Pining for the Elephant Man...

Well that was a bit of an anti-climax wasn't it? Before 'Super Fantastic 100% guaranteed good time mega hype Sunday' I thought to myself, 'what is the best and worst thing that could happen in these two games results wise'. ManUre racking up a few to improve their goal difference as well as another three points and Chelski winning was what I came up with in terms of 'nightmare scenarios' and so it came to pass.

Now it would be petty of me to sit here and start to be critical. Lot's of Arsenal websites and blogs have been quick to point out that now is not the time to turn on our own, instead to be positive and encouraging, that we're stuck with the players we have until the end of the season and we must support them no matter what. Unfortunately, pettiness is my specialty subject and aside from anything else it makes for more interesting column writing. So, i'm putting on my critical hat, boots and one piece jumpsuit and jumping on the critical train.. join me if you will.

I think it would be best to start with the team itself. I think we all like to believe that Arsene knows what he is doing, that there is a master plan, and so many times he has proved me wrong. And i'll come clean and say that last summer I never for one moment thought we'd drop out of the top 4, but I firmly believed the top 2 wasn't within our grasp. Even as the title slips from our reach, it's fair to say i've been proved wrong. To be this far into the season and have led for so long is a distinct improvement on my preseason prediction.

However, there are some glaring inadequacies in the team, ones that any self respecting gooner can recognise, yet Arsene seems to steadfastly refuse to acknowledge. And as England stumbled against France last night one player stood out who could have made so much difference. I wonder whether Arsene, who was no doubt watching the game, thought that perhaps he had let one slip in the transfer market. Of course that player would be Frank Ribery, the French winger who outclassed England last night along with pretty much everyone in the German League this season.

The elephant man of football was clearly on Arsene's radar during the pre-season before he signed for Bayern. And although competition was stiff, and his transfer value high (he signed for an estimated 25 million Euros) his own professed interest in playing under Wenger and the fact that he went to a lower profile league suggests Arsenal didn't feel it was worth the effort.

So instead we have had the less than sparkling Emmanuel Eboue and the occasionally good but often absent Theo Walcott plying their trade on the right hand side of the Grove this season. And while Ribery hasn't exactly been scoring freely at Bayern (6 goals from 23 appearances) he is a player who is primarily a provider and without Ribery's dynamic wing play much of Bayern's attacking threat would be lost - i'm sure Luca Toni would be finding life much harder without this sublimely talented ugly geezer whipping in crosses. And besides 6 goals and countless assists compared to the the 0 goals and 1 assist of Eboue make 25 million Euros seem distinctly less prohibitive.

Our backline has come in for some criticism as well, but it isn't really all that justified. Every defense will have an off day, and for the vast majority of the season, we have been strong enough defensively - evidenced by only 2 league defeats. Instead quality in depth seems largely to blame for our stuttering season. Compare ManUre or Chelski - for instance for Gael Clichy to get a week off, Armand Traore is the nominal replacement, a player who looks to be several years away from being able to be risked in the first team. He is more raw than the food at my local Japanese restaurant. Beyond Traore we have Justin Hoyte or Philippe Senderos as the only options if we are to leave the rest of the team undisturbed. Yet United can call on players like Mikael Silvestre, John O Shea, Wes Brown and even Owen Hargreaves to play at left back, 4 international players who regularly warm the bench whilst Chelski can replace Ashley Cole with Wayne Bridge, Paulo Ferreira and Juliano Belletti.

Fatigue is something we seem to have completely ignored, yet there was a time once when Wenger would rest his players occasionally in the final third of the season to try to keep them fresh for the crucial games - his lack of trust in the reserve players (and by inference a lack of depth in the squad) is stopping this from happening. Where are our Edu's, Gilles Grimandi's and Ray Parlour's of this squad? Denilson, Diaby and Traore are quite simply too weak and Gilberto too past it. Flamini and Fabregas are running hard every week, no doubt, but the wisdom in selling on Lasagne-extra-cheese Diarra during the season looks to have been a big mistake now. I can't see how we could possibly give Flamini a break at all from now until the end of this season as their is simply nobody capable enough.

Arsene Wenger has come out and said he will not be spending money during the summer - let us all hope he had his fingers crossed behind his back because the need for reinforcements and to release some underachievers seems all too obvious now. Whilst a player like Flamini has come on during the season, I always felt he was someone we should hang on to. But I really think it is time to move on Eboue, Rosicky, Lehmann and Diaby and bring in some new blood. Rosicky is probably the most controversial as on his day he is an outstanding player but his injury prone body is keeping a player like Eboue in our first team.

And I can only wonder what might have been had the Elephant Man of football been scaring players with his ugly mug and quick feet for Arsenal this season.

By Paul Wright

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