The days when Arsenal brought consistent smiles to the faces of its fans seem long gone. Even the days when Arsenal managed to stay in the top four in the Premier League also seem lost. What’s the cause of this steady decline over the past years? Many have been happy to lay the blame at Arsene Wenger’s feet, but are his coaching skills which once saw Arsenal to numerous victories really the sole cause?
According to Frank Lampard and Troy Deeney, the cause of Arsenal’s continuous failure to impress is due to a lack of fight among the players – that the players lack the backbone to stay tough while the tough gets going during a match.
While there might be some credibility to Lampard and Deeney’s opinion, we’ve decided to put together a compressed list of what Arsenal fans around the world also think to be the cause of the woes of the Gunners.
Being stingy when buying players
Many fans think that Arsenal’s prudency when it comes to buying players is one of the causes of the club’s dwindling success. In recent years, Arsenal has invested only little in buying big players – Ozil, Sanchez – and yet has been so willing to let go of some of their strongest players which have left to become powerful weapons at other big name clubs. Arsenal’s tactic of spending little on upcoming players and grooming them to sell at a profit is believed by many to be one of the core causes of Arsenal’s undoing in recent years.
Unsettled defence
The ability of Arsenal’s defence to crumble in the face of a strong offensive is nothing short of amusing. No team in the Premier League can expect to put up a good fight without a strong defence and Arsenal has repeatedly proved this point with its weak defence and string of losses. The only steady feature in Arsenal’s defence seems to be Petr Cech while every other member of the defence line-up changes from game to game thus not giving the defence squad the opportunity it needs to familiarise itself with their position. A problem that Leicester was more than happy to take advantage of recently.
Arsenal’s unsettled defence might be a problem, but is their attack any better?
Lack of attacking threat
It’s hard to believe that any of the big teams in the Premier League go against Arsenal with any significant worry about Arsenal’s attacking force. Lacazette has done what he can to bolster the team, but with no strong teammates to back him up, there’s only so much he can do. Arsenal’s lack of a strong defence and attack leads to the team finding it hard to score and defend any lead gained opponents.
Arsenal’s inability to put up a good fight when it goes against big teams like Manchester United, Chelsea, Barcelona have made many Gunner fans unenthusiastic about watching such matches. But to be unable to hold their own against less popular teams is a new headache Gunner fans now have to deal with. Let’s see if a miracle will turn things around before the year runs out.