Arsenal FC: Wenger's greatest mistake

A lot has gone wrong for Arsenal since 2005. Lack of transfer funds, losing key players, inadequate replacements and big spending rivals to name a few things. Patrick Vieira delivered Arsenal’s last trophy in 2005 with a penalty in the FA cup final against Manchester United. His departure meant that Arsenal had lost a great leader, an experienced winner. But crucially, Arsenal lost a midfield enforcer, a position never adequately addressed by Arsene Wenger.

Patrick Vieira himself was not shy of making attacking runs and maybe was not an out and out defensive midfielder. But with the likes of Adams, Keown, Sol Campbell and David Seaman protecting the goal, his defensive work was more than enough to carry the team to regular titles. He had more help in midfield too, as Wenger employed the 4-4-2/4-4-1-1 formation which made a defensive midfielder’s job a lot easier. Vieira’s job was to get in the faces of the opposition, get the ball back and deliver it to the likes of Bergkamp, Ljunberg and Henry to do their magic. It was the perfect blend of industry and art.

Arsenal steadily declined since 2004-05, Vieira’s last season at Highbury. For most fans, 2005 is the peak from which Arsenal have fallen. Many forget 2007-08, a season which proved to be a turning point for Arsenal. The final table shows that Arsenal finished 3rd behind Manchester United and Chelsea. What is remarkable though is that the club amassed 83 points, finishing only 4 behind the champions and losing just 3 games in then entire season. The key here was the midfield partnership between Cesc Fabregas and Mathieu Flamini. These two in the midfield, with some help from Alex Hleb made sure that Arsenal quickly recovered from the departure of Thierry Henry and mounted the only serious title challenge since the Invincibles.

The following summer, Flamini was let go, for free. This was not a mistake in hindsight; it was a known mistake then and Wenger has not learned. It took 3 years before Song developed into an effective partner for Cesc. Despite not being anywhere near as effective as Flamini or Vieira, the 2010-11 season was one of Arsenal’s strongest. The Cesc-Song combination could have led to success, but Cesc chose to fulfil his Barca dream. A season later, Song was inexplicably sold under no pressure to Barcelona.

Fast forward to this year, and Arsenal have a Fabregas-caliber midfield wizard in Santi Cazorla. But he has no one to do the dirty work for him. Wilshere has returned from a long term injury and he could possible fit such a role, but he has too much of an attacking mindset. Arsenal employ the 4-2-3-1 system, effectively 4-3-3, which increases the responsibility on the midfield and makes an out and out defensive midfielder necessary. As if this isn’t reason enough, the Gunners are always a couple of injuries away from playing Squillaci and Andre Santos at the back and Wenger has a terrible record when it comes to buying defenders.

Arsenal believe that they can get away with playing Ramsey in the holding midfield role. Maybe they can, but only against weaker sides. The gunners need to get a player like M’Vila to add steel to their midfield. But it seems, it will be too late before Wenger learns his lesson. A new player will take at least 2 seasons to gel and by then, Cazorla will be nearing the end of his contract. Sigh…