I got an email today from hey k000laid which contained the following and nothing more. Worth a read. If you want to post something like this on this site, just shoot an email over to arsenalist at gmail dot com. Or you could just check out the Arsenal vs Barcelona highlights, goals and interviews.
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This is not a knee jerk reaction to today’s game, its more of a reaction to us this season, and indeed, for the past few years that has to be said after seeing a team today that is everything we aspire to be.
It’s interesting to note that we are like an inferior version of Barcelona, not only in our playing style, but our personnel. We’ve all heard the Cesc/Xavi comparisons at this point, but given the former’s form this season, I think he is at least on par if not better than Xavi at this moment. All around it seems like we have somewhat clones of Barca players. When we shifted to 4-3-3 last summer, I thought Nasri could potentially be an Iniesta-tye player – the dynamic to Cesc’s static as part of the midfield 3 just like Xavi/Iniesta, and could fill in as a wide man when needed. Arshavin could have been our Messi, the unpredictable wing genius who we could feed the ball to and watch him go to work. And Bendtner has always reminded me of Ibrahimovic, the big man with good technique (allegedly), who can create as well as score (i wish), and he’s even well on his way to reaching Ibra’s level of arrogance and ego.
However, we are so far from Barcelona, its unbelievable. I know our goal is not to reach Barca’s level (an impossible feat in itself), our goal is to win trophies, but we are not a championship caliber team, have not been for the past few years and are deluding ourselves if we think that this squad can do it next year. When we were manhandled by Manu in last season’s semi’s, Wenger seemed so visibly upset, I thought he might actually ring the changes that we’ve been crying out for years now. However, the only monumental change was the switch to the 4-3-3 a decision I nonetheless applauded, because I thought we had exactly the personnel for it. However, as the season has worn on and our predictably brittle players have gotten injured, and Wenger lost his balls on occasion, it has resembled a 4-5-1 or a 4-2-2 with Cesc as something of a second striker. With that said, move onto our players…
I blame it entirely on Wenger. He built this team. He puts his faith in these players time and time again. The funds are there, as has been said repeatedly over the years by the guys upstairs. It’s ok for a manager to have a boner for one or two players on their squad that everyone else can’t be bothered with, really, what manager doesnt? But the amount of question marks surrounding almost every area of the pitch is down to Wenger.
Almunia is a dodgy keeper. Today encapsulated him perfectly, series of otherworldly stops, then one abject fuck up. We are also suspect heavily at center back. Vermaerlen is a beast for sure, and Gallas is no slouch. But Billy is old has needed replacing since last year, with a strapping bloke that takes no prisoners in the air to get rid of our weaknesses at high balls. And we all know the weaknesses in our cover – Silvestre, Campbell, Djourou.
Denilson has long been reviled for not being proficient in any discernible skill that a midfielder must possess. Nasri has become so hesitant, its almost like watching Hleb again, play him in the centre where he’s useful, not on the wing where he always waits for Clichy to overlap. And Bendtner needs no explanation.
It’s Wenger’s fault for hoping that all these holes could be papered over in a season. And spare me the injuries retort, because we all know by now that 60% of our players are made of glass and can’t be trusted for a full season, so by that logic our cover should be extra good, not Nicklas Bendtner. And if he wants to play 4-3-3, make sure he has the personnel to match it. Nasri and Rosicky are NOT wide fowards, they are central attacking mids who can only beat their man through guile, not pace and trickery. We are a soft team and have too many lightweights and artsy fartsy players. I’m fedup of waiting for a perfect world where most of our players are fit and everyone lives up to their potential and all that Wenger preaches comes true. He needs to man up, accept the weaknesses, alter his vision and spend. Really, this si nothing new. At the very least, we need a new keeper, center back(s), striker, wide-right foward (ive given up on theo as something more than an impact sub) and cover for Song. And some proven talent please, we have enough question marks. And for the love of god, no more lightweights. Stoke and Blackburn dont play anti-football, they play the style that exploits their opponent’s weaknesses.
My other big gripe comes from our plaaying style. I already mentioned how our 4-3-3 changes when the going gets tough. Enough ping pong, slow it down, hot potato football in the oppositions half which more often than not ends up with a cross into our midget foward line or the useless Bendtner. By its nature, 4-3-3 is a direct formation. But using that formation with our ‘patient’ style leads us to be easily handled by quality teams, as seen by all our really big games this season, vs Chelsea, Man U and now Barca. We are big game bottlers, and have been for a while. Although I commend the team for some of the fight they’ve shown this year, we usually fail when it counts. I don’t watch Wenger’s postgame anymore, because I hate hearing gems like “Drogba didnt do much except score 2 goals”, and “we had more possesion and therefore were better”. Possesion means fuck all if you dont use it to score. Although credit to him today, he accepteed that we were outclassed and lucky.
Basically this team needs a mass change, an overhaul in personnel, playing style, philosophy and vision. And I lay that at the feet of Wenger. If he cannot accept now, that his project is flawed, that each season we require too many things to not fuck up to even have a shot at glory, we are not even close to where we need to be, then find someone who will. We can thrash the Wigan’s and Portos of this world all we want, but untill we go into a game against the big boys and dont look like massive underdogs, we’re not there yet. Again, 80% of the stuff in this email I could have written about Arsenal in 06/07 and no one would know the difference.
But credit where credit is due. Vermaerlen was an absolute steal, and looks to be a legend in the years to come. Diaby, and Especially Song have improved in leaps and bounds. Song particularly has finally solved our DM problems. Van persie was a unique choice to fill the target man role in the season’s beginning, some of the combinations with him, cesc and shavva were magic. I applaud the initial initiative of a Song-Cesc-Ramsey midfield and a Shavva-RVP-THeo frontline, even though it didn’t work out that way. Despite the aforementioned complaints, I do respect Wenger for all he has done for Arsenal and his belief in good football. I also respect the way he has kept us financially on the right track, even though we need to spend more. And i love the improved fight and guts we’ve shown this season, some of the scenes during the Stoke game (you know) were bloody brilliant. (The celebrations after Vermarelens goal, the huddle after the final whistle, Campbell’s reaction to the leg break, Clichy pumping up his teammates, Cesc’s balls of steel to take the PK – he really has become an amazing footballer and better captain). I just want to see this team suceed. But we need to change.
