Morning all,
Another dark and gloomy day for Arsenal fans across the globe. Despite a win and a good showing in the first half our thread bare squad was exposed for all to see. In what became a frustrating evening for many fans around me it was clear to me for the first time in (my) memory, perhaps since the days of Bruce Rioch have I not heard such discontent. The constant groans and moans is something I was talking to my brother a lot about on the way back and while he was arguing it was justified and I on the other end of the spectrum. A good night sleep has altered my stance, slightly.
My point is it is unfair to expect these players to come in and be the players that were there before them. They have little to no experience and whilst they may be talented, are not technically as good or as experienced. So we shouldn’t moan and the like expecting miracles.
However I understand completely the frustrations of what is becoming the vast majority of Arsenal fans. How on earth have we managed to let ourselves get into this situation? We all wanted to get rid of the deadwood, true. I just think we expected our main players would at a minimum be replaced. If we bought in two quality players to JUST replace the two creative players we lost/are going to lose we would feel a lot more comfortable. We were looking for strengthening before the exit of Cesc and Nasri at the end of last season, however now I feel Arsenal fans will be grateful to just get one creative player of real quality. I just for the life of me hope there are more and they are forthcoming in the very near future. We have a very tricky fixture coming up on Saturday and I am very worried with the number of injuries sustained which only further the problems.
If we do not strengthen before Liverpool we will be looking at our weakest squad in years. I genuinely fear for the team at the moment with all the injuries and suspensions and cannot see us buying what is required before a run of very important matches.
Arsenal vs Udinese Report
Wenger, who of course was serving his one match ban, said that we were a team of world class players and challenged the players to step up to prove he was right. The initial signs were promising, we were pressing up high up the pitch and then Walcott, converted a neat bit of work from Ramsey to start things off in true Arsenal style.
However, from then on, we never really looked threatening. We controlled possession for much of the first half but the second half showing was as poor as it gets from an Arsenal side under Wenger. Despite the lack of any real control in the middle of the pitch a superb Ramsey ball sent the lighting quick Walcott through and he should have done better. Again, Walcott found himself clear after some great work from Gervinho (Don’t quote me but it could have been his only successful pass?!) only to draw a great reaction save from Handanovic in the Udinese goal. The best three chances all fell to Arsenal but there were warning signs across the game which suggested this could well have gone the other way. Di Natale hit the cross bar from a thunderous free kick as well as a great save from Sczeczny to deny Pablo Armero from a great position. If these had gone in I cannot imagine the crowd’s reaction.
The lack of control of possession in the middle was of stark contrast to what we are used to and it is clear we are missing someone a la Cesc. Despite this though, we have had two clean sheets on the trot, which is something we have not done since March 2010 in our games against Leyton Orient and Sunderland, and we had our first win of the season. So there are positives and lots of worries going into the next few games. Problem being the next few games could be games we cannot recover from at a worst case.
So Arsene, I implore you to see reason, please sign someone before these crucial fixtures. We hear that it is not easy and the market is not great but we have seen other teams across Europe strengthen. In fact I would say we are the only top team across any league which is weaker than last year and unfortunately until something is done, we are substantially weaker than last year.
With that in mind you would hope that we are linked to many, many people but there is no new news so hopefully that means that real business is being conducted behind closed doors.
I have every faith that despite how dire things look from the outside, that 3 quality signings is all it would take to carry on with business as usual and I for one minute do not, can not, refuse to believe that Arsene Wenger does not know that and as such will definitely act and sort this problem out.
So with that largely depressing post I leave you hopefully on a slightly more positive note.
Goonerverse.
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