Dark Days at the Emirates

Things are not right in the Arsenal side of North London. Although I still believe in Arsene Wenger's system and way of doing things, I'm beginning to have my doubts. After the loss of Thierry Henry, Patrick Vieira, and the rest of that team that dominated the English game through the early part of this decade, a rebuilding period is almost inevitable.

The fact that concerns me is that several glaring problems reoccur on a consistent basis. Yes, Arsenal sit 5th in the table, respectable by most standards, but I feel their current position in the league papers over the cracks that are so clearly evident in the team.

They lack any true depth. Sure, they have great young players. Aaron Ramsey, Jack Wilshire, etc. are exciting talents. But these players are prospects for 2, 3, maybe even 4 years down the road. Except for truly special players, a 17 or 18 year old can't be expected to step into an upper-echelon Premier League team and be a focal point of the side. Except for a few debatable holes, when all healthy, Arsenal have an excellent starting 11. Injuries this season, however, to players such as Tomas Rosicky, Eduardo da Silva, and now, Cesc Fabregas, have exposed a worrying lack of depth in the squad.

Going forward, Arsenal need to reassess their midfield. One of the glaring weaknesses that Arsenal have had this season, and really since Vieira left, is a dominating presence in midfield. Although Mathieu Flamini was excellent last season in the role of a holding midfielder, I feel he played it differently and served a different role than Vieira did. The role he played was more of a counterweight to Fabregas playing ahead of him. It was really a two man show in midfield. When Vieira played for the Gunners, he commanded the center of the field nearly on his own, protected the back four, and was also dangerous in his occasional forward runs.

When one looks for comparisons to the team makeup that Arsenal have right now, Barcelona comes to mind. Yes, there are many differences. Barcelona is probably the consensus best team in Europe right now and are in scintillating form that Arsenal hasn't even begun to approach this season. But, as was recently mentioned by the Spanish correspondent on the ESPNSoccernet podcast, you look at their midfield and forwards and a possible problem you could see is too many artists and not enough workers. The reality, however, is that Barcelona have Seydou Keita (as well as Yaya Toure) to anchor that midfield and provide a bit of muscle. Paraphrased from one of my favorite quotes from the commentary on Euro 2008, these two provide the steel in the silk factory that is the Barcelona midfield.

Unfortunately, Arsenal don't have that steel. They don't have that rock-solid ball winner and defensive midfielder to provide that backbone. They do, however, have plenty of silk: Fabregas, Samir Nasri, Theo Walcott, Robin Van Persie, etc. They have players like Denilson and Abou Diaby, who have shown glimpses of being able to provide that steel, but thus far they haven't been able to maintain any sort of consistency.

Aside from their personnel problems, they also have a leadership problem. William Gallas is not, and never was as far as I'm concerned, the man the lead this team. Fabregas might be, although he's still young and unfortunately got himself injured before he was really able to settle into his role as captain. What Arsenal needs is a player who can step up and take control of a game. When the team isn't playing well, or their attention seems elsewhere, they need a player who can refocus that for them. Someone cut from the Vieira or Roy Keane cloth would fit nicely into Arsenal's squad at the moment. Someone who isn't afraid to throw in a hard tackle, show a little fire and emotion, or simply stand up in the dressing room and make players accountable. There are many things that Arsenal need right now to right the ship, but in my opinion, changes are definitely in order.