Midfield of Dreams

Seems my last blog piece- because that is what this is, a blog- has upset a few of you. Yes it may have been self absorbed whinging, but if you can't have a self absorbed whinge after seeing your team blow a two goal advantage in 4 minutes and then lose to an inferior team because they can't handle, as they couldn't last year, a couple of set pieces, when can you have a whinge?

I am upset, I am upset because I care passionately about this club and am no longer sure the manager will make the (minor) changes he needs to to make this team successful. I'm sorry if my mood yesterday upset some of you but my mood was directly related to us losing to Stoke and fielding a midfield full of central midfielders because Arsene thought that was our best option.
Questioning my support because of what I write here… I've spent more than enough time, money and effort in support of this team over the years. And this season in particular. If a whinge about losing to Stoke qualifies me as a fair weather fan, then yes it must be that every single Arsenal blogger on t'interweb is a fair weather fan. Take a look around cyberspace, please check out the Online Gooner, read the Arseblog or Gunnerblog and see what you think then. If you still feel I'm a fairweather fan, fine, but please, bear this in mind; I had a sore throat by half time on Wednesday night, I never boo the team, I never go for a half time beer or a hot dog, thereby missing goals, as so many did on Wednesday night, and guess what? I never leave before the end, either.

I am not turning against the team, or in fact the manager. I am questioning, legitimately, I happen to believe,  some of the decisions made in the summer, and the somewhat odd decisions made recently. No, I'm not a football manager, no I don't know better than Arsene, but what good is knowing better if it doesn't help you to make the right decision? One of my first blog entries was the piece about Arsene's vote of confidence in the midfielders at the club. Does that confidence look justified to anybody right now?

Midfield, for me, is where games are won and lost and it's an area that Arsenal have traditionally been strong in under Wenger. Of course, we were blessed with the Big Sausage for 9 years, but alongside him he had battle hardened players such as Parlour, Overmars, Petit, Pires, Gilberto and Edu. Whilst a player like Freddie Ljungberg, already a Swedish international at 21,  grew into such a player. Now we have Cesc Fabregas and… and? Samir Nasri in his first season in English football, Theo Walcott in his first season as first team starter. And if Tomas Rosicky had been fit, would Theo be getting all these games? The central midfield options are poor beyond belief when compared to what we have seen before. If Cesc Fabregas gets injured, then what? Diaby, Denilson? Both are obviously decent enough players, but they are not ready to deliver a League title. What was once an area of strength has become a playground for our overpaid kids. Cesc has been overplayed since his return to injury and is going to be frazzled come the run in because we can't afford to rest him now. Is that healthy?

I touched on our central defence issues yesterday and don't particularly want to go back there again, but the inability of our central defence to deal with set pieces is compounded by our first choice goalkeeper's complete refusal to do so. Is he scared of getting his nose broken? What's the deal here? He's a fine shot stopper, generally speaking, but behind a defence that seems unable to deal with aerial threat, he is nothing more than a liability.

I hope for better things on Wednesday, I really do. I'd love for the boys to respond to disappointment as they generally have done this season and put in a big performance and, when Saturday comes, I will be shouting my head off in Block 100. But I'm not sure they're capable of it. That isn't their fault, it's the manager's. He has miscalculated this season, and okay we're only 6 points off the top but we haven't played anyone yet, and it looks like costing us. If you don't like what I'm saying, maybe a better question for you is not "Why can't you show respect to Wenger?" but "Why can't Wenger show us respect?" 

You see, I have long said that we don't have a right to expect anything in football, but when you are told the squad you have is good enough for a title challenge and the evidence of that is shredded before November is even begun, you are supposed to ask questions. I close here, reminded of an exchange between Brian Glanville and George Graham during the Makita tournament of 1991, George had read a piece by Brian about Arsenal's defensive weaknesses and said of it,

" I expected more quality".

Brian's reponse?

 "When I see it, I'll write it."