Arsenal America

In view of some of the hysterical writings I’ve viewed on the Internet on various blogs etc., regarding the future of Wenger, and how he doesn’t have one - I think now is as good time a time as any to balance things up.

Yes, the season is over in that Arsenal will not be winning any trophies and should comfortably be able to scrape up enough points from our, admittedly difficult, remaining games. All that’s left to do is keep playing the youth and let them get games under their belts. Arsene needs to experiment with players in certain positions and now is a good time to do that, so I will back him wherever he plays defenders and midfielders.

Personally, I never expected Arsenal to win any trophies this season, therefore I am not too disappointed to end up in this current situation. What I was looking for was a big step-up from our youth players and certain senior players and hopefully see the team tighten and knit together as a unit. This has been partially achieved but with mixed results, whilst injuries have undoubtedly ruined the season for us.

So, first of all, looking at the players that most of us are are pinning our future hopes on:

Diaby - his chronic injury last season has meant time has been lost and he’s only just finding his feet in the team. Needs time to develop next year; I’d eb surprised if we see the best of him until after then.

Denilson - has come out of nowhere but, like Fabregas, will probably require two more seasons to become really accomplished.

Fabregas - one year further towards growing into the magnificent player he will become, or already is in patches. Has been overplayed this year and is paying for it now, but will have more strength and stamina next season.

Flamini - proves again this season that he has no real long-term future at the club, except as distant back up.

Senderos - has failed to impress this year. It’s easy to bash the lad because he looks, and often plays like a donkey - but I would have expected him to have come of age by now. He’s 22 not 18 and shouldn’t be making the same silly errors he was 3 years ago. I don’t see any marked improvement since he’s joined the club and this makes me wonder if he’ll ever make the grade.

Djorou - Topsy turvy season. Niggling injuries have seen him struggle lately, but I believe he has a far better future than Senderos.

Clichy - the only young player who has made massive strides and looked indispensible in his position. A star for the future? No, a star right here and now, we need two or three more players to step up like he has next season at the very least.

Aliadiere - clearly not good enough at this level. Must be sold, and will be sold, with Bendtner filling his vacancy.

Traore - thrown in at the deep end a little this year, don’t expect to see him covering for Clichy for a year or two yet - but if anything looks more skillful coming forward.

Song - treated disgracefully earlier this season by Arsenal fans at Fulham, resulting in his unprecendent half-time substitution by Wenger. Now looking quite good at Charlton - although I believe Wenger has put him on loan with a view to selling him. People need to start realising that most of these loan players are only at the club with a view to funding Arsenal’s youth academy. Some will surprise us, but most won’t.

Adebayor - we all admire his work ethic. Not a natural goalscorer and never will be, but his sheer persistence should bring 10-15 goals per season and he has an effect on the team which is important, as he generates excitement in the crowd and a tangible physical presence up front.

Eboue - fantastic potential, but his constant diving and cheating frequently annoys supporters. Some are even wondering whether they even want him at the club, such is his embarrassing play acting. Going forward, exceptional, but defensively he has gone backwards this year, as many young players fo before stabilising. Still has an awful lot to learn, particularly psychologically.

Hoyte - has done better than I expected this year. BUT, if you want to win major trophies you need players who can do more than just an adequate job. I think he’s ok as back-up but long-term wouldn’t want to see him playing more than 5 games a season. Luckily for him he’s English, and Wenger wants to keep that quote up in case of impending UEFA laws about fielding home grown players.

Walcott - again, people have been too quick to jump the gun regarding his talent, or their perceived lack of it. Has had a debilitating shoulder injury for 4 or 5 months, culminating in Arsenal’s last game where it was quite obvious he should not have even been on the pitch. The fact that Wenger even considered playing Walcott, considering all the attention he supposedly pays to physical stats etc., makes me think he’s somewhat lost the plot. Walcott will develop well over the next two years and be a very exciting and dangerous player.

The one thing that is clear is that most of the young players are too behind in their development to turn Arsenal into title winners in the near future, they are mostly a year or two behind in fact. That’s why for Arsenal to have any chance of winning trophies the ’senior’ players have to step up to the fold. However, ironically, this is where I believe Arsenal’s biggest problem lies.

Toure - a fantastic defender, but how many more goals are we going to concede due to his clueless marking in the box? He is not an organiser and never has been - he was much more solid when Campbell was next to him. Gallas is not an organiser either, he leads by example. I think Toure should be a right back and Arsenal need a vocal, defensive organiser - I believe this is absolutely essential. Even if we only buy one player it should be a commanding centre back.

