John Abrehart
I was as concerned as all Arsenal supporters at our early season form, but I was prepared to wait until the completion of the Christmas programme before fully assessing the situation following the deadline day purchases.
I have always supported the manager in the past, even in the dark days of the end of last season. However, I am now sitting on the fence with a serious intent of jumping off and advocating a change of management at the top. Why only sitting on the fence? Well, we have been desperately unlucky with injuries to key players, especially in the defence. The goalkeeping position has now been solved and, apart from the odd error, we are assured in that position. The manager had good cover at both full-back positions and to lose all four with serious injuries at the same time cannot be foreseen.
At centre-back, we have three players of the required calibre. I cannot include Djourou, but with Vermaelen covering at left-back, our resources are thin in this position. Obviously I am excluding Squillaci, as he is not of the class required for the team we are striving to be, and we should surely make a move for Cahill, but more of that later.
In the midfield, Arteta was obviously a good purchase and I cannot wait to see him link up with Jack Wilshere. Jack’s injury was again very unfortunate, but should this not have been spotted before he went on holiday in June? Ramsey is turning in some good performances, but he can be frustrating at times, particularly with his passing. RvP is in the form of his life and thankfully injury-free. (Where’s my rabbits foot?) But that’s it. To my mind Szczesny, Sagna, Jenkinson, Gibbs (just), Santos, Mertesacker (yes, where would we be without his long legs and heading ability), Vermaelen, Koscielny, Wilshere, Arteta and van Persie are the players with the class needed for this club to challenge for trophies. That’s eleven players, of whom five have been long-term injuries. Small wonder that we are beginning to struggle. Any suspensions to these players only make the situation worse.
I feel guilty about Song, but he is very inconsistent and likely to get booked. His decision-making is poor and his passing atrocious at times. I would like to see Koscielny in the Song position. He reads the game well, is mobile, good on the ball, intercepts and tackles cleanly, and gets forward and back quickly. So Song is a squad player, along with Djourou, Rosicky, Oxlade-Chamberlain (but I would like to see him given an extended run) Coquelin, Benayoun and Miquel.
As for the remainder of the first team squad, Arshavin is of the required class but seems uninterested. Walcott is a luxury who has pace but is not a footballer; the same goes for Gervinho, although he is even more profligate than Walcott in front of goal. Chamakh has gone backwards, and Park seems lightweight. Squillaci is just not good enough. These six should be offloaded as soon as possible, together with Almunia, (but then our goalkeeping cover looks thin). I cannot include Diaby in anything except for the exit door, if anyone will have him. Frimpong comes into the ‘work in progress’ category and he is on loan, so can be discounted for the season.
So it is obvious that we need some players of the required standard and urgently; that means this transfer window. Cahill would be a brilliant purchase, and then Koscielny could be the defending midfielder and we would have three good centre-backs. £7m seems a snip, but I note from the rumour-mill today that he is asking for £120k a week, the same as Ashley Cole. We know that there is no chance of that happening at Arsenal. Surely we could accommodate Wayne Bridge as cover at left back for the remainder of the season? Gibbs and Santos will not be returning in the near future and an injury to Vermaelen or the other centre-backs leaves us very thin in the defensive positions.
We are short of a midfield player of the required class and, as for strikers, Thierry coming back does not over excite me. He could turn out to be very useful, and even a revelation, but we need a permanent solution, not a temporary one. Podolski stands out, but we have a full complement of overseas players. Our dear Manager has a reputation of spotting unpolished diamonds and turning them into the real McCoy but Demba Ba slipped under his sights after impressive performances last season and lives in London as well!
The problem for us Gooners is that we have seen ourselves fall away from promising positions too many times, 2003, 2009, and 2011, to name a few, and now we are throwing away games from winning positions. Even the Reserves are losing with alarming regularity. Where is the emerging talent to come from? Wenger knows the problems; we used to bring in top players boldly, such as Pires, Petit, Overmars, Wiltord and Reyes, all proven and World-Cup players, but now we p**s about on the fringes even with just squad players. Is it Monsieur Wenger or is it constraints from the board to which no-one will own up? I believe I can see an incredibly loyal man under stress, judging by his intemperate comments following the Fulham game on the club website, which, by the way is becoming more of a joke every day, such as recent comments by Walcott that ‘I must score more goals’!
So, how long must I sit on that fence? Until the first week in March, which should tell us all we need to know, with games against Man U, Spurz and AC Milan interspersed with winnable games against lowly opposition. We are to play at least four games in fourteen days at the end of that period. Will we bring in any players in the window? Unlikely, methinks. Then, if we do not at least sustain our league position ready for the run-in, ‘Yanks out’ will be my rallying call and, unfortunately, that must include the Manager.
