So we’re hours away from the most disappointing transfer window, well… ever. Failing to sign players is hardly news and the excuses are all-too familiar. But the context is unprecedented: the season faltering, four points off the Champions League spot, with a squad that looks no stronger than rivals and a defence that plays considerably worse.
The pursuit of David Villa was an exciting distraction but it’s not up front where Arsenal need help. It’s at the other end of the pitch, where there are decent arguments for a new keeper, centre back, full back and defensively-minded midfielder.
We’re not soft in defence, we’re masochistic. The defence is not helped by a midfield that fails to adequately cover it, but the individual errors the back five commit are such that playing a midfield of Claude Makelele clones would, at times, make no difference.
But there’s no-one better out there, according to the boss. Which can only mean it’s the managers fault.
It must be the manager
It really is as simple as that: if the players are good enough, then why can’t they defend effectively? Preparation, drilling and tactics must be to blame, and all are the remit of the coaching staff, with Wenger at the helm.
At the moment, defensive frailty looks like it will cost us a place in the top four. What effect that will have remains to be seen but it seems likely that we will struggle to attract the kind of players that we should be targeting if we can’t offer Europe’s top club competition to justify their egos.
Whether the money has always been there, the predicament we find ourselves in – and make no mistake, we’re now major outsiders to clinch fourth – is a result of squad mismanagement. Too often, when the cheque book has been opened, it has been on dross. If Wenger only wants the best, did he really rate Mikael Silvestre, Sebastian Squillaci and Andre Santos as world class?
The first team IS quality
The squad’s depth has seldom been poorer under the Frenchman, with the dark days of Igor Stepanovs and Nelson Vivas the only other time we have plumbed such depths, and to claim that players are not available who can’t at least deepen the options is ridiculous.
But while the combative, energetic presence of Victor Wanyama would represent an upgrade, I don’t disagree with the notion that signings made tomorrow could not improve our first eleven.
Looking at the team that started against Liverpool there are obviously quality players. But in defence they are playing like a school team, committing basic errors. I cannot believe that there has been a sudden decline in the ability of experienced internationals. The biggest obstacle to fixing the critical problem of repetitive defensive brainfarts is a coaching staff that has not shown itself up to the task.
Is the solution for Wenger to go?
Arsene Wenger has benefited from having tremendous defenders during his time at the club, but the team’s current travails suggest the likes of Adams, Keown, Campbell and Cole had more to do with stints of defensive brilliance than the manager.
The solution is to wait for a new man in the extra-long puffer jacket – the more I see this team, the more I yearn for David Moyes’ lethal stare – or hope that the current manager buys in players who are capable of fixing the problems themselves.
With that requiring decent scouting and likely a commitment to spending big on top-level, experienced professionals, I wouldn’t be surprised if we’re confronted by the same shortcomings on the eve of the summer’s transfer window slamming shut.
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