The subject of Arsenal Football Club’s demise towards the end of last season left every football fan eager to voice their opinion. Arsené Wenger’s ‘beautiful game’ does, without doubt leave neutral supporter’s drooling at the mouth, however, the questions fly in when the final whistle blows, and Arsenal have lost 2-1 in the Carling Cup final to an ultimately inferior Birmingham team.
Answer? There is none. Wenger appears to be stuck in the trend of his 49 games unbeaten streak of 2004 where the team were seemingly unstoppable. However this team, led by the prolific Thierry Henry, must now be a fond memory in the Gunners past, as new blood attempts to rise to those heights once more. Unfortunately, this task has been made far trickier than simply filling the boots of the greats, as the present day Arsenal must now face the brute and muscle of the modern game. A game that now leaves the likes of Stoke and Bolton, profiting gluttonously from direct and simple football, leaving Arsenal starved of seemingly easy wins and potential glory.
Yet, still, a glimmer of hope for any tired and troubled Arsenal fan. Jack Wilshere is without doubt one of the best young English players we have seen in a long, long time, and, it would be hard to claim that Arsenal did not have a lot of quality within their ranks as they would not have been a top 4 team so consistently without it. Wenger consistently forms teams that play this beautiful game, something that I would much rather see and encourage than ‘which team has the best dead ball specialist’ or ‘which team can tackle the hardest’. The question is where do they go from here?
Well, every team needs balance, and with emulating the success of Barcelona in the Spanish League becoming a priority in the near future for Arsenal, compromise is needed. Barcelona’s success has been based on the formula that for every Messi and Iniesta, there is a Mascherano and a Puyol to tidy things up, allowing the flair players to impress. So, I come to the subject that leaves every Arsenal supporter with a dry mouth and sweating palms. Transfers. Now, the likes of Henry, Campbell and Vieira have aged and moved on; leaving a void that Arsené has never seemed to comprehensively fill. Familiar faces of Samir Nasri and Cesc Fabregas are losing their patience at the club, creating new pressure on the team to end the 6 year trophy drought, in order to keep the fans, and the dressing room atmosphere, as positive as possible.
Unfortunately, for me, the likes of Gervinho and Carl Jenkinson, a youngster formerly of Charlton Athletic, are, although of a reasonable quality, still either unproven in the Premier League or too young to make a real difference this season. With newspapers linking Arsenal with the likes of Juan Mata and not a lot else, it is becoming increasingly likely that Nasri does in fact have a point, and Arsenal are going to be a Top 6 team and nothing more for a good few more years.
Ultimately, for me there is one conclusion, as a team to watch in the Premier League, Arsenal are by far the most exciting, however as a team to support I have to side with the likes of Manchester United, Manchester City and Liverpool, who are showing more and more ambition with the money they are investing and the grit and determination on the pitch. This leaves two directions in how Arsenal progress, Arsené Wenger must change his stubborn ways and sign players that balance and boost his team, or is sent on his way for a new era at Arsenal Football Club.
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Carling Cup happened after what turned the season – Fabregas injury. He carries the team, nothing to do with bottle or mental toughness or any of that nonsense the rich clubs fans spout about to try and make out it’s something other than having hundreds of millions in your squad to call upon. Happens many times over year on year – Fabregas out = Arsenal collapse. And to answer your point, yes the club has showed a lack of ambition. They folded again because the squad isn’t good enough and yet again nothing is being done about it.
ITS NOT ALL ABOUT MONEY FFS!! top 6?? lol! what is wrong with you mate?? arsenal are a top team! always will be pure class!! you want us to spend money?? ok…so what about chelsea?? they spent £100m last season for what??? awful cup runs, failed in champs league AGAIN and finished a cpl of points above arsenal! £50m on a joke of a striker who scored 2/3 goals for chelsea in 20 odd games!! where arsenal pay £10m for gervinho who destroyed the french league last season and played so far on the wings for arsenal and already scored 2 goals!! (in his 1st 20mins) hmmmm?? what would you rather do? have a joker like torres or for 5 times less money get a player who will get 15/20 goals a season!!
and also arsenal have a massive squad!! i know you and the media and idiot UN-knowledgeable fans think you need big names!! but you say we didnt replace vieria?? ok who the hell was cesc fabregas when vieria left?? a no one!! a kid!! remember?? and what has he done since..became WORLD class!! so when cesc goes! ramsey/wilshere/lansbury will step up!! a few years they will be world class and then the media will be saying oh no!! disaster at arsenal…man city linked with £100m bid for world class lansbury or sumthing!!
i dont want to sign any player who will block a great young player at arsenal!! we have 3 good young goalies, all the other teams have 1 main goalie and shit back up! we have 3 young full backs who will become great players, center back is the only prob as squilaci is shite!! get rid of him and bring in cahill or someone and we are sorted!! we have so many amazing midfielders and attackers!!
so cut your crisis scare mongering!! there are other ways you can show ambition!! its not always money!! id like to see any other big team move in to a new stadium and stay at the same level WITHOUT being able to spend money! id like to see them play pass and move proper footy and win games! not cheat! or play kick and run with alot of thugs!! then maybe wenger and arsenal will get the respect they deserve!! and you might understand how much of an achievement what arsenal have been doing the last few years has been!!
…and what really annoys we is this ‘ambition’ liverpool and manchester clubs are showing!! lol! they pay ridiculous ammounts of money for okish young players and thats ambition?? wow phil jones!! he is world class?? £20m for henderson!! again pure clasS?? lol!! adams? de gea? only ashley young is proven talent and i bet gervinho who is similar will be better than him!!!
but whatever!! i hope the so called clubs with ambition have the same arrogance and ignorance as the media as then they will think they are better than they actually are!!! which means arsenal can finally get what they DESERVE and win a trophy!!
id like a cpl more signings but they have to be the right player!! not the most expensive player!! if not im happy with our current squad and think we can win a few things with it!!
i feel insulted you deem teams like liverpool, maybe even then losers spurs, man city, and chelsea as better than arsenal just cause they spend lots of money!! the only team who has a better squad is man utd!! other than that arsenal have the 2nd best SQUAD (im not saying starting 11) in the league!!
UP THE ARSENAL!!
Good point Priesty, about Fab carrying the team. He himself wasn’t at his best last season, and injury played a small part.But the whole team were lethargic in their approach. The reason he stayed last season was because Wenger convinced him that we could win the league ( the realists knew differently ).
Wenger has tried the same trick again, but Fab is wise to it, and isn’t going to be fooled a second time. He can see that we lack ambition – which is why he wants to go to Barca – so he can win something.The question now is; will Nasri be conned by Wenger’s assurances of good times,or will he also see through the spin ? We must wait and see.But I’d take the 20 million plus, and use it to buy Cahill. But as that makes sense,it’s likely Wenger won’t do it.
“In Arsene we rust.”
Nasri’s mind is made up, he’s off – now or next year – just hope Arsenal aren’t stupid enough to hold on to him. But, they’ve got it all wrong recently so you never know what limits there are to their incompetence.
Fabregas has given so much that nearly all our fans would wish him well – but Barca’s bid is derisory. He’s worth double that easily. I would hang on to him for at least a year longer – when hopefully Wilshere & Ramsey have grown a little stronger and ready to take games by the scruff of the neck like Fabregas does.