Arsenal: Season is melting down???

Draw in the last four league matches –especially against mid-table teams, growing injury list, lack of ideas, struggling defense, and drying strikers. Arsenal’s season is melting down from incredible expectations. Their victory against AC Milan was good enough to celebrate but league form made them to lose their five point advantage against Manchester United and after the last draw against Middle borough put them in the second position with equal point of third positioned Chelsea.

Arsenal’s position in the top was an unexpected result in the beginning. Pundits in media projected their position in between four to six for this season but from the beginning the stood in the lead role with a small gap in December. Why they reached in the top position and why and how they are losing that place in the league table..

Pre season preparations

Generally the two month –June & July –is considered as the preparation period for every clubs. For the last three years, Arsenal is finishing in the lower order of first four and the last two years they failed to achieve a single trophy too. In Arsene Wenger, they have an experienced manager who managed them for last 10 odd years and lifted a couple of trophies. Still they become an under achievers in the last four seasons. Financial burden due to their new stadium construction could be one of the reason but more things are to be addressed.

For nearly six years, Arsenal is one club in the top order who spent least money in the transfer market. The emergence of Chelsea and their spending power put all other clubs, except Manchester United, in trouble. To counter this high level spending, Arsenal adopted a different method by investing in very young talented players who comes for pretty cheap money. Stalwarts like Patrick Vierra, Denis Bergkamp, Robert Pires, Edu, Sol Campbell, Freddie Lungberg, Jermine Alidiare, Antonio Reyes, Ashley Cole and Therry Henry left the club. Arsenal didn’t fill this gap by poaching best talents from the same league or other places. Investment during last five years were minimal, still they managed a team with their small but young talented players and kept position in the first four places.

Pundits make their predictions according to the spending power of the club, poaching of best talent, change of management in the clubs etc. With these parameters, it is difficult to place Arsenal in the first five teams in any list. In the beginning of current season, Manchester took the lead in spending for players followed by Liverpool and Chelsea. Interestingly Chelsea took a back seat this year because of some hostile relationship between the team manager and club management. On the other hand, Arsenal lost their best ever player-Therry Henry –to Barcelona and didn’t spend equal money to find another player in that position. They brought Brazil born Croatian striker Eduardo and young French full back Bakari Sagna and invested some money for a third choice goal keeper.

When Henry left, everyone expected that Wenger will enter into market to pick up the best established strikers from some clubs. But he went for Eduardo, who was little known to the Europe. When players like Vierra, Bergkamp, Pires, and Campbell left the club, it was Henry who led them from the front to fight for at least the fourth place. In his absence, no one in the football world counted Arsenal as a threat for first four places or even sixth place.

Instead of investing in established players, Wenger put his faith on existing young and raw talent in Arsenal. He brought Eduardo and Sagna and incorporated Walcott and Nicklas Bendtner in the first team. Interestingly, due to national commitments, one of the senior most players in the squad –Gilberto-lost his place in the mid field to Matheu Flamini and later he lost that place permanently and started to appear as replacement. In short, during last couple years, Arsenal made an overhaul change in the team and replaced almost all players in the squad –without spending much money. They found replacement in young players like Fabregas, Flamini, Diaby, Adabayor Bendtner, Walcott, Clechy, Sagna, Almunia, Denilson, and Senderos. These youngsters were blended in the squad with experience of Alexander Hleb, Tomas Roscisky, and Eduardo who were brought from European clubs.

With this young talented squad, Wenger surprised the whole world by keeping his team in the pole position in the league for last six months, especially against heavy spenders like Manchester United, Liverpool, Tottenham Hotspurs, and even middle order clubs but high in spending like West Ham, Aston Villa etc. Against all predictions, they remained in the first position till the end of January and suddenly started fading in the ground. Why it happened?

How Arsenal reached in the First Position until February?

Once Therry Henry decided to leave the club, the football world looked at Arsenal with sympathy and with a question in mind –how they will cope up with lose of their greatest player. Financial superiority of Chelsea already made a power shift in the football atlas of London and emergence of Tottenham Hotspurs forced the pundits to write off Arsenal from the leading role.

But, Wenger’s belief in the youth talent paid back. In Henry’s absence, togetherness becomes the key word for Arsenal players. Fabregas come out from the ages to lead the midfield of the team and Matheu Flamini protected the defense with superior quality. Togetherness of players like Flamini, Fabregas and Hleb along with Adabayor and Van Perse in the front was enough to finish off any team. Fabregas openly declared that Henry’s absence becomes a boon for the team and it allowed them to work as a single unit.

When Henry left the club, the main question remained was who will get the goals for Arsenal? In the first few matches, the midfield found the answer and then Robin Van Perse started scoring regularly till he got injured. Once Robin started struggling to get goals, Adabayor found form and started striking regularly in the league. Interestingly, whenever the strikers and midfielders struggled to get goals, the defenders especially captain William Gallas found the net for the team.

