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Season 09/10 Review, Conclusions & New Season Predictions - Part 1
Date: 14 May 2010By Mean Lean
Part 1
I promised myself that I would not treat this years end of season review as a thesis like I wrote last year, but trying to trim down a whole season into one article have proved a little too tricky for me.
The season is full of so many up's and down's so many sub stories that it is quite easy to get carried away so I have broken down this article into two parts which I will submit over the next few days.
Arsenal went into the new season with a new facelift, two out and one in during the summer of 2009.
It was no surprise that Emmanuel Adebayor sought pastures new or rather pushed in the direction of a fresh start. His absence from the final matches of the season along with his BBC interview all but sealed his fate. Manchester City clearly had too much money to look after decided to ease their bulging wallets by giving us a rather tasty £25 million for the Togolese front man. City didn't stop there and threw in a cool £16 million for an out of sorts Kolo Toure who was finding life alongside William Gallas just too difficult to handle. A fans favourite but a player who was clearly tumbling down the rocky hill of decline.
Thomas 'who?' Vermaelen came in from Ajax, a young Belgian defender who was judged as too small by Tony Adams and a section of Arsenal fans who already set a reserve of 6ft6 as the height limit. Arsene tried to bring in Bordeaux striker Marouane Chamakh but his club didn't want to lower the asking price regardless of the player being in his final year of his existing contract. No more signings were made but long term injured players Tomas Rosicky and Eduardo were on course to join the Arsenal squad again.
I was fairly happy with the squad in place as surely the end of season injury plague cannot strike twice, surely.
Our formation was a hot topic over the summer, would Arsene switch to a 4-3-3 after tinkering with various systems in the latter stages of the season. We got a glimpse in pre season how the team would shape up. We played in Germany against Hannover 96 and Cesc was given licence to roam in a midfield three, I was very impressed. He scored the only goal in a 1-0 victory if I remember rightly.
Injuries have been a problem for Arsenal over the last few years and the curse had struck just as the new season was approaching. Samir Nasri suffered a fractured leg in training and would be out for three months.
Goodison Park is never an easy place to go to, especially when the players were not match sharp. Everton away is usually a tough start for anyone. I cannot imagine many thought that the result would end up the way it did. Van Persie as a lone forward, Bendtner on the right with Arshavin on the left. Alex Song the new defensive midfielder after all and sundry wrote him off as not good enough to wear the shirt. We were fantastic on that sunny day, scoring six great goals along with some slick attacking football. It was something else that stood out for me that day.
Extract from Everton Match Review 16.08.09: What was most pleasing about the performance was the hunger and commitment to win the ball back when not in possession. It wasn't just the midfield, it was the whole team. Even little Arshavin was making slide tackles outside his penalty area. If this team can continue with that attitude then there is no reason why we cannot be the very best in the Premier League.
This Arsenal team looked hungry, strong and committed. Tomas Vermaelen was an instant hit alongside William Gallas in the heart of the defence. Scoring a powerful header following a Van Persie curling free kick. Alex Song was a powerhouse just ahead of the defence, continuing on from an outstanding second half from the season before. We did let in a last gasp consolation goal to Louis Saha but surely that was just a blip that would never rear its ugly head again. Right?
Arsenal had been consigned to the dustbin by pundits up and down the country, favourites to finish outside the top four even outside Europe by some. Clearly the team had other ideas.
Champions League qualification was not yet sealed, we had a small matter of Celtic to overcome in a two legged tie. With the first game taking place in Parkhead, the team would have to show some more of the strength and fight that was visible at Goodison park. I was not let down, another powerful performance from this new look Arsenal side. Thomas Vermaelen looked like a pillar of strength at the back yet again, slotting into the Arsenal side as if he has been there for years. William Gallas looked comfortable alongside him and once again Alex Song was the protection that the team lacked in parts the season before.
A deflected Cesc strike off the back of William Gallas just before half time and then a late own goal after great work from Diaby and Clichy was enough to allow Arsenal the chance to stick one foot firmly into the Champions League proper.
