Tom Webb
The club’s fortunes on the pitch have been more or less in decline for seven years. Financially, we’re in good shape; playing-wise we’re all over the place. I just do not buy the argument that we’re building a squad based on youth, which will mature into a winning team in the future. It’s seven years since the last trophy and this year we clearly have the weakest squad of Wenger’s reign. Let’s have a look at the decline in certain key positions since 2004.
Ashley Cole – Gael Clichy – Kieran Gibbs. Cole was the first ‘big’ player to leave the club under Wenger, the first player to force a move rather than be sold as surplus to requirements. I think his departure was more damaging to the status of the club than perhaps people realise. For all that he’s an obnoxious character, he was, and arguably still is, the finest left back in the league and possibly the world. Much though we had hoped otherwise, Clichy has never been up to Cole’s standards. He’s decent, but too frequently dozy in defence and just seems to lack presence. Not as good as Cole, yet even he has left to play for a more successful club. Gibbs is young. He’s a winger who’s been converted to full-back. Time will tell, but he’s going to have to go some to match Cole.
VERDICT: Decline.
Sol Campbell – William Gallas – Thomas Vermaelen - Per Mertesacker. What we wouldn’t give for Big Sol of circa 2002-2004 now. Physical, strong, quick, inspirational; in short, he was everything that the current side lacks. Gallas was a good player, but he was never the dominant presence that Campbell was at his peak. Apart from anything else, he simply wasn’t as physically big. Gallas was seemingly never a popular figure amongst his team-mates nor did he seem to command much respect from his colleagues. Vermaelen remains our great hope at the back. He has the attitude and commitment of Campbell. If only he could stay fit... Mertesacker is still very new. Tall and not the quickest, if he is to become a great defender for us then he will be more in the Tony Adams mould than the Sol Campbell.
VERDICT: Decline.
Patrick Vieira – Cesc Fabregas – Jack Wilshere. An interesting one. In truth neither Fabregas nor Wilshere are a real replacement for PV4. They really represent the change in style that Wenger has adopted over the last few years. We have moved away from the strong, direct, flowing football of Vieira and co and have moved towards a more patient, continental style of attack. PV4 was simply immense, a leader, a fighter in the midfield and good going forward, an inspiration. Fabregas is a fantastic player. Despite all of us trying to console ourselves with the thought that he wouldn’t get in the Barça team, he’s proved us wrong and, until his recent injury, was absolutely on fire for the Catalans. A fantastically creative player and like PV4 a World Cup and European Championship winner. A different, but arguably as good a player. Of course, being that good, he didn’t fancy hanging around to fight for a Europa League place. And no-one can begrudge him his current success. Wilshere is extremely talented. He’s skilful, committed and strong for his size. As yet, he’s not got the presence of Fabregas, and certainly not that of Vieira. Those attributes may come in time. Is he going to stay with us if he truly becomes a world star? I fear the worst.
VERDICT: Decline. Not necessarily in terms of the ability of Wilshere, but in terms of the loss of a dominant presence in the midfield. Wilshere should be playing alongside someone like Vieira.
Robert Pires – Tomas Rosicky – Samir Nasri – Andrei Arshavin/Theo Walcott. Pires was a phenomenon. Not particularly quick, and frankly not even that skilful, but so perfectly in sync with those around him. His combination with Henry, Bergkamp and (to a lesser extent) Ljungberg resulted in a fantastic scoring and assist record. Rosicky is alright. Nothing more, nothing less. His time at AFC has been terribly beset by injury and that has probably robbed him of the chance to become a star for us. Nasri: Good player, although a bit hit and miss. He has the ability to go on to be one of the leading stars of the Premiership. And it goes without saying that, being a top player, he has gone elsewhere for money and trophies. Arshavin and Walcott are the current options (aside from the as-yet unproven Gervinho). I actually think Arshavin gets more stick than he deserves. He will put in the defensive work at times and is our only player capable of an outrageous moment of skill to beat a man. That said, his career does seem to be rather meandering along, and he is struggling to break in to the first team. As for Walcott, ‘he’s very quick’ is pretty much the long and short of it. At times capable of an Henry-esque finish, at times capable of a Kiwomya-esque finish. He still needs time, but patience won’t last forever, even for a young English player.
VERDICT: Decline
Henry – (Eduardo) – Bendtner - van Persie. Since Henry left, van Persie has been the first-choice centre-forward. His injuries have seen a number of others step up to the plate in his absence, but none with any particular success. Eduardo rightly enjoys a lot of goodwill amongst Arsenal fans. Whether he would genuinely have become a great goal scorer for us is a debate for another article. Would Bendtner be so widely derided if he didn’t have such a high opinion of himself? He’s better than Chamakh, yet Bendtner is the one who’s been farmed out on loan. That said, neither of them is a patch on Henry. TH14 is the club’s greatest ever forward. He is probably the only player in Arsenal’s history who can genuinely lay claim to having been the best player in the world during his time at the club. RvP is a fantastic player; very different to Henry, but similarly mercurial as regards his importance to the team. Comfortably the best player in the current squad, and sure to leave if the slide continues. And you can’t blame him. Van Persie deserves to play for a title-winning side.
VERDICT: Fractional decline – so long as RVP stays fit.
Let me finish by making one thing absolutely clear: I am not saying that the current players are rubbish. The point I am making is simply that the current side is painfully inferior to the squads which represented the club with such distinction between 1997 and 2004. It has been an entirely unnecessary decline, with our best players sold year after year without proper replacement. It is not the fault of the players, it is the fault of the management who buy and play them.
That decline is what I, and many others, find totally unacceptable.
