With the end of season form being just short of perfect, Arsenal fans can’t wait for the new season to start. Television pundits and news publications alike have started to suggest that the North London side are the nearest challengers to last season champions, Chelsea. However, let’s discuss why I don’t think that the Gunners will make a significant challenge for the Premier League next season.
Competition from the other teams
Manchester United, Manchester City and Chelsea are all Arsenals’ proposed ‘title rivals’ for the upcoming campaign. However, not just those teams will trouble Arsenal in the search for their first Premier League trophy in over 10 years. Games such as Stoke and Swansea away have provided trouble in the past whilst rivals Tottenham are always highly motivated to beat the North London rivals.
Manchester United have huge willingness to spend to improve their squad. Getting 4th last season was mission accomplished for them but with the transitional season over at United and Van Gaal finally getting his message to the players, this could mean that they create a more significant title challenge than the North London side.
Manchester City are similar to their rivals in terms of spending power but have more quality in certain positions. With Sergio Aguero up front, David Silva in Midfield and if Vincent Kompany reaches the form he showed in City’s first title victory then the blue half of Manchester could cement its place above Arsenal as it has done in recent years. Players such as Paul Pogba and Raheem Sterling being linked with Manchester City can potentially add to the already talented squad to pose a substantial challenge to the Premier League.
Chelsea are the biggest challenge to Arsenal in the Premier League. Mourinho has created a team which looks like having the beating of Arsenal for years to come. The strength and experience of the spine for Chelsea with players like Thibaut Courtois, John Terry and Nemanja Matic in their side make them extremely good defensively. Hazard, Fabregas and Oscar provide the sparkle of magic that is needed in some games to win a Premier League which has be shown over and over again, particularly by Eden Hazard. Moments against Manchester United at home and QPR away fully represent the brilliance of those attacking players.
Arsene Wenger’s tactics in big games
Image via Getty Images / Stuart MacFarlane
With two wins out of eight against last season’s top six, it perfectly shows how Arsenal’s preparation for big games is inexperienced and abject. Although the Gunners had a brilliant hard fought win at the Etihad last season, this was an isolated result and doesn’t show the problems with Arsene Wenger’s tactics in the big games. His tactical floors in these games have been shown by a poor decision making and lack of appreciation for the opposition.
Firstly, Wenger’s lack of defensive focus in training, a poor decision, is evident through games as the full backs for Arsenal are pushed up so high, it opens up a counter attacking opportunity that teams would only dream of. This was mainly shown against Monaco at the Emirates when Arsenal decided to adopt a ‘gung ho’ mentality even though 40 minutes of the game and a second leg was still remaining. It showed a cluelessness and desperation in Wenger’s tactics which resulted in Arsenal being knocked out of the Champions League. More poor decision making from Arsene Wenger included when Calum Chambers was facing a tough time against Jefferson Montero. A Manager like Guardiola wouldn’t have allowed that to escalate to Montero crossing to Bafetimbi Gomis to score.
Furthermore, the ‘tika taka’ football that Wenger has adopted from the famous Barcelona is now being played in every game in a Premier League season from Arsenal. This lack of appreciation and tactics against different teams has allowed the likes of Mourinho have an unbeaten record over Wenger. The change from buying strong, athletic players who could impose themselves on a game to a more technical, agile player has made Arsenal so easy to play against as they try to create the perfect goal. This shows that Arsenal are not yet ready to challenge for the Barclays Premier League unless a change in the approach within the big games.
Transfer Policy
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Due to the signings of Alexis Sanchez and Mesut Ozil in the two previous seasons, the public have started to assume that Arsene Wenger and the Arsenal board have now changed their transfer policy. Whilst there is potential in that argument, the facts don’t lie about the deficiencies of the transfer window in recent times. The start that Arsenal made last season was down to the shortages of strength in depth within the squad. This had been imminent due to Arsenal deciding that only three centre backs would be satisfactory enough to be able to challenge for the league title. This led to Arsene Wenger buying another centre back in January when he realised he had made a mistake. In addition to that, the defensive midfielder position wasn’t addressed last summer either and only recently has Arsenal found a replacement internally in Francis Coquelin. However, what happens when Coquelin gets injured and Arsenal are inevitable left with Mikel Arteta in the defensive midfield position, which all fans of the North London side will have bad memories of.
I mention the last two seasons as the biggest disappointments purely because Arsenal now don’t have that excuse of ‘we need to pay off the stadium’. The naïve culture of running the club like it is a business and sustaining the long term health of the club has damaged the recent history of the club. With the Chief Executive, Ivan Gazidis, saying that Nacho Monreal and Mathieu Debuchy can both play centre backs totally illustrates the naïve culture to spend money. However, the transfer policy has been wrong for several years at Arsenal, with them selling their best players to Manchester United and Manchester City. In addition, when Arsenal had the chance to take a former player back, Cesc Fabregas, they declined the offer.
Finally, the evidence is there to suggest that buying players is essential in order for a team to compete at the very top of the Premier League. With clubs like Chelsea not willing to take their foot of the gas with spending money, then Arsenal will have to follow quickly if they want to close the gap in order to challenge for the Premier League title.