The goals kept coming, Portsmouth hit for four and then Celtic hit for three in the return tie but not everything was perfect. Careless goals were being conceded. Individual mistakes at the back and goalkeeper were an all to familiar story. I hoped that this was something that would correct itself as the season went on but that just didn't happen. The Celtic victory was not just a routine victory, another story had developed. One that potentially could have destroyed an Arsenal player's season, or perhaps contribute to the end of his Arsenal career. Did he or didn't he dive? An outrageous over reaction from the media had turned Eduardo into a criminal. UEFA had attempted to ban Eduardo, but Arsenal were able to show proof that Eduardo actually had contact from the Celtic goalkeeper.
We have seen the likes of Rooney, Gerrard, Drogba, Ronaldo dive week in, week out domestically and on the European stage yet the only time that action is taken is when an Arsenal player is involved. I still have not read or heard a suitable explanation from the powers that be about that decision.
All of a sudden spot kicks were no longer given to Arsenal, make of that what you will. But I struggle to believe that countless penalties have been waved away purely by coincidence.
We had a good opportunity to test ourselves against the current Premier League holders, a trip to Old Trafford was on the horizon followed by the short trip across to big spending Manchester City the following week. The first big test of the season for the new look Arsenal.
We were without our inspirational skipper Cesc Fabregas at Old Trafford so it was down to Diaby, Denilson and Song to control the midfield and that is what they did. Manchester United were outplayed through out the game. Andrey Arshavin who had a stonewall penalty turned down (obviously) shortly before he let fly from 25 yards to score a thunderbolt out of the blue. Moments of inspirational magic was the reason why we made Andrey Arshavin our record signing. Those moments were not as frequent as we would have liked. Unfortunately we couldn't score the second goal which would have surely wrapped up the points, Ben Foster's legs put a stop to that when Van Persie struck goalwards just after the break. Almunia brought down Wayne Rooney in the box when the forward was going away from goal, Rooney dusted himself down to fire Manchester United level and then Abou Diaby who had a fabulous game undone his hard work by scoring the freakish of freak own goals, heading past Almunia with no Manchester United player near him.
It was difficult to take defeat like that but at the same time I was full of confidence given our performance at Old Trafford, especially it being without Cesc Fabregas. Our defensive shortcomings were on full show a week later at the City of Manchester. Robin Van Persie had levelled the game at 1-1, we were in control of the game and were the better side but our huge gaps were exploited by the cunning City who counter attacked us to death. The game will be remembered for former Arsenal forward Emmanuel Adebayor catapulting himself above Ashley Cole as the most despicable human being known to man, at least in the world of football. His goal and celebration was one thing but his kick to Van Persie's face was something that will stick along with me for the foreseeable future.
Arsenal had bounced back from their back to back defeats by brushing aside everyone in their path in all competitions through the month of September. Manuel Almunia who had been going through a difficult time on and off the pitch, picked up a chest infection whilst Lukasz Fabianski was injured. Vito Mannone got his chance and had an up and down time as Arsenal number 1. This high point was a man of the match display against Fulham and his low was the 2-2 draw at West Ham where one of his blunders cost the Gunners a goal after being in a comfortable 2-0 lead, that wouldn't be the last slip from a two goal head start away from home.
Arsenal had a fine end of October and beginning of November, beating our north London rivals 3-0. Cesc's goal from the restart after Van Persie had opened the scoring will always be one of the best memories of this merry go round campaign. Eight goals in the next two games against AZ Alkmaar and Wolves showed that the team meant business. The blips in Manchester had been just that, a blip. Robin Van Persie had adapted quite marvelously to his central striking role after a slow start. He had been scoring or assisting practically every game he played in.
Then came the moment that our season took a massive hammer to the face. Robin Van Persie had played in a meaningless friendly for his country, Italian defender Giorgio Chiellini took out Van Persie and his ankle to boot. To make matters even worse was the fact that his first diagnosis was incorrect, giving us all the hope that he would be back in the matter of weeks, instead our star forward had no part to play for seven months of the season and even animal placenta wouldn't be enough to change that.
