The A list football league seasons ended across Europe at the weekend. In Italy and Germany, the usual suspects, Juventus and Bayern emerged victorious, while there was change of baton in Spain, England and France where Real Madrid, Chelsea, and Monaco were crowned winners respectively. Congratulations to the champions.
However, for some clubs that are not used to coming second, like Barcelona and PSG, the end of the season’s campaign may mean the beginning of crisis talks, shake ups and uncertainties. One team that has such cloud hovering over it is Arsenal football club of England. We begin our review of the performances of the winners and losers in the just concluded European football season from the Emirate Arena.
MASSIVE ATTACK is open to followers of these clubs to air their views. Here we go:
ARSENAL fans have suffered. For some years now the Gunners, as Arsenal fans are fondly called have become the butt of jokes by rival fans all over the world. The Gunners have failed to win the English Premiership for 13 years and have fallen short of any significant progress in the Champions league. Their best being the loss to Barcelona in the Champions league final in 2016.
Years down the line, subsequent Arsenal squad has been labeled by Soccer analysts and football fans alike as spineless, gutless and bereft of leadership qualities.
Next season Arsenal would be missing out in the Champions league competition, something the club has successively done for 20 years. Last Sunday, the Gunners booked their ticket in the less fancied Europa League despite beating Everton 3-1. Arsenal still have next weekend’s F.A. Cup final against Chelsea to look forward to, but the anger and frustration building up among Arsenal fans has led to the question, what went wrong at the Emirates?
To start with, let’s begin from the beginning of the season. Arsenal confirmed the signing of Granit Xhaka early in May last year but they harmed their prospects by leaving the rest of their Summer business so late in the transfer window, Wenger started the 2016/17 seasons opener against Liverpool with a makeshift centre back pairing of Calum Chambers and Rob Holding . The 4-3 defeat by Liverpool at the Emirates highlighted just how unprepared they were.
That is not all, negotiation with Valencia for Shkodran Mustaphi dragged on until August 30th. Jamie Vardy snubbed a move to the Emirates while the decision to ignore the hard fighting indefatigable war-horse like N’Golo Kante looked like a poor misjudgment by Arsene Wenger. As well as arriving late in the window, Arsenal’s new recruits ultimately failed to transform the team.
There is also the Cazorla factor. Arsenal fan’s will wonder what might have been had Santi Cazorla been available. The Spaniard is the man that brings balance and creativity to Wenger’s midfields but an injury ravaged campaign limited him to just ten starts in all competitions and the Gunners did not lose any of those matches. Without Cazorla, Wenger never found a satisfactory midfield pairing. For a while now, Arsenal fans, soccer pundits and analysts have been banging their heads calling on Wenger to have a plan B, with the Frenchman refusing and sticking to his dogma, but his sudden switch to three – at – the- back formation when he was about drowning provided Arsenal greater stability through the midfield. Had the Frenchman done so earlier just like Antanio Conte of Chelsea did when Arsenal hammered the Blues 3-0 back in September, Arsenal fans would have been singing Cumbaya by now.
Again in such tight race for the top-four places, Arsenal paid the price for their failings against their direct rivals. In ten meetings with Chelsea, Tottenham, Manchester City, Liverpool and Manchester United, Arsenal only won twice. The 3-0 win over Chelsea and Wenger’s first premier league win over Mourinho earlier this month were satisfying moments, but Arsenal’s poor record against the big teams reflected poorly in the manager’s tactics and the players’ Character. The Walloping by Watford at the Emirates, and the 2-0 drumming by Spurs at White Heart Lane showed how Shambolic Wengers’ boys are.
The air of uncertainty over Wenger, Sanchez, and Ozil, has also not helped matters. Wenger said in March that he would make his decision “very soon” but the players will head to the F. A. Cups finals without knowing what the future holds. To compound Arsenal woes is their leaking defense. The Gunners scored 17 goals more than in any Premier league season since 2009/10, but conceded 44 times, more than in any of the previous four campaigns.
For Arsenal to move past this jaded state, something drastic must be done at the Emirates. There must be a complete clear-out of players and recruitment of quality world class stars. Many of the current Arsenal players are average players that will even find it hard to pick a shirt at a middle table Premiership club.
These players must leave. Players like Theo Walcot, Oxlade Chamberlain and Francis Coquelin who have found it hard to transit from boys to men must be shown the exit doors. Nacho Monreal and Bellerin must also leave as their physic is not made for the physicality of the Premier League and would find it hard to mark top strikers like Harry Kane, Lowandosky or Chelsea Striker Diego Costa. The defensive midfield department of Arsenal has been a recurring problem. Which made Arsenal fans wonder why Wenger overlooked the chance to sign N’GOLO Kante who would have been a perfect fit for Arsenal? Added to what is the fact that Arsenal must make signing a top striker top priority next transfer Window. Oliver Giroud and Danny Welbeck are not top strikers and should be offloaded or kept as substitute materials.
However, to carry out this revolution, there must be a new Sheriff at the Emirate. Painful as it may be for many suffering Arsenal fans, It is time for Arsenal Wenger to make way for another manager, It is time to have a new way of doing things at the Emirates. Arsenal cannot continue to do the same thing every season and expect different result.
Left to Wenger, if he signs another contract as I expect he would, it would still be samo-samo next season. Wenger is so sentimentally attached to certain players that he finds it hard to let go. There are so many debris players at Arsenal and their wages must be freed up to enable the club pay the kind of money top players demand. Arsenal is one of the biggest and richest clubs in the world.
Their fans pay the highest gate fees compared to any other club in the world and these suffering fans deserve nothing but the best players to bring the glory back to the Emirates.
Mr Udo Flavian Erege, a Journalist and ardent Arsenal fan wrote in from Owerri.
• Till next week keep attacking