Alan Blake
Saturday was the bitter icing on the cake of frustration that has been the last fortnight. To have completely dominated the game but still lose is exactly what we have been doing far too much of in the last few years. It is getting more and more frustrating and I will now say (without fear of overreaction) that it’s not good enough. Yes, I know you can’t win every competition that you are entered in, or always get to the latter stages. I’m also aware that there are about 90 other teams in the Football League that would happily trade places with us, but the fact is that we have faltered time after time at the business end of the season when in strong positions (not just in the last few years either – we even threw away the league in ’99 and ’03 from winning positions), yet Wenger continues to talk about believing in his squad’s ability and mental strength.
So, if what he says is true, where does he think the problem lies? To find the answer, in my opinion all he’d have to do is look in the mirror. He has got so predictable with the set up of his teams that the opposition know what to expect and can all too often deal with our threats without too much trouble. Fortunately, we have got better players than most teams so are able to find some way of scoring more than the opposition, but in my opinion, Wenger is not doing the best with the players at his disposal. He should play 4-4-2, especially when Fabregas is out (or at least play the next best thing to Cesc that we have – Nasri – in his place rather than out wide), and to continually play Denilson is tantamount to gross negligence, as I don’t even think he’s good enough for the Premier League, let alone the Arsenal.
I say that about Denilson because I look at the teams down at the bottom of the league and don’t think that he would add anything positive if he joined them. We have young central midfielders out on loan that are better than him, and now that we have Aaron Ramsey back and fully fit, there is absolutely no reason for Denilson to be there. Unfortunately, I give Denilson a hard time during games, but I’d like to think that I’m not just one of those people that moan and moan and say nothing positive (we all have those people within earshot at Ashburton Grove) and I want him to prove me wrong. I fear that after well over 100 games for us, my hope will not come to pass. Against Sunderland, it suddenly hit me that I’m having a go at the wrong person. Denilson is clearly playing to the best of his limited ability, so I turned my attention to Wenger, shouting at him to take him off and to stop picking him. At the end of the day, what’s Denilson supposed to do? He’s not going to turn around to Wenger and tell him not to pick him because he isn’t good enough, is he? I’m sorry to pick on one player as there are others that may not be quite good enough (Diaby, Eboue, Squillaci), but I think some of the others can be carried in the squad and are able to fill a hole in the short term if need be.
Yes, we haven’t had the best of luck in the last couple of weeks – injuries to Walcott, Szczesny, Djourou, Song and Fabregas, the defensive debacle at the end of the League Cup final and Ben Foster being man of the match, the Van Persie red card in Barca, a goal wrongly disallowed for offside and a stonewall penalty not given against Sunderland, topped off with Edwin van der Sar putting in a man of the match performance on Saturday – but we should still have had enough to get through those games positively. Instead, we continue to play toothless, overly tippy tappy football, going sideways instead of forward which gives the opposition time to set themselves up to defend against us, and with only one striker, we are often outnumbered and moves break down.
Barca play a very similar style of football, but because they press from high up the field, their set up is 4-3-3 rather than 4-5-1, meaning that they often appear to outnumber the opposition and are able to move forward at pace. At half time on Saturday, the pundits said that we should bring on Chamakh and put him up front to help van Persie. When asked if that’s what they thought Wenger would do, they said no, because he’s stubborn, but he should (I know it was only Southgate and Strachan, but they were saying what most of us were thinking). Wenger is literally the only person that can’t see that things need to change. Someone needs to tell him that changing the set up isn’t a sign of weakness, it’s a sign of tactical nous to see when things aren’t working and to put it right. Unfortunately, I fear that there has been too much water under the bridge and that if Wenger was going to change things, he would have done so by now.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not calling for Wenger’s head, but I am no longer a staunch AKB. Realism has overtaken blind faith. I knew I had reached this turning point, when on Saturday night at the pub, I came back from the bar to my mates (one Arsenal fan and one Spurs fan) telling me that Wenger has just resigned after the defeat at Old Trafford. I didn’t believe them but they were insistent, so I went to reach for my phone to check online, when the Arsenal fan cracked and admitted to the wind up. What shocked me most was the fact that I wasn’t exactly heartbroken at the thought of some fresh thinking. Listening to the radio after the defeat, some fans were phoning in to Talk Sport and calling for Wenger’s resignation (knowing this board will never fire him). This may be a bit drastic. I also heard someone say that getting rid of Wenger would be lunacy, as his team is only three points behind the league leaders with a game in hand. Taken at face value, that’s absolutely, true, but I think that if Wenger wasn’t so stubborn we’d be several points clear at the top and dominating.
I think that only a slight change in philosophy would see us winning trophies (mainly reverting back to 4-4-2) without sacrificing the style, and I want Wenger to see this as I can’t think of many people I would rather have as Arsenal manager. If we win the league this season then I will of course be ecstatic, but I’m far from expecting to unless Wenger shows some tactical flexibility. Yes, we are in a strong position, but I can’t help but think that most Arsenal fans, like me, are now erring on the side of once bitten twice shy (make that about four times bitten five times shy) and aren’t getting our hopes up. Wenger has openly said to judge him in May. Let’s hope it will be with the Premier League trophy in the cabinet, otherwise I fear it will be a harsh judgement. Something tells me that the next six months could be pivotal for Wenger, especially if there is no trophy sitting at his feet come the team picture in July/August time.
