Why a total clear out is not needed

The bitter, almost forgotten, taste of a derby defeat, topped with lame surrender on Sunday has left the Arsenal fans' title dreams in tatters, and their tempers severely frayed.

In fact so frayed, that Arsenal forums have been filled with calls for a club clear-out, with most of Sunday's team sheet- namely Diaby, Fabianski, Slyvestre, Almunia, Rosicky, Bendtner (even previous untouchables Sagna and Wenger) finding themselves in the disgruntled Gooners' spring clean lists.

But having thown in the towel for the title, we should be careful not to now throw either baby, or excess bathwater along with it. For as Madrid have found only this year, often Sneijder and Robben grade gems swirl in those merky waters, and closer to home we'd do well to remember that not so very long ago general Gooner consesus pointed to Alex Song as the weakest link.

Sloppy passing was one of the many criticisms levelled at Sunday's side and particularly at Abou Diaby. But a look at the statistics tells us this this is not really the case. Diaby made 22 passes on Sunday and fluffed only 4 (a fairly decent 73% pass success rate). Compare that with his performance in the 4-0 mauling of Wigan at home and you'll see the performances were almost identical, he made 22 passes that day too with the only difference being his 2 fewer misplaced passes

However this is partly the problem the Arsenal side currently face.All season long the Arsenal forward line has run along the lines that Song provide the bite, with Cesc to thread the needle, Denilson/ Diaby/or Nasri to support and link with Fabregas, whilst Arshavin and Walcott pierce defences running with the ball.

Now, not only are Arsenal missing Song's bite, painfully clear when you contrast tackles made by Eastmond with those of Song in the reverse fixture (see accompanying graphic)

But with Fabregas, Song and Arshavin missing, Diaby, Denilson and Nasri are required to take up more than juust supporting roles. Unfortunately for Arsenal, bar the Porto home-leg, they've struggled to do this well.

Take Nasri's performance for example, his play was far from sloppy, in fact he misplaced just 2 passes all match.

But what was lacking, was any real attacking intent. Discounting corners, Nasri made just 2 passes into the box, compared with the 9 Cesc made in the home fixture. Diaby's passing distribution paints a similar picture and in this the two central midfielders must look to improve, as sometimes steady is not quite enough and the initiative needs to be taken.

Of course, Fabregas also had van Persie moving off the ball for him, which for all his improvement, is one area where you feel Bendtner still needs to work.

Nevertheless for the first 49 minutes (see top left graphic) Walcott did make up for lost firepower with his constant forays down the right flank.

Sadly though, after Slyvestre scored the second Theo's, along with what little attacking ambition Arsenal had, fizzled out almost completely (see below graphic).

To which I paraphrase a footballing adage of Sven' Goran Errikson's which went along the lines of 'In football if you're not the cat, you're the mouse.'

It is here perhaps some blame lies at Wenger's door, because for all appearances,
this looked like a side happy to eke out a slender win, get on the bus and worry about the next game with city.

When with Chelsea and United clearly wobbling it seemed the perfect opportunity to send a message of intent, get them looking over their shoulders again and more importantly, eat into that potentially crucial goal difference.

So you wonder if, on seeing Arsenal lose dominance and attacking threat in the second half, Wenger should not have pre-empted Wigan's late surge by throwing on van Persie. I'm sure Fabianski would have preferred to have been saved the late siege on his goal too. Probably the last thing an out of form, under pressure goalkeeper needs.

Let's not go overboard though. Wenger was no doubt wary of repeating a pre-mature return like that of Gallas, and in fairness, well before Watson drew one back.
his 2 subs were ready to enter the field.

We should also consider the fact that, injuries aside, the gruelling total football tie with Barcelona must have taken a lot out of an already strained squad- and if recent results on the continent are anything to go by- it might well have take more out of Barça than we suspect too. (Barcelona have drawn and lost their last 2 fixtures)

So perhaps this Arsenal side deserves some slack. After all, despite their youth, despite injuries and a freak fixture list forcing fatigue and unfamiliar roles upon them, they've stuck in this title race much further than most had tipped them to, and there's still much more to come from them.

Yes, there are lessons to be learned. Yes, some quality reinforcements and competition for places is needed, but a clear-out is definitely not.

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