xcdude24
Established Member
I'll try to keep this as level-headed as possible, as i'm still fuming about today.
I'm not even really sure where to begin, but I think that after the end of this season, the Arsenal finds itself at a crossroads; as a club, as a squad, and even as fans. The season obviously got off to a bad start(both on and off the pitch), and I don't think we were able to recover from that. After Flamster and to a lesser extent Hleb left, there was a huge gap in quality, and players that flat out shouldn't be starting were playing game in and game out. Guys like Denilson are easy to scapegoat because they were so consistently poor, but it's hard to blame them: they were thrown in the deep end and they drowned because they flat out haven't learned to swim. I think the whole "young players shouldn't be starting" thing has been beaten to death, so i'll go no further.
I think one of the biggest disappointments in terms of the squad performance was the fact that our "established" guys just didn't show up this season, at all. I always thought that Ade was one of our hardest workers prior to this season, but he looks apathetic and lazy out there now. Van Persie's tried hard all season, but the injuries have really done a number on him. In that respect, RVP and Ade are polar oppisites: Ade's got a load to offer, but just didn't offer it; RVP wants to have a contribution, but he just can't get into the groove of things. Another letdown has been Fabregas' form. A lot of it can be attributed to his lengthy injury and the way Wenger deployed him post-injury(more on that later), but even before the injury he just wasn't able to contribute. I thought appointing him captain was a good idea just because the Gallas captaincy was a huge distraction to the squad and the fans, but captains have to consistently play better than Cesc did throughout the season. Hell, I don't even think it's unfair to argue that RVP and Ade's poor showings this season can at least be partially attributed to Cesc's dip in form. There's also the whole argument that Cesc can't operate without a Flamster/Bert, and that's also fair. The bottom line is that the dip in midfield/striker form is a complicated issue and I believe it's totally unfair to pinpoint it on one single variable.
I'll devote a paragraph to our entire back line, including manny. We'll start with Manny. Frankly, he's been great. Before the season I personally thought he was distinctly average: he wasn't going to win any games, but he probably wouldn't lose us too many games. Today's follies aside, he's probably been our best performer. In terms of the rest of the defense, it's been partially a letdown. Gallas was performing damn good post-captaincy, and I think we missed him a lot down the stretch. Toure had a piss poor two thirds of the season, but he's slowly coming back to life. I think we'll see a "Toure Renaissance" next season. As a CB pairing, we didn't see them together too often, and it's been analyzed to death already, so i'll just leave it at that. Our fullbacks have been mediocre all season. Sagna has been better than Clichy, but they're just not playing with as much fire defensively as they did last season. Offensively, they're both crap and I think Wenger needs to reconsider the role of the fullback in our offensive scheme. More on that in a bit.
I'll begin my transition between individual players and tactics by discussing the influence of Arshavin. To put it bluntly, he may have saved our season. It's hard to say for sure that we may have been vulnerable for fifth just because Villa's been so poor since February or so, but I think he's solely responsible for keeping us afloat. I think his biggest contribution is the way he fits into our tactical setup. Pre-Arshavin, we were like a poor man's Spain NT (I actually think today's game is a perfect example of what i'm talking about). In a way it's similar to 2007-2008 in the sense that in ideal circumstances it's a possession game where our players are allotted a lot of time on the ball- pace in urgency basically plays second fiddle to holding on the ball. The problem with the pre-arshavin setup is that we lack the brilliance to play that kind of game. Guys like Flamini, Hleb, and Rosicky can play that style of play(Flamini less so, but he doesn't really play a dictating role like Hleb/Cesc/Rosicky played), but Theo, Denilson, Diaby, and (for now) Nasri can't. Arshavin is like the Anti-"Fabreball" in the sense that he's direct, he attacks with urgency, direction, and pace, and he makes chances.
The signing of Arshavin has basically led me to a few conclusions about our squad's tactical setup. 1) we need to re-think our wide setup. The only player who can cross the ball is Arshavin; while Sagna, Theo, and Clichy flat out can't. They just can't. What's problematic is the fact that how many opportunities these three get to cross the ball. Aside from Ade and Bendtner, we don't really have any aerial threats in the box- and both of them are erratic, to say the least. I'm not suggesting that we stop crossing the ball, but I think it'd be beneficial to play a more narrow game.
