It’s the same old story every single season, so to make things easier, here’s a check-list of what will happen next season:

1. The club tell us Arsene has money to spend.
2. In the summer, we will sell 4 players, bring in 2 and be ’stronger’.
3. We are told by Arsene Wenger that Arsenal will mount a real title challenge this season, as our squad is more experienced and stronger.
4. The club are happy that we’ve made a profit.
5. After a positive start, we will lose a big player to injury before Xmas.
6. We don’t need to sign anyone, as players returning from injury are just like ‘new signings’.
7. We don’t bring in anyone in the January Transfer Window.
8. We throw away the FA Cup.
9. We’re told that challenging for the league is better than any FA Cup.
10. Our form suffers and we’re out of the title race by Spring.
11. We’re told a Top Three finish is better than any FA Cup.
12. We get to the Quarter/Semi Finals (delete as appropriate) of the Champions League, but go out.
13. We’re told a Top Four finish is better than any FA Cup.
14. ‘Real’ Arsenal fans tell us that we should be grateful for a Top Four position and all these expectations are unrealistic, we don’t really support the club and we’re spoilt, despite Number 3.
15. Arsene Wenger tells us finishing in the Top Four is like winning trophies.
16. Lather, rinse and repeat.

See you next season.

After the fallout over yesterday’s game with Chelsea, and the realisation that our title challenge is all but over in early February, accusations of bringing in 5 or 6 players have come up and Arsenal fans who defend the Arsenal manager keep saying that we have to look long term and success will come.

Who mentioned bringing in 5 or 6 players? I don’t want 5 or 6 players.

At a time when the majority of Arsenal fans want a new goalkeeper, new left back and new striker, I only wanted one new player.

And that was a striker.

The fact is that for all the injuries we’ve had to Eduardo, Bendtner, Clichy, Diaby, Rosicky, Nasri and Denilson throughout the 2009/2010 campaign, the only person we’ve truly missed is Robin Van Persie. You might laugh considering our defensive frailties that have been exposed recently but the Dutchman is much more than a goalscorer. He made a fantastic number of assists, made the team play better on the whole and possibly more importantly he gave the team that drive and desire we’ve been missing over the last few months.

There have been accusations that the team is ‘too French’ and you can see why. Van Persie and Fabregas drive the team forward and give the side more urgency but without them we’ve strolled through games. Look at the Aston Villa match at The Emirates earlier in the season. We were woeful until Fabregas came on a completely changed the game. But we can’t keep relying on Cesc to drive the team forward. Without a more complete squad we’re comparable to Steven Gerrard’s influence on the Liverpool side.

I honestly believe that if Van Persie was still playing now we’d be right in there. Even with Almunia, Clichy and our shocking defending. Our title challenge ended a couple of season ago when Eduardo got injured for the rest of the season, and the same thing has happened with Van Persie. In the first 10 games with Van Persie we were on fire. We weren’t unbeatable by any means but with a central striker we had purpose. We could score against anyone - Van Persie would hold the ball up and play in the creative players like Arshavin, Fabregas, Diaby, Nasri and Rosicky. The proof that our creativity has been stifled without a target man is there for all to see.

We’ve know for a while that Robin Van Persie would be out for the season, so why didn’t we bring someone in? And I don’t mean spend £25 million on a world class forward, but someone who could do the job. Even someone who already played in the Premier League, could hold the ball up and put the pressure off the likes of Arshavin and Fabregas. In an Arsenal side who have so much possession and usually create a number of chances someone like Carew would do the job and wouldn’t break the bank. There was even Louis Saha who would have been peanuts as his contract is up this summer.

You might laugh at those suggestions, but I’m not a highly paid professional football manager with a professional scouting network. It’s not my job to find the solution, it’s Arsene Wenger’s. And I find it hard to believe that there was absolutely no-one available who filled the criteria.

And we’re in a recession, so players would be cheaper than usual. How many big teams spent big in the January Transfer Window? With virtually no competition for purchasing players then you couldn’t use the ‘inflated’ prices excuse. Liverpool brought in Maxi from Athletico Madrid on a free, and Manchester United brought in Smalling from Fulham. Hardly high-profile or expensive signings.

And along with the lack of striker coming in over the January Transfer Window the only other problem I have is Arsene Wenger’s stubbornness.

Even without replacing Van Persie, the situation in the league wasn’t completely lost.