Along with togetherness, enthusiasm is another factor contributed a lot to the Arsenal team. Enthusiasm compensated the lack of experience of the squad. This factor helped them to play well against teams like Manchester United, Liverpool and Chelsea and got better result. The same factor supported them to get better in Champions League too. But the league is not just a matter of few matches. It has to go and complete 38 matches to become the winner. Enthusiasm is a factor which can push the raw talent to a certain extent. But keeping the demand of the game till the end of the season is a big task and remains as a question in front them.

For any team in the league, it is very essential to keep the players fresh and ready for each and every match till the end of season. Accepted, injury will create crises and it is one thing troubling Arsenal. To fight for complete season, which includes league matches, FA cup matches, European Championship matches, and league cup, the team should have a big squad. Replacement should be there for each position and those replacement should have the same quality of his predecessor. This is the place where Arsenal lost its way.

Every year, especially in the beginning months, the first few positions will be with unexpected teams along with the top four. This year, it was Manchester City, Portsmouth, and Everton took that mantle. Against the pre-season expectation, Tottenham Hotspurs lost its momentum in the beginning days. They invested in good players by lacked the togetherness for the team and lost crucial matches in the initial stage. Against the odd, Arsenal come out with a glorious picture and stood in the first position till December and regained the position in January.

Expectation and Analysis

Two months of holidays of Premier league were crucial for the pundits to assess each and every teams according to their ability to reach in the top. This is the time, all teams will try to reinstate steel in their team power. It is the holiday time for players but for managers, it is very busy time to find replacement for subdued players in their respective teams. According to investment capacity, scouting of talent, ability for proper replacement, each teams will assessed by the pundits and make the prediction or projection for next season.

For the last few years, Chelsea was holding the pole position in the transfer market. After the procurement of the club –Chelsea by Roman Abrahamovich, the amount of money they pumped into transfer market was phenomenal. They brought over all best talent available and created a successful team which is capable to beat any team in the world and succeeded in the league for two consecutive years. Manchester United, after the ownership transfer to Glacier family in US, lost its momentum for a couple of years but they regained it in the last season by winning the league title. This season, they competed and defeated Chelsea in the transfer market for picking up best players. Liverpool, another club went into the hands of American ownership also played a big role in the transfer market in buying best players and rebuilding the team.

Meanwhile, Arsenal lost its couple of best players in the transfer market and replacement was not much impressive. They lost Henry, their top most player ever, and Freddie Lungberg who served 9 years in the club –were replaced by Brazilian born Croatian striker Eduardo and French defender Sagna. Everyone expected that Arsenal will buy few more established players from the transfer market. Their financial constraints due to the completion and shifting to new stadium restricted them to move further in the market.

Financial constraints were secondary to the team and the main cause for not spending money was the policy of Arsene Wenger, who believes in unearthing talents from youngsters in the reserve team. For the last five years, Arsenal were following the policy of investing money in young talents. Their scouts moved around the world and found upcoming talent from all places. Wenger also kept a bench mark of 30 years as the top age of a player. This policy supported them in the last few years and also backfired in several aspects. It reduced the expenditure of the club in transfer market but made a huge lose in the experience matter.

Last couple of years, this policy failed them to become the champions and ended up in the 4^th position consecutively. Clearing off players like Henry and Lungberg with out proper reinforcement in the team provided wrong signals to the pundits in their preseason analysis. On the basis of reinforcement of teams with better players, they counted Arsenal behind clubs like Hotspurs, Manchester City and Everton. Almost everyone expected that Arsenal will end up in the UEFA cup for next season.

But a surprise to everyone, they kept their pole position for long period and recently lost it to Manchester United and Chelsea. Still 6 or 7 matches left for the season, they have a chance to finish at least in the second position. Early mentioned factors supported them to be in such position. Before season, only Sir Alex Ferguson predicted that Arsenal is good enough to threat its traditional rivals –Manchester United. He said, they have a good talented squad and have an experienced manager. Assessment comes true and young boys of Arsenal were in the top position till March 2008.

Burning out or Crisis?

Reality lies in between ability, experience, and squad strength. They had a decent squad which has enough players in all positions. But some positions were not properly filled with backups. Experience counted a lot but they countered it with technique and talent. Togetherness of the team produced good results for long time. The demand of performance forced them to work in the optimum level for long time, even some point, they exceeded the optimum.

Here comes the burn out factor. Their full strength team has proved that they are good enough to beat any team in the league. But, when some crucial players are not playing –either injured or out of form – there is a decline in the performance rate. If we compare the performance of Arsenal with other teams like Manchester United, Chelsea and Liverpool, the squad strength and performance rate will tell us some interesting things.

