Written by Omomo14
on
Wednesday, 22 February 2012 11:25
Dissatisfaction is the order of the day for every Arsenal fan. Recent happenings has made it a depressing month of February. The players in my honest opinion haven't covered themselves in glory. The games against Milan and Sunderland summed up their lacklustre performance.
Against Milan, I felt Wenger got the balance right. The pitch was a mess especially on the flanks which in turn stopped us from using our pace to scare them off the park. Wenger went with Rosicky ahead of Chamberlain and stuck with Theo, also the trio of Song, Arteta and Ramsey occupied our midfield. That's a better ball playing midfield against the power and directness of the Milan's midfield reason I was shocked at the manner of defeat.
The game against Sunderland was pitiful, lack of desire was at its lowest ebb. The players were on the pitch doing f**k all but one glaring feature was our distinct lack of creativity, the inability to thread balls through the Sunderland back line.
Ramsey is the player being groomed to be a player that Cesc was to us but at the moment he isn't but I've no doubt in my mind that he could be a better player than Cesc for us or close to what Cesc was for us. The bottom line is he isn't at the moment and that's why there is a lack of creativity in our ranks leading to low scoring from the likes of Theo and Gervinho.
I've seen in flashes what Ramsey can offer, through balls to Gervinho against Chelsea and Theo against West Brom who in turn sets up RvP to calmly finish, springs to mind. The fact of the matter is he doesn't do it on a regular, reason why there is a death of creativity through the middle.
We must thank our lucky stars that we have a defensive midfielder in Alex Song who comes forward to lay a helping hand but where does that leave us...... Very Open At The Back.
Arteta as we all know isn't a Cesc and wasn't bought to replace Cesc, what he has come in to offer is balance in defending and going forward. His defensive contribution and number of passes completed attests to that.
We have always clamoured for the return to fitness of Jack Wilshere but in my honest opinion the creativity we seek isn't what Jack would offer us. Jack brings drive + the ability to beat his marker but what we lack is the ultimate creator. A player who can pick the ultimate pass that we sometimes lack in tough tight games.
It goes to show why Wenger stomped £30m for Gotze at the tail end of the summer transfer window according to reliable German journalist Raphael Honigstein. The German club didn't want their prized asset to leave reason why the bid was immediately rejected.
A few years back we were in need of a striker who could finish the many chances we created, this year it is the other way round. RvP has been in a fine run of form, reason he has been on hand to bury the chances that come his way.
Theo has also helped to reduce creative burden with his assists to RvP but truth be told, he should be on hand to receive telling passes to break lose from his markers with pace. Theo knows his way to goal but this season he hasn't had enough chances to increase his goals tally.
We are in dire need of some creativity, players like Gotze, Kagawa, Marvin Martin could solve this problem but we would need to rethink our penny pinching.
This coming summer, some big decisions would have to be made, clearing the dead woods is top priority which will in turn reduce our wage bill. The likes of Squillaci, Fabianski, Almunia, Bendtner, Denilson, Arshavin, Vela and Chamakh would have to go through the exit door. Sad to see the likes of Vela and Chamakh in that list but the truth of the matter is they haven't made head way and our current set-up isn't suitable for them to make their mark.
We can all shout obscenities at Wenger, we haven't signed a top class player since the arrival of Arshavin but this shouldn't be put squarely at the door of Wenger but on the door of our board. Forget the tales they come out to tell us about having £50m to spend, it isn't there reason we haven't been able to spend big and replace Cesc and Nasri adequately.
Wenger in my opinion has done fantastically given the budget he has been on hand to deal with. If today he resigns, a new manager would need between £50m - £70m to rebuild. I doubt we can comfortably cough out that to give a new manager to spend. So, let's be careful with what we wish for.
It would come good for us, we currently find ourselves in a rough patch which I pray shouldn't define our season. Our players must lift their heads up and fight. Where adequate talent can't take us through, we should be able to make up for it with fight and hunger. This team isn't bad enough like majority would have us believe but they truly are lacking in desire.
Starting with the game on Saturday, we should come out with fire in our eyes to destroy and from there we can all look up to claim the position we deserve.
Onwards And Upwards!!!
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