While in Manchester and Blue avenues of London fans are lauding the Premier League arrivals of Guardiola, Mourinho and Conte, the current aura around the Emirates couldn’t be more contrasting. Fingers are being pointed squarely in the direction of Arsene Wenger and the board for a, quite frankly, shambolic handling of affairs this transfer window, while the poor performances on the pitch too are drawing criticism.
Arsenal is now a club divided. A civil war is breaking out in North London between the side’s fans; some refuse to jump on the ‘Wenger Out’ bandwagon, while others can’t see a way forward for the club unless the Frenchman departs. Sorry to disappoint but I concur with the latter and here’s why…
On the pitch…
Before I tread dangerous waters and put Arsenal’s current transfer philosophy under the microscope, it’s probably best to take a look at the problems arising in matches. In a recent interview of mixed emotions, former Gunners midfielder Patrick Vieira defended his former manager’s judicious approach in the transfer market but underlined a vulnerability in the Arsenal side at present. “My generation had lots of physically strong players,” said the club’s former captain. “I just have a feeling they are missing something - the physical presence, the personality”.
The Frenchman’s wise words couldn’t be closer to the truth; Arsenal severely lack character, a figurehead that can grab, namely, the back-line by the scruff of its neck and single-handedly hand the team the psychological edge in big games. A testament to the absence of a true leader is the fact Per Mertesacker, comically named the ‘Big Friendly Giant' and lacking a shred of authority, has been named as club captain for the 2016/17 campaign. With no true leader, there’s no direction.
Then we come to the bare bones of Wenger’s current tactical set-up. At the top of the pitch, things are nearly as dismal as in defence. The decision to play Alexis Sanchez as a lone striker against Leicester City last weekend was ludicrous, especially against the towering pairing of Robert Huth and Wes Morgan.
The aforementioned Chilean has a small frame and is suited to playing out wide where he can utilise his pace and agility to greater effect. Even more tailored to his playing style however, would be to deploy him in-behind target man Olivier Giroud who Sanchez could play off of, a set-up Wenger is reluctant to employ. Instead, Wenger deemed that Giroud’s six-week break was not long enough and chose to rest the Frenchman and deploy the struggling Sanchez out of position, even though a handful of players who played a part in France’s run to the Euro final played on the opening day for other clubs.
Although the tactical frailties are subtle, they are significant enough to draw damage. Coquelin (2) and Xhaka (1) have already racked up a trio of bookings between them in Arsenal’s opening two matches and both looked incapable of closing down opponents without being too rash. Each of them like the odd delve forward and therefore it’d be more appropriate to pair one with the defensively-orientated Mohammed Elneny.
And now to the elephant in the room; lonely Laurent desperately needs a partner at the heart of Arsenal’s defence. Mertesacker is sidelined for up to four months with a knee injury, while Gabriel is out for six weeks with an ankle problem. This leaves Arsene with Laurent Koscielny as the only recognised first-choice centre-half. Although full-backs Chambers and Holding are able to plug the gap, neither is of top Premier League pedigree and this leaves Arsenal with a serious problem at the back. This is where dealings in the market could save the day…
Off the pitch…
In a rapidly evolving world of football where money seems to play centre-stage, I can relate to the pro-Wenger contingent who deem the Frenchman’s prudent approach sensible and sustainable. It undoubtedly is, not only that but it’s also incredibly refreshing.
That said, he also simultaneously shows a refusal to adapt and accept that this method is admirable in planning but simply inefficient in execution; Arsenal will not progress if they don’t spend. Now, in some respects, Wenger has proven that he is not opposed to splashing the cash altogether; Granit Xhaka cost the club £35 million himself and herein lays another problem. Wenger doesn’t spend big regularly but on the rare occasion when he does, it’s on the wrong type of player. In Wilshere, Coquelin, Elneny and Ramsey, Wenger has four sound individuals capable of anchoring down the holding midfield role, so what was the need for Xhaka?
Personally, I’m working on the idea that it was an attempt to buy time. A ‘shut up the fans temporarily’ kind of deal through buying a player that was easy to secure. Instead, it’s only further fanned the flames of anger. Fans, like myself, have only started questioning why such money hasn’t been spent on a world-class, experienced centre-half or, to a lesser extent, a top quality frontman to rival Giroud.
Such a desolate situation emanates from poor planning. Had Wenger bought early and put a big offer on the table for the likes of Shkodran Mustafi, a deal that now looks to have disintegrated, at the start of the window, an awful lot of pressure would have been lifted. Now though, teams like Valencia, who Arsenal are trying to buy from, will recognise the club’s current air of desperation and will push up the price by, say, an additional £10 million. Not good for a club and manager keen to keep a hold of their pennies.
It’s fair to say the fan hostility may be enough for Wenger but I cannot help but ask questions of the likes of Stan Kroenke and Ivan Gazidis who seem to refuse to put pressure on the manager celebrating twenty years with the club this October. Arsenal is being moulded into a business model; they’re happy with mediocrity and finishing fourth each year because it generates profit, why dislodge the man driving the consistency train?
Contrary to popular belief, I also actually believe the Arsenal squad is carrying a lot of dead weight at present. Waning Walcott’s inconsistency is better suited to a mid-table club; in his ten full seasons at the club, the Englishman has scored more than 10 goals on just one occasion and managed just 5 goals in 28 appearances last campaign. Danny Welbeck’s career has been peppered by injuries and even when he does return to form, his brief flashes of brilliance are, again, not enough.
So with everything above considered, it’s clear that the, once small, gap between fans and Wenger is growing dangerously into a yawning chasm and solutions are easy for outsiders, like myself, to pinpoint, but a great deal harder to implement.
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