Wingless wonders

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Date	Time	C	Opponent	F	A	R	S
28 Aug	3:00 PM	P	Manchester United (A)	2	8	Lost

Any Arsenal fan worth his or her salt can probably tell you that the Arsenal team of late is looking a little bit imbalanced.

Last season's spectacular blowout has brought the hounds to manager Arsène Wenger's doorstep, but instead of strengthening in the off-season, significant losses in personnel have actually made the team even weaker. Defence was the primary concern last season, with injuries decimating the backline and uncertainty over our first choice keeper meaning we leaked goals at an alarming rate.

Alex Song's emergence as a first rate holding midfielder papered over the cracks early on in the season, but the team's defensive frailties were soon exposed, most notably when Newcastle staged an infamous four-goal comeback that some say had a debilitating run over effect on the team's mental fortitude at the tail end of the season. Of course kamikaze defending at set pieces and losing all three first choice keepers at one point haven't helped, but the writing was on the wall long before that. You'd have thought it couldn't have gotten worse, but Arsenal seems to be plumbing new depths this season in terms of squad depth.

Weak in defence, short on midfield creativity and an over-reliance on new captain Robin van Persie in attack means almost all areas of the team need strengthening. Whether it is Wenger's stubbornness or the alleged reluctance of the board to loosen the purse strings, the fact remains that time is running out and key payers have not been replaced since transferring out of the club.

While purchasing a new leftback seems to be the foremost priority before the transfer window closes, recent form suggests that attack is as much a concern as defence.

As the team travels to Old Trafford today to face off against defending champions Manchester United, it is significant that Arsenal have failed to register a single goal so far this season. Three goals over two legs against Udinese in the Champions League qualifiers show the team hasn't forgotten how to score, but a failure to open accounts against Newcastle or Liverpool is a worrying sign that our much vaunted attack may be breaking down this season.

Of the teams that have played two games or more in the league this season, only Arsenal, Fulham and Swansea have failed to notch a goal. It makes for grim reading at the bottom of the table.
While some might point to the fact that the team has lost two of its primary playmakers in Cesc Fabregas and Samir Nasri this season, there is a nagging feeling that the rot had set in much earlier than that.

Arsène Wenger's preference for playing the ball on the ground has been well documented, and his distaste for tall, bruising centre forwards meant players such as Theirry Henry and Robin van Persie have flourished. While that preference has been relaxed slightly with the arrival of such players like Emmanuel Adebayor, Marouane Chamakh and Nicklas Bendtner, the Arsenal style of play has stayed more or less the same. The premise is simple: work the ball through the middle with short, sharp passes and then split the defence with a delicately weighted ball or a needle-threaded pass into space.

Fabregas and more recently Jack Wilshere have proven themselves masters of the craft, but opposition sides have wisened up over the years. While perhaps only teams like Manchester United and Barcelona can beat Arsenal at their own game, other teams have picked up ways to counter the Gunners' game plan. Bruising tackles and niggling fouls have proven effective in disrupting Arsenal's natural flow, while packing the box with defenders whenever Arsenal has the ball has proven equally effective.

Therein lies the problem.

Negating Arsenal

When Arsenal gain possession of the ball, defending teams race back to cover, pushing men back into the box where a lone van Persie is often outnumbered. Arsenal players are then presented with two immediate options to proceed. One is to knock the ball around the box, back and forth to the exasperation of fans, before trying to thread the ball through. Against swarming bodies in the box, this is easier said than done. The other option is to move the ball out to the wings where someone will swing the ball into the box and hope for the best.

How many times have we seen an attempted cross fail to even clear the first defender, or an Arsenal boot shanking the ball high above everyone's heads? Ever so often, Bacary Sagna and the departed Gaël Clichy have been the main culprits, the ball being hacked clear by any one of the massed defenders in the box before any of the Arsenal bodies can even get to it.

Why are our sidebacks tasked with crossing the ball into the box? What has happened to our wingers? Hold on a moment, do we even have wingers?

Strangely enough, the answer is no.

