Have Arsenal lost our ambition? by ED
Ohh the joys of being an Arsenal fan… ain’t it grand folks. We begin the season every year with such optimism and jubilance believing that anything is possible with our squad. Champions League, League titles, you name it the odds are chalked up in Arsenal’s favour, but it has become almost routine that we put in a dismal subpar start to the season next to the other contenders for such accolades. Then we end up in a situation like we do now (arguably it’s usually later, but the result is often the same). We start off poor, pick up form towards December, crash out of the Champions league by Jan/Feb – temporary dip in form – then start winning again – and end the season in 3rd or 4th place (the only addition in the last two seasons being the FA cup), and then we convince ourselves that the same squad is capable of sustaining a title run.
The only thing that is completely comical of this particular situation is that in the past when we have lost our big stars (Fabregas, Van Persie, Nasri – the list goes on). We jump on their back giving them a lecture on loyalty… but if we as fan’s get fed up of seeing the same old crap, how do you logically as player remain loyal to a club that isn’t producing anything rewarding of that loyalty… sure there is the payslip but I think success trumps that.
Looking at Sanchez and Ozil I’m pretty sure that their life ambitions didn’t simply lie in finishing in a respectable position and winning the FA cup, If the crowning achievement of being an Arsenal player is participating or winning the FA Cup, don’t expect big named players to be throwing themselves at the team, all for the opportunity to play against Scunthorpe en-route to the final, what a bloody dream come true (Notice the intense sarcasm).
Back to the whole question of have we lost our ambition, well evidently yes… where we should rectify our problems as in cover/ competition for Coquelin we don’t. Where we should get another striker as cover of course we don’t … because we have faith in Giroud (the footballing goods must be pissing themselves in laughter) we used to have Dennis Bergkamp, Thierry Henry and Robin Van Persie leading the line. Holy Almighty what a downgrade. Having Giroud in your team is like having dial up internet in 2015 (my apologies to anyone who still has, but it gets better as soon as you upgrade) and in case you’re wondering how the analogy links to what I was saying overall in terms of ambition its simple, much like dial-up, Giroud functions at a limited capacity if you need to send an email its good (Score a goal), wanting to stream a movie is a stretch to far (Giroud doesn’t win titles) and if, at the end of the day, showing ambition is showing an intent of doing better than before, taking risks and learning from your mistakes, and how not to repeat them again.
I spent the better half of a month defending Wenger … but its getting harder every week. From the lack of creativity in terms of tactics … we keep playing the same bull crap formations and tactics. It’s that bad a team who don’t even play us on a regular basis know how to beat us – ‘sit back and hit them on the counter’ – to a lack of spending, and I don’t mean the rumoured £200 million let’s-go-crazy money… no. I mean spending for necessity to strengthen. As in the only cover for Coquelin is Arteta (who looks like he just learned how to football) or Flamini, who seems like an reject from the movie goon. Or like I mentioned earlier – rectifying the striker crisis.
Quite simply we face losing players like Ozil and Sanchez, and far quicker than you think, if all we can offer them is a FA winner’s medal and fourth place in the Barclays Premier league. Our inability to facilitate an environment that could be rewarding for people like them, for prolonged loyalty to the club, will only lead to a situation where we end up calling them snakes for leaving a club that gave nothing except a mediocre cup to their career (which I’m sure they’ll treasure for life….yeah) and to paraphrase FatBoySlim continue this ridiculous cycle of ‘hope, play, fail, repeat’..
Eddie D