Weekend Football

20 February 2009

by Jerrad Peters

 

Are Arsenal unlucky? Or is Wenger rubbish?

 

When Sunderland visit Emirates Stadium on Saturday, Arsenal will be 15 points adrift of Premier League leaders Manchester United. They'll also be five points back of fourth-place Chelsea and just four points clear of red-hot Everton. Nevermind Champions' League qualification, the Gunners are up against it to qualify for Europe, period.

            Now, it's being said that Arsenal are simply underachieving this season. The theory goes that they've had a bevy of injuries and fitness concerns and have merely been unlucky on several occasions.

 

Really?

 

            Since they last won the title in 2005, Arsenal have finished an average of 15 points behind the champions. This season is no aberration. It's the new status quo at Arsene Wenger's Arsenal.

            In previous campains—such as 2005-06 when the Gunners finished a whopping 24 points behind Chelsea—the Arsenal manager was largely immune from criticism. After all, he had made the faithful forget the unfortunate tenure of Bruce Rioch and delivered a far more attractive brand of football than his ultimate predecessor, George Graham. And he kept going on about his "youth policy," a strategy that would surely see Arsenal back atop the mountain before long.

            Wenger has clung to his youth policy since dismantling his group of Invincibles that won the league in 2004. It's the only thing that's kept him in his job. Ironically, Kolo Toure is the only one of his regular starters that actually came up in the Arsenal youth system. And among the current crop of youngsters—Denilson, Aaron Ramsey, Carlos Vela and Jack Wilshire—only Wilshire progressed through the ranks at the club.

            Then there are the ones that got away. In the past four seasons, Wenger has off-loaded Matthew Upson, Alexandre Hleb, Mathieu Flamini, Felipe Senderos, Justin Hoyte, David Bentley, Jermaine Pennant and Jose Antonio Reyes. Meanwhile, two of his more touted prospects—Francis Jeffers and Jeremie Aliadiere—turned out to be flops.

 

So much for the youth policy.

 

            What, then, has Wenger actually done in his time in North London? He's obviously won three league titles and a quartet of FA Cups. A look at the facts, however, reveals that the Frenchman might have had less to do with those accomplishments than you might think.

            In the past few seasons, Arsenal have developed something of a reputation for being prone to physical intimidation. We hear it every time they venture north for matches at Blackburn, Bolton or Wigan. It's no coincidence that Wenger has never been keen on vicious, physical footballers—the type of midfield hardmen that are vital to championship teams.

            It's also no coincidence that Arsenal's fortunes began to wane immediately following the exits of Ray Parlour and Martin Keown. Both were sturdy central midfielders—the type of men who wouldn't blink at going head-to-head with the likes of Roy Keane. They were crucial contributors in all three of Arsenal's Premier League titles under Wenger. Tony Adams, the rock-solid defender, was integral to two of those championships, and Lee Dixon and Nigel Winterburn worked the flanks on the double-winning 1997-98 side.

            Wenger inherited all of them. And when Parlour and Keown were shown the door in the summer of 2004, he did nothing to replace them. The next season Arsenal finished 12 points back of Chelsea. A year later the gap had doubled.

            When Saturday's match kicks off, Sunderland will be confident they can take a point off Arsenal. The Black Cats are a physical, hard-working outfit—the type of side that routinely walks all over the Gunners.

            Arsenal are simply not a difficult team to play against. In the latter half of Wenger's reign, it's become increasingly more so. Maybe they're unlucky. Maybe they've been bitten by the injury bug year after year after year. Or maybe they're stuck with a rubbish manager who's only now being found out.

jerradpeters@gmail.com