Gilberto - really stepped up this season and has scored some important goals, although most of these are penalties. There’s no reason to suggest he will continue to score many goals from midfield in the future, but is still a key player that everybody respects.

Ljungberg - tries hard, we all love him, but let’s face it - he’s gone. His pace has gone and he can’t get past players and he no longer has Bergkamp’s almost psychic ability to thread balls onto his runs from deep.

Rosicky - one goal from midfield is obviously not good enough, but although he will never score as freely as Pires did, because he simply doesn’t get in the box enough, he should manager 7 or 6 a year when he acclimatises to the Premiership and gets rid of these niggling injuries.

Hleb - a real problem player. On his day a genius, but those days are few and far between. Next season is massive for him in my opinion. I’m also getting fed up with his persistent fouls around the box, which are causing a lot of grief to a team that cannot defend set pieces adequately. He has to be pulled aside about this and needs to work much harder for the team and gain consistency.

Henry - lost his pace, but easily capable of 20+ goals a season. His attitude will never change, he won’t chase lost causes like Adebayor, so either put up or shut up because Arsenal is not in any sort of financial position to do anything other than keep up a player of his technical ability.

Baptista - big sigh!!! do we get rid in the summer or hope that he has a Drogba-like renaissance next season? No way will Wenger pay above £10m and neither should he. I’m completely divided on this player but believe he would have adapted much better to a team that wasn’t ravaged by injuries or in a state of flux. Could be worth holding onto if the price is right, £6-£7m - we’re all willing him on, but it’s touch and go. Again, fans are too impatient, it’s his first season in England after all.

Van Persie - injury has killed a season in which he was finally beginning to flourish. He will be a much required 20-goal a season striker in years to come.

Lehmann - Arsenal are obviously skint and therefore cannot afford to throw money at a new Goalkeeper when other areas of the team need improving. Offering him a two-year contract is a complete no-brainer as far as I’m concerned.

Gallas - injuries have ruined his season, will be a rock next year.

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So there’s lots of question marks over Arsenal’s senior players too. Ultimately, the young players are too far behind, senior players are too inconsistent, injury prone, and in some cases - waning! This dose not bode well for the future, and I don’t believe Arsenal can win anything next season unless the club buys in three key areas, Central Defence, Left Wing, Striker.

Without these purchases, Arsenal will struggle - especially when there are injuries, which is pretty much a given these days.

Wenger has been unlucky with injuries; they have been pretty horrific this season and are definitely a viable excuse for the club’s lack of progress/development - but on the positive side it’s enabled the young players to play more, which is important as the club doesn’t ‘appear’ to have the funds to build any other way.

Now funds really is a very important issue, wouldn’t we all know how much Wenger has to spend?? It’s really hard to make up our minds about Wenger not knowing what his kitty is. If he has £20-£30m sitting there I would say he is being stubborn in not spending it and is making a big mistake banking on so much youth coming good. However, is the man is broke, how can he not be doing anything other than a brilliant job bringing such exceptional talent through - who else in Europe is bringing through such talent on such limited resources?

The only clue to Arsenal’s financial state is that they seem intent on letting go of players on high wages - Vieira, Campbell, Pires etc. all probably one or two years before they were completely past their best.

People are criticising Wenger without having a full picture, none of us have - therefore I feel he is beyond criticism, save for certain tactical aspects.

If he has the money I would urge him to spend in key areas. Because three solid, experienced players could transform this team and make winning trophies achievable as early as next season.

If he is financially straight-jacketed, I think the team will struggle much like this season next year, and Wenger will come under severe pressure from supporters and the media for the first time. His position will be widely questioned and Arsenal will probably be forced into coming clean about its financial status - then we will see this muddy picture a lot more clearly.

So, theoretically, if Wenger does have £15-£20m to spend, I would advocate he bites the bullet and sells Reyes, Ljungberg, Senderos, Aliadiere and Flamini - and uses his £25m -£30m kitty to bring in a centre back, left winger and striker - I don’t necessarily include Baptista in that.

In the meantime, we need to get off Wenger’s back. Yes, he has frequently annoyed me with his frustrated excuses and rabid touchline antics. Tactically we all know he is not the best and will probably never win the Champions League without a lot of luck. But you need luck to win a cup anyway. Could anyone else do a better job that he is at the moment? Probably not.