Somak Goswami
Ed’s note – This piece was received between the Man City and Dortmund games, but slipped through the net. I doubt the author has changed his view on defensive matters, so we are running it now.
So, the season has started, a few games are out of the way and the transfer window is closed till Jan 1st. How has Arsenal's first few games been? Much like the unveiling of iPhone 6 - underwhelming. Why so? Because the same mistakes are committed over and over again, year after year. To name one, once again v Manchester City zonal marking from a corner led to an easy goal. Dimichelis was completely unmarked as if this was a pub side game. He, in fact, had enough time to bring the ball down, run out for a drink, come back and bang it in. I simply cannot believe that Steve Bould stands for this kind of nonsense. He never would have in his playing days, and he and Big Tone would have screamed a cannonball sized hole in the ear drums of other players had this comical defending happened a couple of times. So, one wonders why he stands for this now? Perhaps there's a good reason we don't know about? £1 million a year salary would certainly make a lot of people lose their spine, I imagine.
Let's pick another mistake. Flamini is no DM. There's a reason why he couldn't cut it even in the much slower paced Italian league. Milan may be foolish at times, but they're no mugs. They saw Flamini daily and in him all they saw was an oft injured, off the pace, wrong side of 30 player. But ol' Uncle Arsene never sees such things, especially if the player happens to belong to his motherland. He wouldn't bring Cesc back, but he certainly can bring Flamini back. Against City, an arthritic tortoise would have been quicker than Flamoney was. Arsenal play a high defensive line, have error prone defenders (Monreal is no defender and we are one injury away from having him play CB. Gibbs is a shade better but that's poor consolation) and an error prone defensive strategy (zonal marking). If anyone needs a protective DM, it's goddamn us. Yet, an entire summer was blown away without being able to find one. Which is quite surprising, as Wenger's boasted in the past that his team "look at every player in the world and work 24 hours a day 365 days a year".
Funnily enough, Man Citeh's team work less and are able to find Fernandinho. Wenger even had time to host a charity game but no time to go after a proper DM. I refuse to believe that even he's this blind to not see Arteta and Flamini for what they are - past their sell by date. Then again, Wenger spent five years convincing us that Almunia was a good goalie and he spent four years eulogizing Alex Song as a DM. Incidentally, where is Song these days? A good player cannot just finish off with one wrong move, surely? Barca have been unable to offload him and there's a reason for it - At Arsenal, every one of his frequent mistakes was forgiven by Wenger and Wenger'ites, and he was made out to be a DM which he clearly was not. At Barca, he was found out pretty quickly and the rest is history. Now he’s been parked at West Ham for a season. Good players will always come good one time or another - see Cesc at Cheatski.
Since I'm being indulgent, let's pick another one of those chronic mistakes - Defensive manpower. Wenger gets rid of Sagna, which is fine and good since we don't want players against their wishes especially if they are pushing 30, but replaces him with a player of a similar age and part of the worst defence in the Premier League last season. He doesn't even test Dortmund's resolve to keep Hummels. He just goes straight out and buys a kid. He sells Vermaelen (see Sagna) and loans out Jenkinson, both of which are decent moves as Jenkinson, I'm afraid, will probably not cut it at this level. Then he sits and twiddles his thumb. Steps out to meet the Pope, spends his time on the beaches in Brazil playing footy on the sand. Etc. Does nothing to sign a defender. Zilch. Result? We have two recognized CB's, a downgrade at RB (who's now injured) and a kid for a backup and two below average LB's. Oh and no DM. And with this, Wenger expects to mount a title challenge and European battle.
I cannot believe grown men pay up to see this charlatan's arrogant mistakes season after goddamn season without booing the stadium down. The buck begins and ends with one man - Wenger. Why do we Gooners continue to take his nonsense season after season? Oh wait, next year will be better, right? Surely Wenger will not repeat the same mistakes next season, right? Most definitely he'll complete the transfer business early next season, next season...
