The out-pour of frustration on Deadline Day was immense, and rightly so. In a transfer window where the likes of Morgan Schneiderlin, Arturo Vidal, Mario Mandzukic and Christian Benteke made moves, it isn’t unreasonable to suggest at least one of them would have strengthened Arsenal considerably.
While the frustration is warranted, from a purely objective point of view, it’s hard to imagine making room in Arsenal’s team for these players. Mikel Arteta – injury woes aside – can provide acceptable backup to the resurgent Francis Coquelin. Olivier Giroud and Danny Welbeck are definitely not top drawer, but are both reasonably good strikers and their respective future’s at the club are more than secure.
Amidst all this, Arsene Wenger reached for the stars and attempted a Karim Benzema snare. The worm was juicy and the net prepped, but unfortunately even after whiffing the aroma, the fish didn’t bite. And now fingers are pointed at Le Professeur for not investing some of the £200m idle in the bank – a feeling exacerbated by Arsenal’s unimpressive start to the season.
However, a quite ‘on-paper’ perspective to the team under Wenger’s nose suggests what many have been preaching – this is the best Arsenal team in the past decade. The pace and panache of Alexis Sanchez and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, the mercurial creativity in Mesut Ozil and Santi Cazorla and the goals in Olivier Giroud, Aaron Ramsey and Theo Walcott are only some elements of Arsenal’s fantastic attack.
Add to that, the club have solid players in Nacho Monreal and Laurent Koscielny – veterans in Petr Cech and Per Mertesacker, and you get a delicious flavour of an able defence and a blitzkrieg attack.
At the moment, however (and even for large portions of last season), Wenger isn’t bringing the best out of them. He has no excuse not to – after all, these are motivated top-class players with an array of traits in their arsenal. Only Alexis was burned out in the Copa America, while the rest remained healthy, skillful and loyal.
Well then, why can’t Arsene bring the best out of these players? While it’s quite obvious that football is hardly that simplistic, is it truly churlish for supporters to hope that the team they love put in impressive showings against West Ham, Crystal Palace, Newcastle and Liverpool at home? They aren’t asking for 5-0 thrashings by any stretch, but Arsenal should definitely be defeating three out of these opponents whilst keeping them at arms-length.
In contrast, fans have had to endure frustrating matches as the club have barely scrapped past teams it should steamroll over. With the possible exception of the Ox, Wenger is overseeing a dip in form for every player he’s managing. Are all of those 15-odd players to blame, or is he?
People say having competition is a terrific headache for the manager, but Wenger seems to be making hot water of it. Playing Aaron Ramsey on the right has minimised his threat, while playing Cazorla in three positions in the last four games has bewildered him. Ozil has been overplayed to injury (where have Gooners heard that before?) while the Giroud-Walcott dogfight for the lone-striker seems to have stalled, both of them seem apparently too nice to knock the other off their perch.
What is to say that had Karim Benzema arrived, Arsene would have brought the best out of him? He certainly hasn’t brought the best out of the terrific bunch of players he does have. He does not have injuries or loss of motivation or referees to account for their derailment in form. Taking for granted that a top class player would perform in the same vein for an entirely different team, can be quite naive.
There is the argument that if Wenger brings the best out of the players he does have, Arsenal could well win the league. However, the presumption that all he needs to win the league are the players, is well off the mark. Just because he did it ten years ago does not mean he can do it today, nor does it mean he will.
Would Karim Benzema on his own have changed that equation? The more logical conclusion is that after an impressive start, he could have sunken to be part of that equation.