The current Arsenal setup allows for a 4-3-3 system with van Persie in the role of a lone striker, supported by two other advanced forwards on each wing. This in turn reverts to a 4-5-1 as the team falls back. The once standard 4-4-2 system has been deemed too rigid by most of the top teams in Europe and Wenger certainly demands a certain fluidity from his teams.

Quite why Wenger insists on doing without specialist wingers though continues to mystify. You'd expect any team playing the 4-3-3 formation to have at least two out and out wingers, but Arsenal seems the exception to the rule. While early teams under Wenger had the likes of Marc Overmars, Freddie Ljungberg and Robért Píres, the current squad does not possess a single true winger.

Look at any of the big teams and you can instantly spot at least one or two top class wingers in the first team squad. Manchester United have Nani and Ashley Young, Liverpool have Stewart Downing and Maxi Rodriguez, Chelsea have Florent Malouda and Juan Mata, Tottenham have Aaron Lennon and Gareth Bale while Manchester City have David Silva and Adam Johnson (and Shaun Wright-Phillips and James Milner).

The point being made here is, while a winger is not necessarily a requirement, the formation we play is literally screaming out for one. While the manager can fill in the gaps by slotting players out of position on the wings, it does make for frustrating viewing.

A head count of the number of players Wenger has chosen to play out of position on the wings is telling. Andrei Arshavin, Tomas Rosicky, Samir Nasri, Jack Wilshere are natural central attacking midfielders. Theo Walcott, Gervinho, Carlos Vela and even the ungainly Nicklas Bendtner have also spent time on the wing despite being strikers. It is no surprise that forays up the wing by any of these makeshift wingers seldom lead to goals.

Much has been made of Arsenal's lack of height throughout the team, and the reluctance to even enter the opposition box, but the fact remains that all these factors mean little when we don't have any decent delivery into the box. The lack of specialist wingers who can cross the ball accurately is in my opinion, a weakness that Wenger has seen fit to overlook.

Given that we prefer to play a single forward up front at times, accurate delivery from the wings is probably vital. When crosses fail to even clear the first defender, or float harmlessly over everyone's heads and out of play on the far side, you know something is wrong. Add to that the fact that we have side backs who cannot deliver a ball to save their life either, and it doesn't matter if you put four players in the box. No one is going to get to it.

Possible solutions

Is there a simple solution to the problem?

I'm sure there is. All Wenger has to do is find a winger who can cross the ball and sign him. There is no doubt that Robin van Persie or Marouane Chamakh would love to have someone who could land the ball on their head more than once every ten tries.

Juan Mata would have fit the bill perfectly, but Chelsea waded in and snatched him from under our noses. Long-term target Eden Hazard could be an option too while Dutch winger Eljero Elia has also been linked.

However, even if we don't manage to land either of those targets in true Arsenal fashion, all might not be lost. Two new faces in the Arsenal squad offer hope for the future. Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain might not be ready for first team football yet, but his big money move from Southampton means much is expected of the young winger.

Ryo Miyaichi is another interesting prospect. The livewire Japanese winger is only 18, but impressed at Feyenoord last season and did enough for Wenger to request a work permit for him this season. Early signs have been promising, as he scored on debut against Wigan Reserves earlier this week. Miyaichi seems to excel at hugging the touchline and beating his man with a burst of acceleration, also showing good tactical awareness to cut inside when necessary. He might just be ready to step up to the big time and inject much needed width into the Arsenal set up.

Who knows, one of the two could even be introduced against Manchester United in today's league game. Some might baulk that the occasion might be too huge for either of them, but does anyone remember a youngster that was thrown on against two of the biggest teams last season and lived to tell the tale?

No one gave Wojciech Szczesny a chance when he was called into action against Barcelona and Manchester United last season. Yet he has now firmly established himself as Arsenal's first choice goalkeeper. Sometimes players have to be thrown into the deep end if you want to find out if they'll cut it in the big leagues.

For now, Arsenal have little to lose. Whether we promote from within or sign an established player before the transfer window slams shut, something has to be done and quickly at that. Once Arsenal possess a threat from the wings and stop being so one dimensional, teams will be forced to commit themselves when defending, opening up vital space for Wilshere et al. to operate in the middle.

Watch this space.

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