2) we need to up the tempo. We have a fair amount of pace on this squad, as guys like Ade, Theo, Arshavin, and even Nasri are all quick players. The thing about our passing style is that we don't utilize that at all. We do at times(Villarreal at home I think is a good example), but not enough. We're usually extremely slow getting down the pitch, and I think a lot of it is attributed to this quasi-casual passing style we employ.
On to Wenger. First of all, i'm not going to be drawn into the whole "sack Wenger" thing, because it's fruitless and won't happen. If anything, this season that Wenger still has it as a manager, but he's fallen off, and he's hanging by a thread at the edge. The positives: his purchases. Nasri will come good in a couple years, and Arshavin, well, yeah. He's Arshavin. The Arshavin signing alone demonstrates that Wenger knows who to buy- this will always be his biggest asset. The negatives? Well, there's a ton. Hell, let's talk about his non-signings. Not properly replacing flamini was an absolute disaster, we could have used a couple additional signings to bolster the squad. If he EVER wants to win trophies at Arsenal again, he needs to make more Arshavin-type signings. That's the absolute bottom line. Tactically it was a nightmare, and there's no need to go into that right now, other than the fact that it played a HUGE cause in this season's shortcomings. There's so much to say about Wenger that has already been said, and I think it's pointless to talk about in any more detail than has already been discussed. I'll leave it at this: Wenger needs to spent the summer thinking about the way he runs the squad- this includes matters both on and off the pitch.
In terms of the way the club has run, this has been the most promising season in a while. I think the emergence of Kroenke will prove to be a HUGE asset to the squad. Gazidis is crucial as well. He seems to be infusing a new sense of urgency within the board, something we haven't seen since dein. I think we still need a few more personal in the upper levels of management, especially a person or two to take on some of the duties Arsène has assumed.
All in all it's been one of the most disappointing seasons in a while. There's a LOT I didn't cover here, but I feel like this'll be enough for a good discussion on the ins and outs of this season. Although a complete overhaul of the squad probably isn't needed, I do think it's time to clear out some of the dead wood and infuse new life into this team.
I'm not even really sure where to begin, but I think that after the end of this season, the Arsenal finds itself at a crossroads; as a club, as a squad, and even as fans. The season obviously got off to a bad start(both on and off the pitch), and I don't think we were able to recover from that. After Flamster and to a lesser extent Hleb left, there was a huge gap in quality, and players that flat out shouldn't be starting were playing game in and game out. Guys like Denilson are easy to scapegoat because they were so consistently poor, but it's hard to blame them: they were thrown in the deep end and they drowned because they flat out haven't learned to swim. I think the whole "young players shouldn't be starting" thing has been beaten to death, so i'll go no further.
I think one of the biggest disappointments in terms of the squad performance was the fact that our "established" guys just didn't show up this season, at all. I always thought that Ade was one of our hardest workers prior to this season, but he looks apathetic and lazy out there now. Van Persie's tried hard all season, but the injuries have really done a number on him. In that respect, RVP and Ade are polar oppisites: Ade's got a load to offer, but just didn't offer it; RVP wants to have a contribution, but he just can't get into the groove of things. Another letdown has been Fabregas' form. A lot of it can be attributed to his lengthy injury and the way Wenger deployed him post-injury(more on that later), but even before the injury he just wasn't able to contribute. I thought appointing him captain was a good idea just because the Gallas captaincy was a huge distraction to the squad and the fans, but captains have to consistently play better than Cesc did throughout the season. Hell, I don't even think it's unfair to argue that RVP and Ade's poor showings this season can at least be partially attributed to Cesc's dip in form. There's also the whole argument that Cesc can't operate without a Flamster/Bert, and that's also fair. The bottom line is that the dip in midfield/striker form is a complicated issue and I believe it's totally unfair to pinpoint it on one single variable.
