Date: 12th November 2011 at 1:17pm
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Is Arsenal really a one-man team? Should the returning Thomas Vermalen be paired with Laurent Koscielny or summer-buy Per Mertesacker? What are the chances of Robin van Persie signing a new contract?

Wengerball attempts to chart yet another season in the Arsenal red and white, one that hopefully culminates in much anticipated glory in England’s highest footballing echelon.

The Best Striker in the World

Arsenal’s revival in fortunes seems to have had the writers singing a different tune of late, and quickly running out of superlatives for chief architect Robin van Persie. The Dutchman’s goal-plundering heroics has unsurprisingly led to accusations that the Gunners are a one-man team, but there is no doubt the Arsenal captain is in the form of his life at the moment.

The purple patch, while timely, has got the fans worried and with good reason. For is is during his goalscoring exploits that the fragile van Persie is most susceptible to injury. It has happened before, countless times in fact. No sooner has the fleet-footed striker been coming into a patch of form and doing his best impression of the Flying Dutchman that bad luck seems to strike and he is cruelly struck down by a horrific injury, whether it be with Arsenal or on Oranje duty.

Even Arsène Wenger seems to have surmised as much, as his recent benching of the red-hot forward seems to indicate. It is worrying that the team sometimes labours to win games without their captain, but anyone would probably agree that it would be nice to have van Persie ready to come off the bench rather than stewing on the injury table.

The foward’s influence was on show again last weekend as he netted his 29th goal in 28 games this year, and his 11th of the current league campaign as Arsenal comfortably saw off W.B.A at the Emirates. Such a good goal-ratio, as well as the ability to turn any game on its head (the brace against Stoke City and a hattrick to put Chelsea to the sword are recent examples) have many suggesting he might be among the top strikers in the world at the moment, if not the best.

Indeed, much was made of van Persie’s absence on the recently released FIFA Ballon d’Or shortlist for 2011. Purported to show the 23 best players in the world, the list includes the likes of Lionel Messi, Wayne Rooney, Luis Suarez and Sergio Aguero. Even Anzhi Makhackala’s Samuel Eto’o rated a mention, together with Santos starlet Neymar. The startling omission led Gunners teammate Wojciech Szczesny to brand it ‘ridiculous’ and remark that van Persie was “at the moment the best striker in the world”.

Whatever the case, Gunners fans will be hoping their talismanic captain stays injury-free for the rest of the season, if only to give the club a fighting chance of actually making ground on its rivals this season.

Reshuffling the Back Four

There’s been much talk lately about Andre Santos’s ineptitude in defence, although the Brazilian’s enthusiasm in going forward cannot be faulted. The summer signing’s goals against Marseille and Chelsea were invaluable, but his efforts at the back have left much to be desired. There are some who have already been labelling him as more of a natural winger than a full back, but the fact remains there is little there can be done while Kieran Gibbs remains sidelined.

There is much the same situation on the opposite flank, with Bacary Sagna’s long-term injury causing a headache for the gaffer. While Carl Jenkinson is a like-for-like replacement for the Frenchman, he has been very much susceptible against pace from opposing wingers. This has led to centre back Johan Djourou being preferred to him on occasion, including the recent visit to Stamford Bridge. It almost backfired though, as Djourou turned in a horror performance to nearly gift the Blues two goals early on. Once again, there are few other options that can come into play, and perhaps it wouldn’t be too bad of an idea for Jenkinson’s progression if he continues with his trial by fire.

If there’s one thing the young full back can offer the Arsenal team, it is a sweet right-footed delivery when entering opposition territory. I don’t know about you, but his probing, ever-dangerous crosses are much easier on the eye than Theo Walcott’s ugly fire-and-forget balloons.

There is much better news in central defence though as Thomas Vermaelen appears to have come through unscathed upon his return from injury. The selection dilemma herein is in deciding who gets to pair up with him in front of goalkeeper Szczesny.

While Per Mertesacker offers a much more impressive pedigree, Laurent Koscielny seems to have improved in leaps and bounds since last season. The ex-Lorient defender has settled well into the team, doing double time in covering for the lumbering Mertesacker in Vermaelen’s absence as well as offering a genuine goal threat up front.

The huge German on the other hand, still seems to be getting used to English football. While he seems to have slowly figured out the the speed of the English game, he also appears to have lost some of his positional sense of late, missing headers and losing sight of attackers in the box. It may take a the German international some more time yet before he can become the elite defender that Wenger envisioned when signing him.

Vermaelen’s return seems to have had a profound psychological effect on the Arsenal defence too. While the back four is still not rock solid, they no longer seem as shaky as they did at the start of the season. Perhaps it is the deposed Belgian captain’s calming influence or his assured presence that has breathed life into the backline, but even Lady Luck seems to be smiling on them of late.

A case in point was the recent game against West Brom. When the rampaging Somen Tchoyi sprang the offside trap and drove deep into the Arsenal box, all seemed lost, especially when Vermaelen’s desperate lunge left him sprawled helplessly in front of the Baggies striker. However, with the whole goal to aim for and all the time in the world to pick his shot, the West Brom substitute inexplicably blasted the ball straight at Vermalen’s prone body and into the grateful arms of Szczesny.

The Gunners proceeded to comfortably hold out for a clean sheet and a fourth league win on the trot.

Same Old Contractual Worries

Worrying shades of the Samir Nasri situation from last season though, as it was announced that Robin van Persie was holding off contract talks till the end of the season. Having struck up a genuine understanding with Gervinho, and with fellow strikers Marouane Chamakh and Park Chu-Young in questionable form, Arsenal would be loathe to lose one of their most important players for nothing in two years’ time.

van Persie’s contract is due to expire in 2013, and any failure to renew it would mean the club having to make a decision on whether to cash in on the striker or lose him for nothing when his contract runs down.

While others such as Jack Wilshere have reaffirmed their commitment towards the club, van Persie has been remarkably silent on the subject lately, choosing to concentrate on banging in the goals on a weekly basis. It is strangely reminiscent of Samir Nasri’s contractual wrangling last season before he eventually jumped ship and found his way to Manchester City.

Such transfer debacles unsurprisingly leave a bitter taste in mouths of diehard fans, and while the media have been known to make mountains out of molehills, the latest out of Ashburton Grove has been anything but convincing.

“He doesn’t want to talk about it at the moment and we are not troubling him,” Arsenal chairman Peter Hill-Wood told the Daily Star. “I think we will approach him near the end of the season.”

More worrying however, was his next statement.

“But we obviously hope that he will sign a new contract – I don’t see why not.

“I can’t believe he is unhappy with us.”

Therein lies the unsettling uncertainty. Note Hill-Wood’s usage of words. Not “I don’t believe” but rather “I can’t believe”.

Is van Persie troubled behind the scenes at Arsenal, or was that merely a slip of the tongue from the Arsenal chairman? It appears we will be left in the dark for now, but I for one would advice you to enjoy the goals while you still can. Little is sacrosanct in football these days, and any fan would find it hard to take things at face value, especially after Nasri’s antics last season.

Footnote: I realise I forgot to do this two weeks ago, so this column is belatedly dedicated to lifelong Arsenal and Robin van Persie fan Sha (@agoonersdream). Thanks for coming to the rescue, and stay awesome!

 

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