Eduardo was selected to take Van Persie's place, a great chance for the Crozilian to cement a place in the Arsenal first team but unfortunately for him and for the club, he couldn't take on the job. He was lost at Sunderland which was coincidentally our first defeat in 13 games. Chelsea came to the Emirates a week later and did a professional job on the blunt Gunners. A 3-0 defeat that really knocked the stuffing out of the Arsenal along with the realisation that potentially the best forward in the Premier League at that moment would not be around for most of the season. Arsenal were written off by most, out of the title race in November. Chelsea had opened up a healthy lead but you do not know what will happen with six months left of the season.
Injuries continued to haunt Arsene Wenger's squad, it seemed as if we couldn't get through a game without someone picking up a tweak, strain or illness. But the team continued to battle on, little Arshavin was given the job of replacing Van Persie. assumedly Wenger felt that the lone striker role wasn't best suited to Eduardo.
Incredibly the team kept going, kept picking up results and clawed themselves back into contention. 5 victories and 1 draw in December was responsible for that. Chelsea and Manchester United could not find any consistency and dropped points, as Arsene said they would. A 4-2 victory against Bolton at the Emirates put the Gunners top of the league which gave the squad the belief that they could go on and win the league if the consistency continued.
Then came the fixtures of death, Aston Villa (a), Manchester United (h), Chelsea (a) and Liverpool (h) smack bang in the middle of the season. As we know it did not go well and looking back that moment could have been the deciding factor. We should have beaten Villa but the woodwork had denied us the victory. The defensive weaknesses were found out against our biggest rivals, conceding six in those two games showed that they were just not ready defensively. I refuse to believe that we were outplayed in any of the games against Manchester United and Chelsea this season, the difference was that they were street smart or pitch smart and we simply were naive.
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Even though we need some quality signings i still think the attitude of the players need to be tweaked.attitude is important...sometimes,its all you need to win certain games.
That said I am sure that,come next season,at least we can win something(even if its the FA) and instill the winning mentality into the players minds.There are a lot of transfer rumors flying around.God I wish some of them were true..lol
ML, with Wenger in charge we will not win anything again next season. As long as fans understand and accept that we can all get over the tedious discussions abourt which particular 'tweak' is needed to get us over the line. there are no 'little tweaks' needed, there is a FUNDAMENTAL SHIFT required. That isn't goung to happen while Wenger is in charge because he would have to admit that he was wrong, his silly experiment has failed and Fabianski, Almuinia, Denilson, Diaby, Eduardo, Eboue, Vela, Traore etc are crap. He would buy a couple of solid Premiership players instead of only foreigners, would buy at least one if not 2 proper keepers, would take a coaching course or bring in a proper defensive coach , would stop moaning like an absolute whining girl everytime we lost about everything from the referee to some mean nasty team that tackle hard, and would start measuring himself in the only currency that counts - trophies- instead of his own 'make it up at the end of the season depending on what happens' measure. Last season we 'nearly won' the FA Cup and Champions League so it was a great season (never mind the absolute thumpings we received by Man U and Chelsea in those competitions). this year we have 'won a trophy' by finishing third and were 'challenging' for the title. We weren't in my view ever serious challengers for the title, but even if you believe that we were, the absolutely pathetic capitulation at the end served as a clear reminder that Wenger's teams have no mental resillience whatsoever (his early years had the spine that he inherited that had that in abundance).
looks like Fabregas is leaving as well. Can see your reasons for optimism ML....
We have too many average players Almunia,Flappy,Silvestre,Denilson,Diaby,Eboue,Walcott,Eduardo and Vela
A so called good season yet we only finished 3 pts better than last season which was a disaster
The biggest mistakes were not buying a keeper in the summer and in january.And not buying a striker in january
If Almunia and Fabianski are still at the club come august expect the same again next season
Are you still after the chavski rejects mourinho? hidink? Or is it now anchaloti? Maybe you've now set your sights on guadiola? Or is it like the players you want a local man? o'niel? moyes? or is it now poor fulhams roy you fancy poaching? According to you the exchange rate favours local boys does that include managers?