I'll devote a paragraph to our entire back line, including manny. We'll start with Manny. Frankly, he's been great. Before the season I personally thought he was distinctly average: he wasn't going to win any games, but he probably wouldn't lose us too many games. Today's follies aside, he's probably been our best performer. In terms of the rest of the defense, it's been partially a letdown. Gallas was performing damn good post-captaincy, and I think we missed him a lot down the stretch. Toure had a piss poor two thirds of the season, but he's slowly coming back to life. I think we'll see a "Toure Renaissance" next season. As a CB pairing, we didn't see them together too often, and it's been analyzed to death already, so i'll just leave it at that. Our fullbacks have been mediocre all season. Sagna has been better than Clichy, but they're just not playing with as much fire defensively as they did last season. Offensively, they're both crap and I think Wenger needs to reconsider the role of the fullback in our offensive scheme. More on that in a bit.
I'll begin my transition between individual players and tactics by discussing the influence of Arshavin. To put it bluntly, he may have saved our season. It's hard to say for sure that we may have been vulnerable for fifth just because Villa's been so poor since February or so, but I think he's solely responsible for keeping us afloat. I think his biggest contribution is the way he fits into our tactical setup. Pre-Arshavin, we were like a poor man's Spain NT (I actually think today's game is a perfect example of what i'm talking about). In a way it's similar to 2007-2008 in the sense that in ideal circumstances it's a possession game where our players are allotted a lot of time on the ball- pace in urgency basically plays second fiddle to holding on the ball. The problem with the pre-arshavin setup is that we lack the brilliance to play that kind of game. Guys like Flamini, Hleb, and Rosicky can play that style of play(Flamini less so, but he doesn't really play a dictating role like Hleb/Cesc/Rosicky played), but Theo, Denilson, Diaby, and (for now) Nasri can't. Arshavin is like the Anti-"Fabreball" in the sense that he's direct, he attacks with urgency, direction, and pace, and he makes chances.
The signing of Arshavin has basically led me to a few conclusions about our squad's tactical setup. 1) we need to re-think our wide setup. The only player who can cross the ball is Arshavin; while Sagna, Theo, and Clichy flat out can't. They just can't. What's problematic is the fact that how many opportunities these three get to cross the ball. Aside from Ade and Bendtner, we don't really have any aerial threats in the box- and both of them are erratic, to say the least. I'm not suggesting that we stop crossing the ball, but I think it'd be beneficial to play a more narrow game.
2) we need to up the tempo. We have a fair amount of pace on this squad, as guys like Ade, Theo, Arshavin, and even Nasri are all quick players. The thing about our passing style is that we don't utilize that at all. We do at times(Villarreal at home I think is a good example), but not enough. We're usually extremely slow getting down the pitch, and I think a lot of it is attributed to this quasi-casual passing style we employ.
On to Wenger. First of all, i'm not going to be drawn into the whole "sack Wenger" thing, because it's fruitless and won't happen. If anything, this season that Wenger still has it as a manager, but he's fallen off, and he's hanging by a thread at the edge. The positives: his purchases. Nasri will come good in a couple years, and Arshavin, well, yeah. He's Arshavin. The Arshavin signing alone demonstrates that Wenger knows who to buy- this will always be his biggest asset. The negatives? Well, there's a ton. Hell, let's talk about his non-signings. Not properly replacing flamini was an absolute disaster, we could have used a couple additional signings to bolster the squad. If he EVER wants to win trophies at Arsenal again, he needs to make more Arshavin-type signings. That's the absolute bottom line. Tactically it was a nightmare, and there's no need to go into that right now, other than the fact that it played a HUGE cause in this season's shortcomings. There's so much to say about Wenger that has already been said, and I think it's pointless to talk about in any more detail than has already been discussed. I'll leave it at this: Wenger needs to spent the summer thinking about the way he runs the squad- this includes matters both on and off the pitch.
In terms of the way the club has run, this has been the most promising season in a while. I think the emergence of Kroenke will prove to be a HUGE asset to the squad. Gazidis is crucial as well. He seems to be infusing a new sense of urgency within the board, something we haven't seen since dein. I think we still need a few more personal in the upper levels of management, especially a person or two to take on some of the duties Arsène has assumed.
All in all it's been one of the most disappointing seasons in a while. There's a LOT I didn't cover here, but I feel like this'll be enough for a good discussion on the ins and outs of this season. Although a complete overhaul of the squad probably isn't needed, I do think it's time to clear out some of the dead wood and infuse new life into this team.
