February 16th
Yesterday was a day of intense reflection amongst Arsenal fans. Arseblog had one of it’s busiest days ever in terms of visits and it’s natural that people want to talk and vent some spleen. When things are going well how many times can you say “Well, aren’t we great. Wasn’t that a fantastic 4-0 win?”
When things aren’t going well everybody has their own opinions as to why that might be and what we can do to make things better. Some people have extreme views, some people don’t. That’s why football sites like this one can have people talking all day about the same thing. It’s why Arseblog exists, I suppose. Two of the other important Arsenal blogs, both generally very measured in their writing, couldn’t hold back any more after the Liverpool game. Goodplaya (please sort out some proper hosting, sir!) labelled the performance and some of the players a disgrace while Eastlower was ‘very glum’ and glum is a really horrible thing to be. It does sum things up though. Generally I would see myself as someone who will always try to find the positive side of things and I prefer to keep the site running in that manner. Those two other blogs are much the same but all of us were fairly scathing about a defeat which was probably the straw that broke the camels back.
Arsene Wenger spoke yesterday about a lack of confidence while Freddie Ljungberg said the team was ‘devestated’ and too scared to play football. I wonder though if some of them are devestated for different reasons. For the ones who put in 100% effort, for the ones who fought and tried their hardest – like Lehmann, Senderos, Toure, Flamini, Fabregas – I’m sure they were gutted at the result. Maybe they didn’t all play well but they tried. Then you have the ones like Gilberto and Pires who didn’t give everything. Are they devestated because they lost or because they couldn’t nick a point or even a goal allowing them to coast through a game and have their insipid performances glossed over? Are they devestated because they’ve been found wanting yet again and this time it’s one time too far for a lot of us?
I’m sure the players are not immune from the fall-out of a defeat. I’m sure, at least I hope, that some of them realise they have come in for heavy criticism. What kind of reaction we get from them is hard to guess though. If Robert Pires is thinking about going to Valencia in the sun for two years then really, despite the fact he’s a professional and undoubtedly wants to win every game he plays in, he’s not going to go that extra mile to ensure the three points come home with us. I’m not suggesting that it’s deliberate but if he sees his future away from Arsenal his performances don’t have to be top class. He’s no longer fighting for his place in the team. What about Gilberto? How many times have we asked for more from him physically? Not just this season either. We rarely get it. What has been amazing this season is how poor his passing game has become and how often he gives the ball away. Our game has always been based on possession but it’s no wonder we struggle when we have much less of the ball than we used to. Can he improve? Can he teach himself a whole new way of playing at his age? No, I don’t think he can.
As for Freddie, he says “It’s not our way of playing and not our strength, if we’re honest. It’s not a good thing for us to end up playing like that. If people say we’re not the team we were, it’s a valid point.”
No doubt about it but then given the injuries we’ve had this season coupled with the marked decline of some players it’s no surprise. I think the manager really thought this summer that the young players were good enough and that playing alongside senior pros who had performed at a high level season after season would bring them along enough for us to challenge. I’m sure he thought it was a gamble and that if it was going to fail it was going to be because of the youngsters not quite having the experience to cope. I suppose that’s true to a certain extent but the spate of injuries has been unprecedented – we really have missed what Cole and Clichy (who both play in a behind closed doors friendly against Reading today) bring to the team at left back in spite of how well the stand ins have done. He couldn’t possibly have forseen Sol Campbell’s histrionics, Robert Pires and Freddie’s lack of goals, Gilberto’s lack of anything (although to a man we were all afraid that midfield was too weak at the start of the season and so it has been – and to me more than anything that’s the root of our problems), and Thierry’s reluctance to sign a new deal and the effect that’s had.
People might criticise him for placing too much stock in the young players but it’s the other way around. He’s put too much faith in the senior players, they have let him down and he must be feeling pretty bad about that. It’s a vicious circle almost because he needs experience to get him out of this mess but the experience keeps letting him down.
Hopefully in the next week or two we’ll get Reyes, Cole, Clichy and van Persie back. Hopefully we’ll see what Diaby can do alongside Cesc and hopefully we’ll see Walcott push for a first team place. With that quality back and the drive and energy of new players I truly think we have the quality to get fourth place. The manager has the decisions to make though about who’s going to play and who merits a place in the team. No matter how badly the players perform at the end of the day the buck stops with Arsene Wenger.
