Arsene Wenger's stubbornness - The true reason behind Arsenal not winning titles

Olivier Giroud – too predictable to be a consistent threat

Would you think that a match against Manchester City in which Arsenal conceded 6 goals ever looked one which was even? Clearly the team was not under-performing; it looked incapable of matching the strength of Manchester City even at full strength. Still, somehow other big teams stumbled and Arsenal managed to remain on top till January.

But these rankings were deceptive and sadly Arsene Wenger couldn’t foresee the real picture. While he was not ready to admit it, the bigger picture could be seen by many. Football pundits and Arsenal fans were pretty sure that Arsenal needed a top-quality striker but the professor was too stubborn to look beyond the standings. He was actually quite satisfied with the performances of the team even though most of the matches Arsenal won were against weaker teams.

We were lucky during Christmas as we didn’t drop many points. We could and should have bought a forward in the summer or even in January, but did not. The 40+1 million pounds bid for Suarez was more of a joke that an actual bid. It confirmed the suspicion that a lot of fans have had i.e. Arsene Wenger is always looking to save money more than buy quality players.

Teams like Manchester City and Chelsea ranked below Arsenal only because they stumbled in matches against weaker teams and they obviously had the potential to come back strong against these teams. On the other hand Arsenal lost to the stronger teams showing their lack of potential, rather than a lack of form. There was a combination of a lack of quality in the team and a stream of unforced errors. This clearly portrayed that Arsenal is a weaker team than the other top 4 teams. This clearly meant that even though Arsenal might have been ranked ahead of the others, they needed reinforcements more than them.

Why then did Arsene Wenger not get another striker to give him options? Only Wenger knows.

The result of not buying a striker was disappointing - The humiliation started in the match against Liverpool in which Arsenal lost 5-1. And how can we forget the match which Wenger himself can never forget – his 1000^th against Chelsea, we all know what happened there and I wouldn’t want to repeat it. The point to be noted here is that through out these matches, the Arsenal attack looked weak. Of course, the defense has to be blamed but Olivier Giroud has never looked impressive against strong teams.

Arsene Wenger too needs to take more of the blame . The problem is more the attitude than the result. The man is too stubborn to accept his mistakes. The ‘You cannot buy class’ thing has gone a little too far with Arsenal. On the other hand, Manchester City, inspite of losing their main striker Kun Aguero are managing to win the title because their group of forwards are clearly better than Arsenal’s main man upfront.

Moving on, the FA cup might be a trophy in itself but it can never be redemption of the insults that Arsenal have endured in the Premier League. And what’s even more disheartening is the latest statement by Arsene Wenger in which he claims to wanting to buy a forward but openly states that it would not be a replacement for Olivier Giroud.

In short – he sort of assured everyone that the main striker will still be Giroud. And the next season if the same thing repeats itself– the answer will also remain the same – ‘Injuries’.