The Fall From Grace - Part I

Is he to be blamed?

So we are out of the trophy hunt. Yet again.
Our hunt for a trophy(if we are looking for one at all!) continues for yet another year.

I doubt anyone would have expected such a trophy drought when Arsene was sweeping everything before him when he first arrived at Arsenal. The pinnacle of his achievements would unquestionably be the 2004/2005 season when Arsenal won the league without a single loss all season. After the victorious campaign, I still remember what he claimed to the world : "There will be a new power shift from Manchester to London". He could not have got it more wrong.

It would not be wrong to say that Arsenal are no longer a power house.(The talk of "power shift" is out of the window)! They are a good club no doubt. But, we are no longer a force. It was made apparent by our tame defeats against Manchester City, Chelsea, Manchester United and more recently against Bayern Munich.We were well outclassed in all these matches. Even Arsene admitted it. After the defeat to Bayern, Arsene claimed "Bayern were class". (Of course, that means we are not!). Defeats against League Two side Bradford and Championship side Blackburn suggested we were not even close.

Is it the fault of the Board or Arsene or both? We can blame whoever we want to but the fact remains that Arsenal have become just another average team.

WENGER:"FANS' REACTION WON'T AFFECT ME"

WENGER NEEDS TO WAKE UP!

Le prof is at it again.
Arsene Wenger recently told the media:

 "I want our fans to be happy and over the moon, but I cannot say it affects the way I feel, because I feel I have to focus on the job and see how we can sort our problems out."

He also pointed out, again, that splashing the cash is not what he is looking for and is looking to solve problems "internally". How many times have we heard this before!Does that mean there will be no signings of note in January?

Does he even know where our happiness lies? When was the last time we were happy with our team? When was the last time something was actually done "for" the fans. Clearly, fans are not in your plans Mr.Wenger. When you say "I cannot say fans' reaction affect the way I feel" it actually means "I don't feel for the fans".
"Over the moon?" Yeah right. You actually mean "Desert fans on the moon!".

I admit it. I have, maybe, been too harsh with the choice of my words here. In fact, I still believe in the manager. I am not one of those wants him sacked. And I would suggest everyone to get behind our manager and the team,still. Our club undertook a project to build a new,young team after the "Invincibles" under our manger and we have flunked it. The manager needs to realize this and move on. Year-in year-out the same approach is taken and the outcome gets worse every year. I hope he awakens from his slumber now, because right now, we need him to deliver more than ever.    

Comments are welcomed.

WENGER: WE WILL CHALLENGE IN THE FUTURE

ARSENE WENGER

Arsene Wenger recently told the media that Arsenal will challenge the best teams financially in the future because we are well placed financially at the moment. In saying so, Wenger revealed a critical facet of his character : living in the future and neglecting the present.

There is no doubt the future looks bright for Arsenal off the pitch. But what about our exploits on the pitch? Yes the off-the-pitch aspect is as important as on-the-pitch aspect but neglecting one for the other can only spell disaster as we have seen so many times with so many teams in football and other sports. What Wenger has done is that he has prioritized the "off field" aspects while almost completely neglecting the "on filed" aspect. This has been felt more and more every year since 2006. The figures speak for themselves. We have made more money and won absolutely nothing after 2005/06! We have been steadily increasing the number of sponsors and the amount of money they "pay" us while at the same time, we are experimenting with young and inexperienced players and expecting them to deliver trophies on the pitch!On top of that, we are selling our best players to get some extra cash! 

ARSENAL FANS WOULD LOVE TO SEE WENGER IN THIS PICTURE!

 Wenger is not, however,  responsible for everything, we all know that.In fact, some even speculate that it is entirely the fault of our board. But we are tired of hearing such statements like "we will challenge in the future","our future is bright", "we have a young team" every year, Mr. Wenger. We desperately want to hear "This is our year......","This our night.......","This trophy is for the fans......".

WALLCOT OUT! AND CHAMPIONS LEAGUE PREVIEW

WHERE DOES HIS FUTURE LIE?

Arsenal play host to Montpellier in the Champions League tonight and it has emerged that Theo Wallcot will miss the match due to injury. On the bright side, Gervinho is back in the squad and so is Gibbs. In the case of Gibbs it now seems as a matter of "when" rather than "if" he gets injured again. Such a pity.He is a decent player but injury has ruined him.

The situation with Wallcot is getting stretched by the day like rubber. There have been news of breakthroughs but until the deal is not done, anything can happen. Personally, Wallcot is not among my favorites and I would not mind him leaving especially after Wenger admitted he would replace him with "one of the best" if he was to leave.(Oh Mr.Wenger, we won't fall for that again!)

