Arsenal

The team famous for their magical displays of free flowing football is considered to be one of the best teams in Europe. They had all the glory with some of the finest players in their team. If you see some of their achievements you will not hesitate to call it as the best club in the world.

Some of the fast figures about Arsenal:

• Arsenal’s tally of thirteen League Championships is the third highest in English football, after Liverpool and Manchester United while the total of ten FA Cups is the second highest, after Manchester United.
• Arsenal have achieved three League and FA Cup “Doubles” (in 1971, 1998 and 2002), a record shared with Manchester United and in 1993 were the first side in English football to complete the FA Cup and League Cup double.
• They were also the first London club to reach the final of the UEFA Champions League, in 2006.
• Arsenals have one of the best top-flight records in history, having finished below fourteenth only seven times.
• Arsenal also have the highest average league finishing position for the period 1900–1999, with an average league placing of 8.5.
• In addition, they are one of only six clubs to have won the FA Cup twice in succession, in 2002 and 2003.

Well this are some of the outstanding figures and all this are enough for a team to be proclaimed as the champions but if you have a close watch to it this seems to be quite an old achievement. They are without silverware from past 5 years. They are clearly an under achievers in the premier league. It is true that they have a great past with them but in football we always have to win something or the other to be called as the best.

Arsenal fans often argue with the rival clubs that we have done this and that in 2000 and 2003 but what about the recent on goings. Chelsea the London club with very little past glory has clearly dominated Arsenal in these last 5 years. The EPL has been completed dominated by 2 clubs i.e. Manchester United and Chelsea.

There have been many reasons for their continuous failures some of the reasons which I find are:

Wengers Policy:

Wenger’s strategy of playing a free flowing football with lots of one touch passes and playing in his tippy-tappy style of football doesn’t work always. This was the thing which exactly happened in the Chelsea match they must have clearly dominated them in terms of possession but the fact is matches are not won by possession but by scoring goals. They had their strategy clear to play free flowing game and all one touch passes but couldn’t beat Chelsea’s physical strong defense. It must have worked in the past because they had best players doing that but now it’s not the same. They are good at it but not the best to play that way. They can be defined as a mini version of Barcelona and no one can win trophies with a mini version.

No big spending:

It’s true that trophies can’t be won by money but when it comes to making a team we need to spend a bit. This has always been a problem with Arsenal; they try to bring some unknown players from French division and try to claim that he is the next Henry or Viera. This strategy has worked out for Wenger previously while signing Pires, Henry and Viera but that doesn’t mean it has to happen every time. It is necessary to have a team with a perfect blend of youth and experienced players but this seems to be lacking. They might have that aggression more than any other EPL team but when it comes to temperament and consistency they actually act like kids.

Players Loyalty:

Well we all know that no player is bigger than the game but Arsenal are consistently facing problems of losing big names from there squad. The manager has to be given a credit that he develop players in Arsenal. He makes them stars but what after that; they ask for a transfer request and then Good Bye. Some big names like Hleb, Flamini, Adebayor and Gallas all have left the squad and latest to the rumors of the captain itself (Fabregas) transfer to Barcelona. This when compared to United the players is much loyal and the players are admired with both credits and money to keep them happy. This approach by United and Chelsea can’t be said as wrong because they actually acknowledge the players for their good handwork.

Too Young to win anything:

They don’t have much experienced squad to win Premier League. They might have a talented squad no doubt for that but not an experienced on to face the Premier League pressure. They hardly have anyone experienced except Fabregas, Arshavin, Vermaelen and Almunia. The team doesn’t have any player’s like Scholes, Giggs, Lampard, Terry, Ferdinand, Drogba or Anelka to lead and guide the team through the front.

These are some of the defects with strategy and policy of the team which I think has to be changed or at least molded a bit to get back to their past glory. Hope they will change there or get something new to win the premier league this year. It is a very shaky start for Arsenal but still a long season ahead to predict anything. Let us expect them to bounce back.

Tags: Almunia, Arsenal, Arshavin, English Premier League, EPL, Fabregas, Football, Liverpool, Manchester United, Vermaelen