Another home defeat probably means that most blogs will be flooded by more ‘Arsenal in crisis’ articles. But surely, for a club that hasn’t won a piece of silverware for seven years and has turned into a feeder club for Barcelona and City, being five points off fourth position with less than half of the season’s games played cannot be termed as a ‘crisis’ situation.
Over the past couple of seasons, Arsenal have in fact done very well to finish in the top four given their squad, injuries suffered, and poor starts to the campaign (especially in the 11/12 season). The club seems to be shifting focus from a genuine title contender to a team challenging for a place in Europe. This is also evident from transfer market dealings in the past couple of seasons where they have been looking to fill the void left by better players that have moved on. Players like Marouanne Chamakh, Andre Santos, Gervinho, and Per Mertesacker aren’t as good as the players who they were bought in to replace. Recent performances also indicate that the team isn’t performing well as a collective unit. With the exception of Manchester City, most title winning sides won’t have a world class player in each position. It’s the cohesive and collective effort that makes a title winning side. This was also the case with the ‘Arsenal Invincibles’ and the other title winning sides under Wenger. The team currently needs more leaders within the team who can bring up the performances of other players around them.
Though most Arsenal fans will always term the stars who left them as mercenaries, most of them have gone on to win trophies with other teams (Clichy, Nasri, Toure, Fabregas). These players were at their prime and wanted to cap their professional careers with trophies to match their reputations. Who is to say that players like Giggs and Scholes would have never left Manchester United had the club not won any trophies over a long period of time?
Yet, it isn’t all doom and gloom for Arsenal fans. In a league where, in 15 games, the top side has lost three times and conceded 21 times, there will most definitely be more points dropped by the teams currently above Arsenal. After promising starts to the season, both West Brom and Everton have started dropping points more regularly. Arsenal are in the quarter finals of the league cup and should be among the favourites to win it. They have progressed through to the next round of the Champions League for the 13th year in a row.
There is still a long way to go in the season. With the consistency of the appointment and support shown to Wenger by the owners, the club can still recover this season and qualify for the Champions League spot, and probably win a trophy. Even if they don’t win anything, given the change in personnel on the pitch, difference of opinions over funds available for transfers between the board and Wenger, and the financial clout exercised by their competitors, Arsenal fans and critics should appreciate another top 4 finish, which by no means, would be an under achievement.
i get this…but we are not playing well…at all1. THAT IS THE BOTTOMLINE
If you will forgive me, this is without a doubt the most ilogically skewed piece of writing I have ever come across/
The crisis at Arsenal is precisely BECAUSE, as you put it,’the club hasn’t won a piece of silverware for seven years and has turned into a feeder club for Barcelona and City’. How in the name of God can you not see that, simply because someone like you can even think of writing that sentence, just proves beyond doubt that we are in a crisis.
Perhaps you are not aware of what Arsenal has achieved over the years. Or what it means to the football cultire of London. This is not a minnow like a Charlton or a Chelsea. This is Arsenal. Accepting that our standards have slipped unacceptably does not mean that we are not in crisis. It actualy does the complete opposite and highlights what a dreadful crisis we are in.
You are using some of the facts that prove beyond doubt that Arenal is in crisis to argue that it is not – completely, totallty, utterly, undeniably and irredeemably ilogical. And the reason you do so is because you are accepting that Arsenal should not have lofty ambitions and accept our current grubby position in the football world. Unacceptable nonsense that demonstrates no respect for the traditions and standards of this great club.
“This is not a minnow like …a Chelsea”.
Now that is the most illogically skewed sentence I’ve come across in some time.
You say you’re in crisis – the problem is that you’ve become a selling club. Whether that’s because of the cost of the stadium or the fact that oligarchs are bankrolling other clubs, you’re unable to compete anymore. Is that a crisis? I’d say you’re performing to expectations based on your current business plan. Unfortunately, perhaps your expectations need reassessing. I, as a Liverpool fan, know that more than most right now.
Merlinho is spot on. Past successes doesn’t necessarily guarantee a club future accolades. Arsenal are trying to balance the books and run an efficient operation. True that this may not align to most fans’ expectations, but that is a different issue for the club to address.
The performance of the club in the last couple of seasons have been pretty good given the exodus of key players and strengthening of the competition.
Excellent article. What we have is an anti-Arsenal media, a few glory hunting fans and some sheep that follow and believe them. Sure we’ve had a few bad results and sure we’ve not won a trophy for seven years. (They should have been standing on the terraces in the 1960′s when a top 8 finsih was an achievement.)
It all reminds me of the girl in Willie Wonka. “I want it and I want it now!” Financially, we are a long way behind the third richest club and England and consistently finish 4th. If there were not 3 mega rich clubs ahead of us we would have won the league several times in the last seven years……….if not every year.
Do these people really ebelive that if they stack shelves in a super market they should be able to buy the same car as a merchant banker. It’s just so unbelievably naive……………..and the Man U loving media just adore an opportunity to undermine Arsenal.
The thing I find most astonishing is that there are actually people who believe this ‘crisis’ nonsense. Don’t they have a brain of their own? Probably not given they all think they know more about running a Premier League club than people who do it for a profession. I wonder, do these same people go into hospital for an operation and tell the surgeon how to do his job???
The stupidity of this is mind boggling. I read a blog a couple of days ago where the writer claimed that Wenger didn’t have a clue and the Board had got the business model wrong and then went on to say he had supported the club for 13 years……..since he was five!!!!! So he’s barely out of short pants and thinks he knows it all………….and I suspect a lot of the dissenters are of the same ilk.
Supporters by definition “support”, why don’t those few hundred who don’t like it just bugger off and leave the 99 % of us that want to support the club in peace. One things for sure, booing the players is hardly going to motivate them to do better. But then I expect the 18 year olds know better and are also top psychologists too!!!
“The crisis at Arsenal is precisely BECAUSE, as you put it,’the club hasn’t won a piece of silverware for seven years and has turned into a feeder club for Barcelona and City’. How in the name of God can you not see that, simply because someone like you can even think of writing that sentence, just proves beyond doubt that we are in a crisis. ”
- Right cause we have always been a Barcaloana sized club and won silverware every yr yeah till 7 yrs ago – seems you too are living a fantasy
“Accepting that our standards have slipped unacceptably does not mean that we are not in crisis. It actualy does the complete opposite and highlights what a dreadful crisis we are in.” – what not finishing in the top 4 every yr or winning trophies every year yeah
5 points of the top 4 places and 15 points of the top – not ideal, not a crisis yet in my book – we keep sliding down and not looking like we can win a game then i be more worried than now
As a neutral I’d have to say Arsenal are definitely over achieving. With one of the worst squads in the league you wouldn’t even be top half without so many friendly referees and the way sky sports commentators worship the young Guns is sickening. Southampton were by far the better team yesterday and should have won if the referee had made the correct decision. however listening to the commentary the arse could have easily been playing away in Slovenia or something for all the respect they showed the Southampton team. Wengers experiment is failing, at least it hasn’t cost the owners any money yet, but the fans need to realise they are in a real crisis. Oh and please, stop with the diving! Like I say, barely a top ten team without the ref on your side… (sane old arsenal)