The Missing Ingredient

OK, so I finally got to digest the 3-1 drubbing we got against Manchester United...and am enjoying our 4-1 drubbing we're getting from Chelsea...

...great week we're having, huh?

So allow me then to surprise you with my first conclusion:

We were not as awful against Manchester United as we remember.

Go back and watch the tape, but remove the emotion of the moment.  Our lads started by attacking and pressuring United's goal.  There were crosses and shots on goals.  There was even a weird karoming ball that went off Vidic, off of Ferdinand and got past Van der Sar -- but wasn't on target.  

How different a game if that mental error had been the one to bring us the first goal?

Even after poor Kieran Gibbs' error, Arsenal kept pressing.  They kept looking for the chance to get back in.  Then Ronaldo thundered a shot past Almunia.  Game. Set. Match.

To be fair, there were still 79 minutes on the board.  79 minutes in which to claw back and try to put at least some of the 4 needed goals past Van der Sar.  

Only we really didn't look like getting back into it.  It felt as if the weight of the task at hand proved too much for the lads and too much for the people watching it unfold.  

Same thing as happened today, I should add.  Down 2-0 to Chelsea, the air seemed to leave Emirates as everyone felt the weight of the task at hand.   The lads managed to pick themselves up and give an effort to get back into it, but 3-1 and then 4-1, it was back to the same results.

The questions, of course, arose the moment the game ended: Will Arsene change his ways?  Are the "kids" going to be good enough?  Who should stay and who should go?  Will Arsenal open up its purse strings and go on a spending spree like United, Chelsea or Liverpool?  Or will they continue with the "youngster" policy?

Some of these questions should be answered only until after the season is entirely ended.  I have my opinion, but I (like all other Arsenal fans too) should allow the season to end and the cold reality of statistics and performances over the course of a season as a whole to stand alone.

That said, one thing we clearly lack is strong leadership.  I know that's surprising to think given the kind of captains Arsenal have traditionally been blessed with, both in the past and in recent years.  But when Gibbs made his mistake and Ronaldo scored that goal, we needed someone to step up and force the team onwards.  

Cesc can be that kind of leader, but he's not there yet.  And whereas we used to have a team with Denis Bergkamp, Gilberto Silva and Robert Pires -- guys who'd know just how to pick the team up from its straps and get it going again -- we now find ourselves lacking those people who can stand behind the captain and make sure everyone's back in the game.

Regardless of what the summer brings, we need to regain that mental toughness that says "I don't care how down we are or how far we need to climb. We are going to win this game or raise hell trying!"

But that takes time...and patience...and the right kind of leadership....