Or would you fancy going the whole hog and bringing GG back?
We were in contention to win the title for eight months of the season. How do you explain that?
If you are saying that a large chunk of our team is average then you must be saying that Wenger is doing a remarkable job to get the team in the race against other teams who have spent massive amounts of money (I am sure you all have seen the spending figures)
If you are saying that Wenger has lost it then those players (Denilson, Eboue, Diaby, Eduardo, Vela etc) are doing a fantastic job despite Wenger's poor management.
Which one is it?
Do you not think the competition has improved from everyone else. Do you not think that the likes of Manchester City, Tottenham, Birmingham, Everton (2nd half of season) have improved the league.
Teams are no longer rolling over to those teams they are giving it back and the results prove that.
You are just sticking your head in the sand.A bit like Wenger really
Chelsea did not outplay us at home. You must have watched the wrong game if you thought that. They punished our mistakes and worked very well as a team. Barcelona out played us. Man U punished some awful team defending and we played better than them at Old Trafford.
It is easy to say everything is bad, everything is awful. It is much more difficult to pick out what is actually good and working well at our club as well as highlighting the areas that we need work.
Do you not believe that we are doing ANYTHING right? You act like we just survived relegation. We didn't, we finished 3rd. Is that worth crying about?
It is not where the club, the board, the manager and the fans want to be but we are not where some fans would like everyone to believe.
None, my head is way above the sand.
Chelsea did not outplay us at home. You must have watched the wrong game if you thought that. They punished our mistakes and worked very well as a team. Barcelona out played us. Man U punished some awful team defending and we played better than them at Old Trafford.
It is easy to say everything is bad, everything is awful. It is much more difficult to pick out what is actually good and working well at our club as well as highlighting the areas that we need work.
Do you not believe that we are doing ANYTHING right? You act like we just survived relegation. We didn't, we finished 3rd. Is that worth crying about?
It is not where the club, the board, the manager and the fans want to be but we are not where some fans would like everyone to believe.
When was the last time Chelsea and Man Utd lost 13 games between them in a season.Come on.
They both had poor seasons yet we still finished well behind them
No one is saying we are a bad team we are saying we are not as good as you think we are.
You are sticking your head in the sand if you really did believe this team could win the title.Most Gooners knew the wheels would fall off in the run in.Because as in 2008 the depth of the squad was not strong enough.We finished just 3 pts better than last year
We have actually gone backwards since 2008.when we finish 3rd Then we lost 3 games and were 4 pts away from the title.
Wenger must strengthen in all departments,the two keepers we have our in the bottom 5 in the prem.Back up CB's were a 36 year old and Silvestre,No cover for Song.And as soon as RVP gets his usual long term injury we have nothing up front(Eduardo injury prone Vela not up tp prem standard)
We cannot keep making the same mistakes and i really fear for us as looks likely Cesc goes
When we have all of our best players out injured then yes, we are probably not as good as I think but when the are fit like the first part of the season I think we are at least as good as I think.
It reminds me of the fag ends of the GG era. And there were people like you Richie then who made all the same arguments as to why we should have kept him. 'Look at what he's achieved', 'transformed the club' 'who else is there'. Exactly the same. The truth is he could not or would not change. The club was going nowhere and the place had a negative vibe around it. He WAS brilliant but was no longer the right man. The bung thing was the excuse Arsenal used to sack him without compensation and I do not for one second believe Wenger would do something like that. However he should go now before any more damage is done.
However let us assume that they are and see where it leads us.
According to all of you there are only 4 good teams in Europe, i.e. the teams you say are better than Arsenal: the others are all crap since Arsenal is better than them all. It's simple logic if Arsenal is crap, so are those they are better than.
You also want Wenger to go out and buy players who are on these crap teams; because these players will improve the squad. But if these players cannot provide success at these other crap teams, why will they provide success at Arsenal?
You also believe that these players who are on these crap teams are also immune to things called injuries, because if Wenger had just bought players we would have been fine.
