However, the past season has certainly been one of the toughest that Arsene Wenger had to endure as the manager at the Emirates. The failure to land a major trophy for a 4th consecutive season has certainly ruffled a few feathers among the Emirates faithful. It is certainly very sad to see some fans starting to question the “Professor” and his Arsenal team.
Let’s just wind the clock back to 2004 and everyone will remember the magical number “49”. That’s the number of games Arsenal went unbeaten in the league and they were tearing teams apart in Globetrotting style. The following season, they went on to win the FA Cup on penalties against Man Utd at Cardiff.
However, the match proved to be a significant one in Arsenal’s recent history.
3 league titles and 4 FA Cup triumphs under the tutelage of the Professor have certainly wetted all Gooners’ appetite for more success. The match at Cardiff was the last of those triumphs and it was significantly the last game in which Patrick Viera turned out for the Gunners before moving to the fashion capital of Milan. (In fact, Viera scored the winning penalty for Arsenal in the shoot-put win.)
Since then, we have seen a slow demise of the fortunes of the team from North London, although many patient Arsenal fans will argue this. Many have backed Wenger and Arsenal’s decision to move from Highbury to the magnificent Emirates. This move has certainly taken away Arsenal’s ability to financially compete with Chelsea, Man Utd and now Man City.
Arsene’s continual approach to base his policy on youths have not paid dividends for him thus far. The current crop of players, although having lots of potential are still a long way away from matching their predecessors like Bergkamp, Viera, Petit, Pires and Henry. They certainly seem to lack the fight when the going gets tough.
Who can forget their poor showing against Man Utd in the Champions League semi-final. Most ardent fans and neutrals will be very disappointed that they were brushed aside so easily in both legs of the contest. In fact, the empty seats in large portions of the Emirates in the second leg after CR7 netted the third of Man Utd’s goals was certainly a sight not witnessed before in Wenger’s time as manager.
Wenger’s previous teams of title triumphs in 1998 and 2004 certainly were teams that played breathe taking soccer, yet they have the no-nonsense fighting approach to their game.
In 1998, the team comprising Petit and the young Viera in center midfield, supported by the flair of Overmars and Bergkamp and the predatory instinct of the legendary Wirght and the young prodigal Anelka clawed back a 9 point deficit in early February to win the title. That season, they went on to do the double, disposing of Newcastle at the old Wembley. That team certainly would not have surrendered that easily in the Champions League semi final.
That team managed to do the double over Man Utd that season, a team trying to claim a hat-trick of Premier League wins. Faced with a deficit of nine points, they went to the Theatre of Dreams and won 1-0, with Overmars slotting the winner through Peter Schmeichel’s legs in the last 10 minutes. That win was especially crucial and the title triumph that season was certainly a sweet taste of success.
In the 2004 season where they went unbeaten, their soccer was simply out of this world. Not a single soccer fan could argue that they did not deserve the title. Pires, Henry, Bergkamp and Viera were particularly outstanding that season.
All this now seems such a distant memory in North London where fans certainly are getting impatient. The team have never adequately replaced their loses in playing personnel. The fans would not have envisaged Arsenal as a selling club, selling Viera, Pires, Henry, Flamini and now Adebayor.
The current problem at Arsenal seems to be a lack of beliefs. Huge expectations and a continual crisis of injuries have not helped. Arsene and the Arsenal board alike have emphasized the need to produce talents through their youth ranks and have refused to bring in much need experience by splashing the cash.
The football world is a success driven one and certainly a club as ambitious and as prominent as Arsenal need to be challenging for the title every season. Some fans certainly argue that some bad luck have come into play.
In the 2006, they had goalkeeper Jens Lehmann sent off early in the Champions League Final and went on to lose to Barcelona. In February 2008, just when they were top of the League and seemingly favorites for the title, the horrific injury to Eduardo at Birmingham and the after effects of the game ensured Man Utd went on to pip them to the title.
All these will be hard to disguise the fact that there are certainly growing problems at the Emirates. Selling Adebayor to Man City is not a smart move in my opinion. One can argue his commitment and disruptive influences in the dressing room lead to his departure, however, selling him to a club that might almost certainly be challenging for the top four is not a good business deal.
One can only hope that Arsenal manage to bring in much needed strength in the goalkeeping and defensive departments. Almunia and Fabianski have been very error prone and certainly do not inspire confidence.
The signing of the highly rated Thomas Vermaelen hopefully will work. In midfield, a reliable partner for the over-worked Cesc Fabregas is needed. Denilson and Diaby have shown great potential thus far, however they have often faded and have been missing in crucial matches.
Upfront, it will be difficult to rely on Nicklas Bendtner especially when Van Persie have been so injury prone. There is also some doubt over the fitness of the highly talented Eduardo. It will be crucial to see if he can handle the rigors of the whole season having just been back from such a nasty injury.
On their day and if injury free, the team boast the best full back parings in the league (Sagna and Clichy), a midfield full of flair with players like Fabregas, Nasri and Rosicky and the front pairing of Van Persie and Eduardo (although I have some doubts they can play together as I think they are both too left sided).
However, in the past few seasons, they have faltered to deceive too often, often over promising and under delivering for their suffering fans. This season, the threat of Man City will certainly add more pressure on the already beleaguered Wenger.
Which is why although the previous season was one of the hardest for Arsene to endure, this coming season could be the one that is absolutely crucial and make or break his legendary status among the Arsenal faithful.
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Please feel free to post all comments. Thanks for reading.
In my next post, i will be looking at the "Real Project".
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