Mick Appleton
I have two daughters. The eldest one has a decent brain, but she also has an intense drive which has made her a straight A student. My younger daughter has an excellent brain, but only wants to do just enough. She also gets A's, but only when she can be bothered.
Unfortunately, Arsenal are now like my younger daughter - achieving occasional A's, but lacking the drive to push on to be top of the class. In three of the last four seasons, we have come up short at the business end of the season and I cannot see this changing unless players with the experience and a winning mentality are brought in to the club.
I am expecting another disappointing summer after I heard Arsene say that we do not require major changes to the squad. That would be true if finishing third or fourth were our only concern, but it is way short of what is required if we are to return to winning trophies. The biggest change has to come in the attitude and belief, but I don't believe that will happen without a change to the back room staff. We are crying out for a dedicated defensive coach to drill the team, so that the basics become second nature to them. We cannot continue to concede goals like the ones we did at Stoke where schoolboy defending once again contributed to our downfall. Also, 56% of the goals we have conceded this season have come from set pieces - the highest percentage in the Premier League. That really isn't good enough!
Under George Graham, the team believed that if we went one up that the game was over. I cannot imagine the current team have that belief even when we are two or three up. I certainly don't! Arsene has got to wake up and admit that it is our defence that is costing us every time. His blind spot for goalkeepers has become laughable. Goalkeeping errors have cost us several points again this season, points that could have seen us still challenging for the title now. Szczesny has done a decent job but even he has made mistakes, most notably the one at Wembley. We need to sign an experienced keeper like Buffon, who is out of contract this summer and play for the next two seasons with Szczesny as understudy. This will give Szczesny time to mature.
Another failing this season was Arsene not following through with his vow to get central defensive cover in the January window. The bottom line is that our central defenders have just not performed well enough this season. Each one of them has put in an occasional good performance, but the mistake ratio is far too high as witnessed again this weekend. The first goal was another disaster from a set piece. The second saw Pennant run without challenge from the half way line and only being closed down when it was too late. Djourou's contribution to the third was an embarrassment.
We are seriously lacking height in the squad and I don't think our weakness at set pieces is a coincidence. Organisation is also very important and there seems to be very little of that. It's great news that TV is now fit, but we must invest in a top quality partner for him with a big ball winning monster a priority. Djourou and Koscielny would then be warming the bench, which given their performance levels this year is about right.
Midfield is another area where we appear to have an abundance of riches, but the players have again failed to see their good early season carried on to the end of the season: Nasri had an excellent season up until the new year where he has hit the buffers. Cesc has been his brilliant best far less often this season and has missed far too many games. Alex Song has been hit and miss, but this is probably because he has been playing with an injury. Arshavin has done little to appease the fans and I'm not sure many will shed many tears if he leaves. Diaby continues to frustrate, he has obvious ability, but is one of the main culprits who disappears when the going gets tough. Theo is the one that frustrates me the most. At times he looks like a world beater, but too often his good work is ruined by his lack of end product. A special mention has to go to Jack Wilshere, who has been immense this season. He has played with a passion that shames the rest of the team. If his commitment were matched by the rest of the team, we would be home and hosed in the league by now.
As for the rest: Denilson and Eboue should be gone but with Arsene's loyalty probably won't be. Ramsey will be an asset next season with a full summer under his belt and I am sure Frimpong will play a major part in the squad next season.
We also appear to be short up front. We only have one top quality striker and he is injured far too easily. Chamakh faded badly after a good start. Vela is not strong enough to succeed in the PL and Bendtner is nowhere near good enough, but to be fair to him, he is also not a right winger which is where he has played most of this season. I think Gilles Sunu will become a regular first teamer next season, but we will need to off load the dead wood and bring in a proven goal scorer.
My guess would be that Arsene will look to shift Rosicky, Almunia, and Vela with two or three new faces that none of us have ever heard of coming in. This will not be sufficient to take us the final step next season. I would like to see the aforementioned three joined by Eboue, Bendtner, and Denilson through the exit door. Then we would have the funds for the addition of four experienced players right through the spine of the team (i.e. - a keeper, a centre half, a central midfielder and a 20 goal a season striker). With those additions, I think we could finally end our trophy drought. Anything short of this will almost certainly involve me having the same arduous task of dissecting another fruitless season next year.