In unrelated idiocy:
CHGooner you think finishing 3rd in the Premiership is the same as the end of the GG era. I suppose that you are entitled to your opinion.
You also say that you need an English spine to win things, you do realise that English teams have only won 2 CLs and I UEFA Cup in the last 20 years, So clearly that is not working out so well.
To all of you saying that Arsenal falling away is proof of our lack of squad depth, say it with me: no squad can cope with the loss of 7 - 9 starters at the same time. It is not possible. This does not excuse the Wigan loss, before you start banging on about that. However if you feel that there are teams that would not have been affected, please feel free to list the Chelsea, Man U, Inter and Barca teams with a similar number of players out, and tell me again that they wouldn't have felt it..
RVP has missed half a season for the last 3 seasons why hasnt Wenger bought cover for him.You dont have to be a brain surgeon to see that
the point you make is illogical. 'Wenger is either a good manager with crap players or a crap manager with good players'. Seeing as he is responsible for the team (and indeed most of the running of the club) in its entierity Wenger cannot blame his players as he bought them. Therefore what you see is what he built. Like a Government, after 13 years there is absolutely no basis for blaming predecessors. If he has good players playing well and winning things after 13 years then he could claim to be a good manager. If he has EITHER crap players OR good players playing crap, then he and we should look no further than him.
it's not about that though. As I've said before, if you are happy not winning trophies, having an all foreign team that is mentally weak, can't defend, has a joke in goal and tactically is just substandard BUT can destroy weak teams at times, plays pretty football, a club that is run on a basically sound financial basis and will finish top 6 (top 4 is no longer guaranteed) every season, then Arsene Wenger is your man.
If you want more or different things for your club then he isn't.
Can you name me one club, in recent history, that built a stadium and still qualified for the champion's league every season ?
CHGooner,
Are you suggesting that other top managers do not buy players or bring through players who do not quite make it? Arsene Wenger is like every manager in world football. But he is a top manager because he makes less mistakes than most. Do you agree with that?
You seem very definite that we will never win a trophy every again under Wenger. Why is this?
Why is it impossible for a manager who has won the double twice, had an unbeaten season and has lifted the FA Cup on four occasions.
He obviously hasn't had the budget to spend that he has in his earlier years so why do you think he cannot take the next step?
If you were talking about a manager with no history then I could understand your point but you know what he is capable of so why do you detest the man so much?
Again, but I will point out that we were managing with our
Keepers before the injuries.
CHgooner u seem to be blaming Wenger for many things
Though I don't understand the English thing. If u look
At the youth teams they are almost all english so clearly
Its a quality thing not a racist thing.
As for your assertion that we can never win anything
Its an assertion I can't prove, but neither can you
So I guess we'll have to see
Oh and you do realise that last season people said that we
Could beat the big teams but had trouble putting the small teams
Away. So this season u guys flipped it because of what happened this season
Ultimately it is a choice, you can believe this season is a
Failure and proof that we have failed, or see it as a partial success
And that we are improving. Nothing one side says will
Convince the other.
I don't remember Cech being forced into a save at the Emirates. Chelsea were comfortable and we rarely looked like troubling their defence throughout. As much as I'd love to believe differently, it's just not the case.
How far away from being as good as our rivals do you think we are? Honest question.
How many players, which positions would we need to overtake say Chelsea in your opinion and who would make way for those players.
More important than personel, I'd just expect every single player to start working harder, I want to see our players kick back against the Blackburns and Boltons rather than whinge afterwards, I'd want someone in the team to stand up & be able to have a go at individuals when they make mistakes and tactically, I'd just like the team to be more direct. Pretty passing is all well and good but play a long ball now and again if needed. Shoot from distance. Pressure keepers on corners and set pieces. Stop losing the physical battles against the Rooney's and Drogbas.
All this should be coming from the manager. Wenger needs to be able to get his players to do all these things. If he can't, then I'm sorry but I'd be prepared to say goodbye and get someone else in who will. Nothing worse than going to a match and seeing that the people in the stands care more than the players on the pitch.