Title Challenge Draws to End. Mental Strength my Arsenal

Theo!!
By Boris Mellor
April 21 2011

I almost wish Man U won on Tuesday, then I could have stopped pretending that Arsenal were still in the title race. False hope is such a killer. For the last few weeks Wenger has imitated a captain of a sinking ship denying anything was wrong as the water rises up his ankles.

This wasn’t a bad game by the Gunners, and indeed for periods the old Arsenal almost seemed back. I don’t think there was a lack of fight, but there was a lack of nous, of experience and tactics. In spite of Wenger’s claims for his defence there is an obvious brittleness and fragility that becomes obvious when there is all to play for. Of course for the neutral it was a cracker, but Arsenal could have got so much more out of this game than entertaining the neutral.

Of course Arsenal are not sinking, but they are underachieving, six weeks ago they seemed to be a real title contender, now their inability to stop drawing, or defend a lead has cost them dearly. Now they have sunk to third when only a few weeks back they had the opportunity to climb to first. If they had won their last three games at home this would have been a highly acceptable game that could be written off as all the fun of a local derby, a game where they had re-found their incisive touch.

The result would have been a point gained and put the team a point clear with Man U still to play. Instead its two points lost which ends our title hopes and even threatens to destroy hopes of finishing second. Of course Wenger says he will not give up, and he is quite right to say so, but the grim reality is that the moment has gone.

It wasn’t tonight that it all went wrong, not in terms of the title, not even in terms of drawing at Newcastle, no it was the three defeats at home, and the countless draws. Teams have sussed Wenger out, they realise that Arsenal at home can be stifled. Don’t blame the fans for poor home performances, blame Wenger’s refusal to mix it in terms of tactics, age, skill and experience.

I feel sorry for Walcott, at Tottenham he scored a great goal and created a second, and still the team can’t get three points, meanwhile some fans point the finger at him. Surely that’s enough of a display for a forward to go home with three points. He did far more of note in the game than St Bale. He was Arsenal’s best player, true he became to tire towards the end, but that was because he had put so much in. The problem isn’t this or that player. The problem is Wenger’s stubbornness and the mistaken balance of his team.

Wenger refuses to get the balance right, if you point that out the AKBs accuse you of wanting to spend loads of money and point to the example of Chelsea. No I don’t think he should spend a fortune, I just believe he should change the balance a bit. A couple of wise and tough old heads could have marshalled the team to protect the lead. A 3-1 lead should end in victory, it just typifies what has gone wrong again and again this season, and the last four seasons.

Nor can Wenger complain that Spurs parked the bus, the game was wide open, it should have been possible to score more. But that is not the main issue.

The main issue is when you are in a cauldron like the NLD you need experience in defence, someone to protect the flanks, rally the troops. Wenger talks about mental strength, unfortunately as a team that is something they lack. Mental strength isn’t about kicking someone up in the air, it’s about knowing how to keep calm and not panic. How to change things at the right time, how to defend a lead and so on. Some of this has to come from the manager, but you also need players on the pitch who can take the initiative. Unfortunately this team has not got mental strength, unless the term now means headless chickens.

Mental strength under Graham, and for eight years of Wenger was the hallmark of the Arsenal team. Somewhere down the line Wenger’s team has become enfeebled. I believe it’s due to the fact that Wenger mistakenly believes that his Frankenstein experiment of developing his own players would create an undying loyalty and motivation.

What he fails to understand is that his carefully propagated hot house plants shrivel when faced with the reality that exists outside his laboratory. He hasn’t created an experience of a broader and tougher outside world.

What Wenger believes to be the strength of his system has been taken too far and become a weakness; what makes you strong often kills you in the end.

He has to change things next year, or we are doomed to watch this cycle of promising much and then imploding as the season draws to a close again and again. Those who refuse to learn the lessons of history are condemned to repeat their errors again and again. Unless Wenger learns those lessons and makes changes then we will see many seasons like this, and very few, if any trophies.

Title Challenge Draws to End. Mental Strength my Arsenal

Posted by: Arsenal Times (IP Logged)

Date: 21/04/2011 10:00

What do you think? You can have your say by posting below.
If you do not already have an account Click here to Register.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2011:04:24:18:31:01 by Padre Pio.