But Arsene Wenger was too stubborn to change things.

If you’re not going to replace Robin Van Persie then change the way we play. We’ve lost a massive influence on the team and a target man, Nicklas Bendtner is also out so why persist in playing the 4-3-3 formation? It clearly works great with Van Persie (and would probably be fine with Bendtner looking at his 20 minute cameo yesterday) but without either of those in the side it’s counter-productive and as it’s been proven, it has cost us dear. 4-3-3 or 4-5-1 works great with a target man such as Van Persie or Adebayor to bring others into play but is useless with Arshavin and midfielders like Rosicky, Nasri and Walcott. Recently we’ve been playing with Arshavin as the lone central striker and it’s agonising watching Arsenal pump long balls up to him - it’s crazy.

Why not revert to a 4-4-2 formation? We’ve used it when Thierry Henry played alongside Sylvain Wiltord and Dennis Bergkamp, none of which were target men who used to win the ball in the air. All three of those players played a short passing game to feet and Thierry and Wiltord could be released over the top.

The other problem with Wenger is his seemingly inept tactical knowledge.

We know he rarely worries about how the other team will play but not working on defence is something I don’t understand. He had Martin Keown in doing some coaching a few season ago and look what he did to Senderos, Flamini and Toure in that Champions League run to the final. Hardly the most feared defence in Europe but with some basic coaching and drilling Keown obviously taught them how to defend as a unit - something we’re severely lacking at the moment.

I don’t know exactly why Keown isn’t there anymore, but Wenger’s ego means we’re being punished. Maybe he doesn’t want anyone else to take the credit for Arsenal’s success? The fact is in Tony Adams, Steve Bould, Lee Dixon, Martin Keown and Nigel Winterburn we have some of the finest defensive minds in the game available to us. They all fondly speak of Arsenal and you know that we would benefit hugely from their influence if they had a chance. They were all taught by the master of defence, George Graham.

Arsene can’t ignore the importance of defending anymore. Is it a co-incidence that we haven’t won a trophy since Adams, Keown, Campbell, Dixon and Winterburn left the club? Keown was at the club in The Invincibles 2003/2004 season and it obvious he helped out Lauren, Toure, Campbell and Cole during that campaign. Since that season we’ve struggled in the league and conceded far too many goals.

As everyone keeps saying, we’re not a million miles away but because of someone’s stubbornness we’re not looking any closer to bridging that gap. It’s the same story season after season.

On Match of the Day 2 tonight, Garth Crooks implored with the panel asking why Arsenal haven’t invested in a quality striker, a quality midfielder to play alongside Cesc Fabregas and a top quality goalkeeper.

He said “it’s so obvious, and that’s what they need to turn from a good side into a great side so they can win things”.

Yes Garth, it is obvious. Not to Arsene Wenger though.

Update:

Read our new post on Arsene Wenger here.

And

Read our 2010/2011 Season Predictions here.

Chelsea (2) - (0) Arsenal
Stamford Bridge, London

Well that is Arsenal’s title challenge officially over for yet another season.

Before going into the games against Aston Villa, Manchester United, Chelsea and Liverpool we were still in contention, but now, even before the Liverpool game, we find ourselves 9 points behind Chelsea. Ever since we threw away the FA Cup our form and confidence has collapsed and we’ve draw one and lost two.

Arsenal have suffered defeat 6 times this season, twice to United, twice to Chelsea and once to Manchester City. If anything confirmed the fact that we were a Top 3/4 side then that was it.

Strangely, both the away and home games against United and Chelsea followed the same

At The Emirates, both Manchester United and Chelsea dominated their games against us and completely deserved their victories. We were simply outplayed and tactically they were superior. We had no answer to anything they threw at us and our defensive frailties were exposed.

But today was similar to the match at Old Trafford. We dominated possession, passed the ball well but couldn’t take advantage, and in the end, the clinical finishing (combined with naive defending) was our undoing.

It was the same old story. Lots of pretty passing, decent possession but lacking that killer instinct in the final third. Too many times we were in fantastic attacking positions but the final ball was lacking. With a better final pass, we could have scored 2 or 3 against Chelsea. If you play poorly then you can hold your hands up and admit the other team was better but today was particularly frustrating to watch - a decent performance but in the end the fact is we are just not good enough.

We might as well go through the goals.

