amount of investment needed I doubt the club can afford a back up on those wages. It is of paramount importance that the club finally sign a good proper defensive midfielder. It is a position that has been crying out to be filled and the recent capitulations might not have happened if the club had a midfield general in there putting in the tackles and breaking up play. The defense looks very isolated and scattered when Arteta plays that role. Flamini should be retained as cover. Abou Diaby is the wild card here. On his day, he can be devastating, the perfect box to box midfielder, but with most of days spent on the hospital beds, it is a role that he cannot be relied upon. To keep him or to let him loose, is one of the hard decisions that the club management will have to take up before next season. Otherwise the rest of the midfield looks good, if fit. However, ideally, the club should sign another wide player. With Podolski not up to completing ninety minutes on a regular basis, and if recent lessons are anything to go by, it is pretty obvious how crippling a blow Walcott's absence is to the team. In that light, it is important that the club sign another wide player who can add that injection of pace in the team while being technically sound. The name of Julian Draxler naturally comes to mind. Fast, immense ability and even greater potential, technically sound, he should fit into the team, and to steal Klopp's words here, "like an arse in a bucket". However he would be terribly expensive, and with a top quality striker being of more need, he might be looked over for cheaper alternatives, as far as this transfer window is concerned.

4. Striker

This is almost like a repeat of last year. There is nothing that is needed to be said that has not already been said. Arsene Wenger HAS to sign a top quality goal scorer in his team. Period. Giroud stays and is effectively rotated as per tactical needs but there can be no hiding away from the fact that the team needs a proven goalscorer to lead the line and chip in with 30 goals over the course of the season. Nothing lesser would do.

Well, this has gone on long enough, and I doubt anyone would have read over the whole thing. Just a fan thing that I do here, hoping and wanting nothing but the best for the team that I dearly love. The bottom line at the end of the day remains that no matter what happens, whether they do all this or slump to even newer lows, I shall continue supporting the team and cheering on from the sides, spurring them from the depths of hell into newer brighter horizons. The dream shall never die. The spirit shall never fade. The clouds shall disperse, and glory we shall hail.

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