I am a Kenyan ardent Arsenal fan based in port city of Mombasa. I
find support for Arsenal rather addictive and apart from other demanding
responsibilities, most of my free time is spent projecting on the
team’s performance.
Today is a sad day for us all, regardless we need to accept defeat and focus more on reasons for our fall and where possible arrest similar things happening in the future. It appears fairly obvious our Manager Arsene Wenger fell short of a plan for winning this particular match. The game against Everton exposed us a lot, any prudent manager would have taken heed prior to today’s big game.
Wenger is a stubborn beneficiary of free advice readily available on our site. Even a novice like myself with no experience in soccer management can tell from the intensity of the English game that no team can win the premiership with 16 players, Ferguson and Mancini seemed aware of this basic fact.
Reliance on just a few players kills the overall team spirit as in our case, calling in a player who has not had any active participation in a crucial game serves no purpose as he will most likely not live up to the billing. Arsenal need an elaborative rotational policy, in every game we play. At least 4-5 players who featured in the last game should not be considered. We should be aware of our strengths, in defence and a pacy midfield.
What we lack is defensive cover. Wenger seems unaware that this crucial position (defensive mid-field), has no players up to the task in our team. Arteta/Flamini are but stop-over gaps though in my opinion Arteta is a much better fit to the latter. Ramsey and Wilshere could be played in that position but certainly not against physical strong and technical opposition like Chelsea, Man Utd or City. This is the area that cost us today’s game, we could score goals but at the same time could not provide cover against conceding easily.
To avoid a similar calamity against Chelsea and Newcastle, who in my opinion are more lethal than Man City, Arteta and Flamini be fielded together in that position to contain a marauding strike force. We should also explore the possibility of acquiring two more players for that position in the January window, plus one centre back and a more versatile striker than Giroud.
One does not have to be a rocket scientist to tell the devastating effects of an already tired Arsenal team. We have capable players for rotation, we do not have to wait for Koscielny to get injured to bring in Vermaelen or Schezzer to break his neck to give Fabiansky (who in my opinion is the best we have) a chance.
It is important for Wenger to consider our global following whenever he makes his decisions, particularly for Kenya where suicide deaths are common when this darling of many team losses massively.