Didier Drogba is dangerous at the best of times but to gift him two goals was… I don’t know, ridiculous? naive? amateurish? sloppy? I realise that Arsene doesn’t teach defending and quite honestly when they scored the goals they did I wasn’t disappointed like I usually was, I saw it coming. We concede the same kind of goals time and time again and it’s just frustrating that we don’t learn from it.

Gael Clichy is clearly targeted and almost every attack (in both the United and Chelsea games) went down their right hand side. And why not? Wenger doesn’t change things so once you see a team like United use a particular game plan then all you really have to do is emulate it. So how many Arsenal fans were shocked when the first goal was a set-piece and the second was on the counter attack?

The fact was that Chelsea didn’t even step out of first gear. Their win over us today was easy. We know they can defend so all they had to do was pick us off whenever they could be bothered. In the first half they punished us but in the second they just sat back and strolled to the final whistle. They forced us wide and we had to resort to crossing into the box, which never works for us, and they can cope with easily. John Terry and Ricardo Carvalho can defend crosses in their sleep.

Anyway, the first goal was from a corner. Malouda crossed from the left and John Terry won the header after he lost Vermaelen and the ball fell to the far post where Drogba tapped in from two yards. Drogba was amazingly unmarked (Song lost him) and we gifted Chelsea a simple goal.

I would like to know why we didn’t have a man on the far post though.

Then the second was on the break. Arsenal (like against United) had possession on the edge of the Chelsea box and Chelsea won the ball, played 2 simple passes through and Drogba waltzed into the area and smashed the ball into the net.

22 minutes, and the game was over.

After that, we threatened here and there but never really looked like scoring. There were a few skirmishes but you felt that if Arsenal had somehow miraculously managed to get a goal then Chelsea would just step it up a gear and kill off the game. In all fairness, it was a walk in the park for Chelsea.

There were some positive performances, from Diaby, Song, Vermaelen, Gallas and substitutes Eboue and Bendtner, but that’s not enough. Cesc was trying his hardest to make something happen and he carved out 2 or 3 real opportunities only for his team mates to waste them. Andrei Arshavin had a massive chance at 1-0 to equalise but once again, he let us down.

Arshavin doesn’t really give a shit anymore, and he wants to leave. Partly because he’s being played out of position, and partly because he doesn’t think Arsenal are real title contenders. You can see it in his body language, we strolls around and doesn’t care. Can you blame him? Maybe not, but I expect 110% from anyone who puts on an Arsenal shirt. Unfortunately, he’s not the only one who hasn’t been performing.

There’s the argument that the vast majority of the squad are overpaid and pampered kids who are being rewarded without having won anything. I personally don’t think that’s the main reason why we’re once again not challenging for the title, because players like Song and Diaby have really stepped up this season. The fact is we’re just not good enough.

And that is down to Arsene Wenger. The squad isn’t strong enough. I’ve never been one to shout about buying players (mainly because I don’t ever expect Wenger to spend any money) but unless we strengthen in key areas then we’ll always be also rans.

We don’t need a complete overhaul of the team, we just need to get rid of dead wood like Almunia, Clichy, Walcott and Bendtner. I don’t have anything personal against them (and I’ll always support them if they’re in an Arsenal shirt) but I just don’t think they’re good enough. They are all players who have been at the club for 5 years plus and not improved. Bendtner was okay today but Van Persie is the top quality striker we need.

I am pissed off with today’s game? Not really, we all knew winning at Stamford Bridge would take a miracle. I was hoping something special could happen, but we Arsenal fans watch the game week after week and know what to expect.

I just hope Arsene gets his act together and looks at defending more seriously because we won’t get far in the Champions League with defensive performances like that.

Chelsea (Stamford Bridge, London)
Premier League Fixture - Matchday 25
Sunday 7th February 2010
Kick Off: 4pm - Live on Sky Sports 1

Football is a funny old game.

In 2008, Arsenal were on fire and had every chance of winning the Premier League Title. Then that horrible injury to Eduardo de-railed our season and we slumped into second place.

Then this year, our player of the season Robin Van Persie was taken out for the rest of the campaign and it’s obvious we’ve struggled with his absence. His goals, assists, intelligence and power in the central striker role were invaluable and we’ve had big problems trying to replace him ever since November. Since he’s been injured we’ve dropping silly points against West Ham, Burnley, Everton and Aston Villa, and haven’t look convincing or deadly as we did with the Dutchman in the side.

