Whilst many Arsenal fans will consider a point against Manchester City to be not too bad given our current spell of form, it is of course still disappointing seeing the Gunners struggle week in week out. Arsene Wenger’s lack of presence on the sidelines is a major issue that generates a lot of the media attention surrounding Arsenal’s dire spell, and the Gunners legend Thierry Henry reckons the continued lack of passion and leadership, particularly from the players, could be one of many factors which have led to the club’s downfall.
Arsene Wenger doesn’t come across as a very vocal character. He rarely gets up from his seat on the bench to give instructions and it often means the fans can get riled up with a lack of motivation on the pitch. The players are of course required to up their game and they should be able to motivate themselves to fight to the very last kicking of the game; however more often than not we see a sluggish performance. When we fall behind, the players have to step up their performances, listen to the leaders in their attempt to change the game. However the issue is that Arsenal do lack leaders both on and off the pitch.
When questioned about the lack of leadership, Arsenal legend Thierry Henry said: ‘The boss, Arsene, needs that [leaders on the pitch] type of help. How far do you go with your words and trying to galvanise the troops? You need those guys to step up. We haven’t seen that enough for a very long time.’
As for Alexis Sanchez, the Chilean needs no introduction as to how passionate and vocal he is on the pitch. Alexis’ love for the game shows most when he shows frustration and this is because the player just wants to be successful at Arsenal. He drives for the club to be more ambitious both on and off the pitch; and the reported conflicts he has had this season with both the players and the manager, just goes to show how he values his leadership skills. Alexis offers motivation to the fans and he should be getting the players in order too. Sadly however, the rest of the squad doesn’t seem to have the same intentions at this time and the squad does need this added motivation to revamp the position of the club, come the end of the season.
Wenger has plenty of experience and there are a number of experienced players in the squad. They just have to step up, take charge and show leadership to motivate the players through the final stages of this difficult campaign. If not, we will see a very sorry end to what is likely to be Wenger’s final campaign.
By AH