There are also rumors in the media that Henry is signing for us on loan again.Mr. Wenger too told the official Arsenal FC site www.Arsenal.com that Henry could be given a chance.Well, it would be a welcome no doubt for fans like us.Although on the downside,Henry is not the Henry of old. Yet he can give the team a lift and score some important goals too like last season.

Amidst all this, Arsenal host Montpellier in a crunch tie in the Champions League.Securing a place in the knockout phase of the Champions League depends on the result in these final two matches.It is not ideal to leave qualification till the final match but that is the case right now and we must face it.Only a win tonight and at least a point from our next match will guarantee progression to the next match.Arsenal must be ruing the two goal lead they allowed to slip in their last match against Schalke.One thing is certain,it is a must win or Arsenal.However, it won't be that easy as many think it will be. Montpellier will be coming with confidence after they played well against a strong PSG side in the French league. Added to the fact is that they have nothing to loose. Arsenal did defeat their bitter neighbors Tottenham 5-2 in their last match but they were not convincing when they played against 11 in that match. It will be an interesting tie tonight.  

PAPERING OVER THE CRACKS

The 7-5 win against Reading yesterday night in the Capital One cup was a delight for the neutrals and I dare say it pleased most Arsenal fans at the end of the day.To come back from 4-0 down was really some achievement.But, for me,it was a game one of those games that once again proved that Arsenal are not "there" yet,and sadly, for the 8th season in a row!My view on how Arsenal will perform this season is now more clear and it points at another trophy-less season,sadly.

As I have mentioned so many times in my posts,better defense equals more chances of winning trophies.How did our defense perform yesterday?The less said about it,the better.All the experts,pundits and fans were excited about how well our defense was organized in the first three games of the season which was credited to Steve Bould. We have conceded in every match after those games(except against QPR on Saturday). The "Steve Bould effect" was thrown out of the window yesterday.You might argue it was a reshuffled defense or a reshuffled team but infact,it is more worrying as it proves that defensive frailties resides to the core of Arsenal FC.The club must be built on a solid foundation of defense from the root-level, only then can it lay claim to titles as history has so clearly proven in the past in any league or at international level(or you have to be Brazil or Barcelona who can outscore any opponent and evidently,we cannot do that). Of course out manager wants us to play an attacking brand of football but that does not mean neglecting the defense completely.

If I am to be honest, I actually wanted Arsenal to concede more after it was 4-0 so that it would make the manager realize that we were having problems.But we did the "papering over the cracks" act and came out 7-5 winners.We have ruled ourselves out of being genuine title challengers from yesterday's match in my opinion.Sure Portsmouth won the FA cup and Birmingham  won the Carling Cup a few years ago but if Arsenal win a trophy this season, it would be hailed,as in the case of the aforementioned teams,a miracle!
  
 

BACK TO "ARSENAL" WAYS

I have never liked Arsenal conceding a goal.In fact,I would take a 0-0 draw any day for a 2-1 win!(well maybe not all the time!).I have always believed that for a team to win trophies, it must show solidity from the back(unless you are Barcelona or Real Madrid ofcourse).

For their first 3 games of the season, Arsenal managed to keep as many clean sheets.They were being praised from all corners regarding their new found defensive solidity.Some even tipped them to challenge for the title after watching just 3 games!(which was ofcourse an overreaction).How things have changed.They started their old habit of conceding goals again after the 3 matches.So much so that they have not kept a clean sheet in any tournament after the first 3 matches!And the repercussions of conceding goals are clearly to be seen in the matches.The only match in which we looked comfortable conceding a goal was the one against Southampton.We had some luck in winning the other matches where we conceded while our luck ditched us against the matches against Manchester City(where we could and should have won easily) and against Chelsea(which ofcourse we lost).

When we were not conceding,you could see that all our players oozed confidence and they believed we could win.That is true for any team.As I have mentioned in my earlier post,any team that does not concede has every chance to win.But,if you analyze the matches in which we conceded, our players seemed more nervous and as a result, we gave chances to the opposition.

Personally,whenever Arsenal concede,I get nervous myself!I just can't take a goal!I start to get thoughts like "Ok. We might throw away this game here" "Here we go again!".These thoughts are mainly due to that dreaded night at the Emirates against Newcastle 2 seasons ago when we went from 4-0 up to drawing 4-4 and 8-2 defeat last season.Win or lose,I have always watched Arsenal matches till the final whistle.However, this season,I expect so much from Arsenal's defense that when we conceded a goal, I stopped watching the match altogether.I can't hold my nerves after we concede! It is in a way, too painful too watch.Please, Arsenal, do not concede....so that I can watch the full match.