They lost a proved striker in Henry to Barcelona and replaced with less known player like Eduardo. Robin Van Persie or Emmanuel Adabayor are not counted as a proper replacement for Henry. Their back up strikers –Theo Walcott and Bendtner are not proved themselves as the true followers of Henry. So, the attack line of Arsenal can’t be compared with clubs like Chelsea –who have trusted, proved and reliable strikers in Dorgbha, Shevachenko, Solomon Kalau, and Claudio Pizarro. They also reinforced the striking power by obtaining service of Nickloas Anelka – a former Arsenal striker –from Bolton. Along with these players, they have replacement in SW Philips and Joe Cole. In the midfield, they have enough players who have enough experience in league and international level. Frank Lambard, who usually end up as the top scorer of the club along with Michel Bellack, Claude Mikelele, John Obe Michel, Michel Essien, Joe Cloe, Florent Maluda gives them substantial strength in the midfield. Some of these players can swap the position if it is required. This squad strength shows that even if some players are out of injury or suspension, their back up can immediately come up and make impact in any game.

Manchester United sold off their best ever striker Rudd Van Nistelrooy to Real Madrid last season and captured the league title from Chelsea. This was a tremendous achievement of Sir Alex and he found replacement in Wayne Rooney and Christiano Ronaldo. Manchester United has enough proved strikers in their disposal and interestingly their most prolific goal scorer –Ronaldo is a winger. United holds a very good blend of experienced and young talented players. Along with Christiano Ronaldo, they have players like Paul Scholes, Ryan Giggs who can win goals from any position. When their experience blends with young talent like Nani and Anderson –two young players brought from Sporting Lisbon and proved midfield player Oven Hargraves, Manchester holds a terrible attacking force. Above all these players, Sir Alex brought Argentine Striker Carlos Tavez from West Ham to terrify the opponents. Alex Fergusan’s first team is good enough to have two or more players in each position of the team. Injury and suspension won’t be a big issue to such big squad and any player who comes up from touch line is capable to change the flow of game if required.

Liverpool is the third team who spent a good amount of money to strengthen the squad. Manager Rafel Benitez splashed a good amount to get service of Fernando Torres –a fast striker who become a top scorer in Spanish league last year. He also brought Ryan Babel from Ajax and invested some good money in the mid field. Compare with the squad strength of Manchester United and Chelsea, Liverpool is little bit down and experience of the team is also not as good as those teams. But, they posses an upper hand over Arsenal in every department. They possess proved and experienced players in Steven Gerrard, Xabi Alonso, Yossi Benayun, Peter Crouch, Harry Kewell, Jermaine Pennant, Andriy Veronin, Jhavier Mascherano, and Drik Kuyt spread out in every department. The promising youngsters like Fabio Aurilio, Lucas Levia, Sebastian Leto, and  Alvaro Arbeola were capable to took over the mantle of any position from their seniors.

In the case of Arsenal, the number of experienced, proved and trusted player were less than all above mentioned teams. They have Gilberto who is the senior most player in the squad apart from goalkeepers and around him players like Alaxander Hleb, Tomas Rosisky, Matheu Flamini, and Cesch Fabregas share experience of less than 4 years with Arsenal and Denilson, Diaby, Theo Walcott, and Alexander Song were not natural replacement for all positions. They are good in some places but lack of experience makes them vulnerable. This squad has enough talent and they will emerge as strong squad in few years but current requirements are not met by them.

When Arsenal first team is available in complete strength, they are strong enough to beat any team. But even one player’s absence makes them vulnerable against odd teams too. Other teams like Chelsea, Manchester United, and Liverpool are good enough to make impact in the flow of game by a substitution but Arsenal is not in such position. It is better to say the performance of the Arsenal first team is on the optimal side. While other teams can achieve that with a high level performance, per say 85 percent to 90 percent of the potential. If it is not enough to beat the opponent, they can raise the level by introducing some super substitutions.

Such situation, teams like Manchester United and Chelsea never use their optimum potential to beat any team in the league. Yes, they lost to few but in some odd circumstances.. If the full team of Manchester is available, Sir Alex will have a difficult time to pick up the best squad and same with Chelsea manager Grant. In Liverpool, available squad is not as big as the other two teams and rotation policy of Benitez invited severe criticism from fans and pundits for their failure. On the other hand, in Arsenal, Wenger struggle to pick up a powerful squad to face good opponents due to injuries. In such conditions the available team has to boost beyond their optimum level to achieve decent results. This is the cause of burn out problem for the team.

A surprisingly good run in the top order for long time took a lot from Arsenal players. Injury is natural for all teams but when the performance level is optimum and add with injury causes more trouble. They cannot produce the same performance they did in the beginning of the season and struggling in all departments due to injury or out of form players. In the mid term transfer market, they failed to add players in the squad but also lost one impact player to Portsmouth. Lessana Diara, who comes to Arsenal from Chelsea, was always with complaint of lacking first team chances. Wenger was forced to leave him out of squad immediately and that ended as a crucial mistake from his side.

Burning out of energy and form could be a problem for Arsenal but it can’t be interpreted as a crisis. Wenger believes in his team and the team believes in him. So far, there is not discontent in that aspect but lacking trophies for long team will test the patience of club fans and authorities. Arsenal is not a club who splashes money in the market for any good players. They are known for shrewd buys and unexpected captures. Still, spending will be a big issue during the transfer market reopens. If they want to achieve something next year, they have to strengthen the squad and have to buy few established players in all departments.