Robert Exley
It was John Maynard Keynes who once, when questioned on an ideological u-turn over macro-economic ideals, responded with the retort ‘when the facts change I change my mind. What do you do sir?’ Although Arsène Wenger has worked wonders to rehabilitate his reputation in recent months, and though the ‘Arsène Must Go’ brigade has gone reasonably quiet of late, the dissenters may well not be entirely dead just yet. There is no doubt a confident ‘Champions Elect’ feel to Arsenal at the moment and, in all my years of supporting the club, it’s comparable to two other seasons nineteen years apart. Back in July, I drew comparisons between the close season of 25 years ago and that of 2013, as Arsenal also suffered a frustrating summer in the transfer market compared with the other big sides of the time.
As irony has it, Arsenal look on course to finish this calendar year in similar fashion to how George Graham’s side did in 1988 (the top spot gained through this impressive 3-0 win away at Villa Park on New Years’ Eve of that year). However, Arsenal suffered a truly bumpy ride through to the spring time, almost providing a master class in how to blow a league title, as seen by this performance against a rampant Nottingham Forest side on their way to winning two cups – the Littlewoods Cup and the Simod Cup (you may be surprised to find that during the post-Heysel ban they were actually both important to a degree), as well as reaching that ill-fated FA Cup Semi at Hillsborough and coming third in the league by overhauling early pace-setters Norwich.
Arsenal were still hapless in the transfer market right through to deadline day, unable to prize Frank McAvennie away from a relegation dogfight with his old club West Ham (a move probably regretted more by Frank than Arsenal no doubt), to add to Tony Cottee and Kerry Dixon both turning us down the previous summer. Ultimately, though, as we all know, it didn’t matter. Arsenal won the title with the last kick of the season, over-hauling Liverpool on goals scored, after drawing level on points and goal difference with Michael Thomas’s last minute winner. Nineteen years later, however, we weren’t so lucky.
Anyone wishing to recall the 2007/08 season, can get the full picture from my previous Online Gooner article on the subject. However, as a recap, after finishing the calendar year on top and challenging for honours on all four fronts, a springtime collapse saw us finish four points off the title, losing just three games all season after the January window purse remained closed.
How does this tie in with 2013/14? Well, some of the football thus far has been majestic. We’re spoilt for riches in the midfield and I’d even go as far as claiming that our fully-fit first team can potentially beat any team in the world on their day. Considering that we’ve beaten both Champions League finalists away from home this calendar year, I don’t consider that an exaggeration.
However, the downside is that the wider squad still lacks depth. Aside from the opening day defeat against Villa, the two biggest disappointments this season are a direct result of the shallow squad. The League Cup exit against Chelsea was the most woeful performance of the season. Considering that it was Ryo Miaichi, Ju-Young Park and Nic Bendtner up against Samuel Eto’o, Michael Essien and Juan Mata, how could it have been anything but? The weak squad was also the main reason for our inability to beat the most laughable Man Utd side since the days when Fergie actually selected Charlton-reject Ralph Milne in the berth later challenged for by Ryan Giggs and Andrei Kanchelskis.
Though only Mertesecker and Rosicky were omitted from the side, Arsenal’s lethargic performance at Old Trafford suggests that there were more of the first side stricken by the 'flu bug, but, with such a shallow squad at Wenger’s disposal, they had to turn out for the game. Also, though our striking options will increase when Podolski returns, the very fact we’re still calling on a Nic Bendtner who I’ve barely seen break sweat whenever he’s turned out this season is self-evident that we require more firepower in attack. Despite his goal against Hull City, the feeling I get when still seeing Bendtner turn out in an Arsenal shirt is comparable to watching an unfunny and farcical TV sitcom that’s managed to drag itself out for nearly a decade and that you just wish someone accountable would cut their losses with and swing the axe.
Also, Wenger has actually said in the last few days that: ‘we don’t need a striker, we have Sanogo’ – a quote that is quite literally a rope that his potential detractors will hang him with should we see a 2007/08 relapse. Wenger needs to appreciate that there is a dearth of trophy-winning experience in this albeit impressive side, which will matter when it comes to what the old Govan shop-steward used to call ‘squeaky-bum time’. Though still an unknown quantity, relying on a 21-year-old forward who only has 21 appearances in the French league to his name is taking a huge risk if Olivier Giroud gets struck down with injury.
This season is a huge opportunity for this post-Highbury incarnation of Arsenal to finally make their mark on the footballing world. It’s a huge opportunity for Wenger to finally be vindicated after nine barren years, bury the Wenger-out brigade and cruise toward the twenty-year mark at the Arsenal helm in style. Though it is December, metaphorically speaking at Arsenal the sun is presently still out. Here’s hoping that Arsène doesn’t hit the rainy season with regrets that he didn’t fix that leaky roof while the sun was still shining.
*Follow me on Twitter@robert_exley
