As a Arsenal Fan, I'm getting a little irritated and yes feeling
a little uneasy on our prospects for the season. Firstly, since
Patrick Viera was allowed to leave the club (which I thought was a
horrible mistake in the first place) Wenger has refused to find a
natural replacement for him. Instead, he choose to rely on two
youngsters Febregas and Flamini, two youngsters who are hot
propects for the future, but definitely far from that of the Viera
mould. It is evident in the last few matches that Arsenal was
sorely lacking the prescense Viera provided, that killer pass he so
often provides that breaks the backs of defences. Just look at the
two previous Premiership matches, against Newcastle they looked
really out of sorts until Jenas got sent off. Again against
Chelsea, they dominated, but the attack often crumbled when they
reached the last third of the field. Thumbs up to Gilberto Silva
though who tried really hard to emulate Viera's role, but fact the
matter is that the man is not Viera. Of course, the departure of
Viera is only the top of Arsenal's problems. The state of their
defence is worrysome, the sight of Drogba muscling his way through
to goal is just disgusting to watch. Again, Mr Wenger has choosen
to rely on youth to troubleshoot the defensive problems plagueing
his team. I just cannot comprehen Mr Wengers policies. Yes, bright
young talents they are, but they are sorely lacking experience and
big match exposure to be handed the mammoth task of replacing a
figure like Viera or shouldling the defence.
I understand that Arsenal is running on a shoe string budget with
the Emirates Stadium being a liability on their finances. That is
why when Viera was being sold, I accepted it knowing that the club
needed money to bring in more players and that Viera only had 2
years left in his contract. However, since his depature, Arsenal
has only brought in one player (Hleb, who I must say is a really
good buy). That just isn't enough. Wenger needs to couple his "Go
Youth Policy" with a reasonable transfer policy to mantain an
efficient balance. I'm not going into specifics as to what Arsenal
need to become the team that is able to via with the likes of
Chelsea and Real Madrid for domestic and european honours, I think
what change is needed is rather evident for us the fans to
see.