Has another major injury to an influential striker cost us the title?

Well strangely enough, not quite yet.

But even after big defeats to Manchester United (twice), Manchester City and Chelsea and our relatively poor form recently (we’re currently 6th in the form table behind United, City, Everton, Chelsea and Liverpool) a win over Chelsea on Sunday means we’re somehow only 3 points behind the league leaders.

How did that happen?

We haven’t played like Champions yet we’re still in with a shout. And that is the annoying thing about this season.

If Arsenal had strengthened in a couple of key areas who knows where we could be in the league right now? That little bit extra experience and power against the likes of Burnley, West Ham and Everton could have seen up top of the league! And how about if we had a top class goalkeeper? Jesus, we’d probably be 10 points clear…

No-one is taking taking advantage of this strangely weak season and I couldn’t believe my eyes when I looked at the Premier League table today.

Liverpool, who have been in complete meltdown losing a massive 7 games and (if you read the newspapers) in crisis are only a single point off 4th place! A team like Liverpool who are massively struggling are still in with a big shout of claiming that final Champions League spot. They’re only 8 points behind Arsenal, and on current form they might even threaten our 3rd place.

So it all comes down to the massive game on Sunday.

Defeat really would signal the end of our title challenge. I know I’ve said it several times (after the crushing defeats against Chelsea and Manchester United) but this really is the last chance saloon for the Arsenal.

A draw isn’t a complete disaster but doesn’t really help our situation and if anything it’s a result Manchester United would love to happen.

The problem with Arsenal this season is that they’re always got to the point where they are ‘just about back in the race’ and when it comes to a time in the campaign where they need that extra push to really close the gap we’ve stuttered. The was a time over the winter period where we were 3 points behind Chelsea with a game in hand, but ended up drawing against Burnley. We haven’t taken advantage of any decent position we’ve found ourself in.

The only positive we can take from the Manchester United game is that Arsene witnessed his Arsenal team get completely ripped apart.

It was a lesson in football.

They were better organised, had more desire and I hate to admit this but completely deserved the 3 points. And one of the most hurtful things about the match was it was effectively over in half an hour.

But it was clear that while United were sublime, Arsenal were equally inept defensively.

The first goal was great skill from Nani’s point of view but he should have never been able to score from where he was. And the second and third were terribly defended - talk about standing off and letting them walk the ball into the net.

So hopefully, the embarrassing defeat will have woken up Arsene and made him realise you can’t neglect defensive responsibilities. Hopefully, he’ll play a more cautious game with 5 in midfield so Chelsea can’t score at will. I don’t care how Arsenal win - if it’s a scrappy 1-0 victory with a goal from a deflected set-piece then so be it.

The most important thing is the 3 points.

What shape are Chelsea in?

Well despite drawing against Hull midweek they are still the in-form team with 4 wins and 2 draws in their last 6 games. They’ve struggled at times during the season but no-one has capitalised and the fact is they’re still top of the table.

If you look at the game objectively, Chelsea just have far too much power and guile. Their direct game is more powerful than Manchester United’s so if we crumbled last week then who says Chelsea won’t find it just as easy to score?

Our recent form has been poor and too many players haven’t performed. Arshavin is not clicking, whether that’s down to attitude or application, and our other main man Cesc Fabregas has struggled with the poor displays from Denilson, Rosicky and Nasri who are supposed to be the supporting cast.

Abou Diaby’s physical presence and attacking guile has been sorely missed. Despite his nightmare start to the season at Old Trafford it’s clear that he is a vital part of the first team. He is useful when defending set-pieces, and unlike several other midfielders has an eye for goal and can finish when required. If he can get fit in time and we start with a midfield of Cesc, Diaby and Song then I’d be a lot more confident.

The smart money would be on Chelsea, which makes our task even more difficult. If we can somehow completely transform our performance from last Sunday and win then it would be one of the best and most impressive results of the whole season. Every single time I watch Arsenal I believe that we can win, but whether it happens or not is another matter.

Something special on Super Sunday would surely be the catalyst to knuckle down and get a good run going up until May. So this game is massive.

We all know about the John Terry scandal, but that could work against us. Against Burnley, Chelsea were struggling and who pops up and scores the winner? John Terry. And you all know that wasn’t the first time he’s scored away from home, so don’t be surprised if he goes and scores at The Bridge.

Update: Well it looks like Capello has finally decided and Terry will no longer be England captain.