I tend not to have a lot of negative feelings toward Arsenal. Those feelings tend to surface with poor performances and dropped points, which is obviously how I feel right now. When we put in good performances and happen to drop points, I’m not too bothered but these past games against West Brom, Newcastle and Tottenham are all too indicative of what we’ve seen in the past five years.
We all know it’s been five years since a trophy has been hoisted by our boys in red and we’re reminded of that all too often. Back then we had tons of class in Bergkamp, Henry, Pires, etc. but looking at our current squad, we’re not too far off that. Wenger has mentioned a few times that this current squad is the most talented he’s had and he may have a point, but no matter how much talent you possess, in order to win trophies you need to have that cutting edge. Coincidentally, “mental strength” is a term frequently used by Wenger, but funnily enough, I don’t remember him mentioning this before Vieira left.
Although it may be obvious to some, the departure of Vieira has led us down a scary path. In every squad you have different personality types, however, you also need that drive and determination, which comes from a select group of one or two players. Vieira was ours, Keane was ManUtd’s. As of right now, Terry is that player for Chelsea, while Rooney and Ferdinand carry the brunt of it for United. And looking at our squad... do we have anyone? Fabregas carries the team to a certain degree, but I think it’s fair to say that the departure of Flamini saw the closest resemblance of determination and workmanship fade away.
We’ve been contenders for the League and came close to winning some cups, but the drive that Vieira instilled into the team was infinitely important to our success. It was probably time for Vieira to leave in 2005 because of the continuing transfer rumours and his wanting to leave, but Wenger’s biggest mistake was not replacing that mentality in the team. This doesn’t even mean replacing him with a similar CDM, but simply signing a veteran player who would lead by example and demand more from his teammates. There’s too many nice guys in our squad and too often we see our players shrug at a stupid loss when they should be stark raving mad. I love these guys, but when Walcott or Fabregas (or Wenger for that matter) talk about the positives after a loss, I’m truly sick of it.
The funny thing is that you only have to look back at Vieira’s last game (FA Cup Final in 2005 against Man United) to see what I mean. We were outplayed for the most part, barely made their keeper work, but the determination of our squad brought us a trophy that day. In recent years we couldn’t have held on against Man United in that situation. We had a strong midfield in Vieira and Gilberto to protect the back four, but our defence that day was Lauren-Toure-Senderos-Cole. Not our greatest crop of players in defence. Cole was probably the best LB in the world at that time, but a Toure-Senderos combination would scare me in a cup final and Lauren wasn’t the most skilled of defenders. Still, we held on against the onslaught of Man United and won the trophy on penalties. Not a great performance by us, but it shows when you have that determination and work-ethic, you can win games like that.
After Vieira left, Henry took over and as amazing a player as he was, it was doomed from the start. Thierry was used to that mentality, but he never possessed the leadership required to lead an Arsenal team to success. Especially not the leadership qualities to lead a much younger side compared to the Arsenal generation he was brought up in.
And as I mentioned earlier, with Flamini we didn’t have the most skilled or talented player in the world, but he showed how hard work and determination can cement a player in the starting XI. He is no Vieira, but re possessed the quality that made his teammates work harder and cut the number of mistakes. He wasn’t nearly as talented or vocal as Vieira, but when you see a player working his balls off beside you, that makes you want to work that much harder.
In the end, we let him go because of salary demands, and instead of his winning mentality in the midfield we saw Diaby and Denilson step into his role in midfield. Two players who I believe are more talented than Flamini (especially Diaby), but two players who are also prone to huge mental errors and the all too occasional poor work ethic. Diaby was supposed to be the next Vieira and even though he possesses similar physical attributes, but he’s one of the dumbest players I’ve seen on the pitch. With Denilson, I can’t count the number of times he hasn’t tracked back properly that resulted in an opposition goal. Flamini could never be accused of that once.
So the question is, where do we go from here? I truly believe that our squad has improved from a year or two ago, but when will we see that work ethic, discipline and leadership back in the squad? For me, the answer lies in young Jack Wilshere. We have some players in Nasri and van Persie with an edge to them, but just watching Jack in the squad this season has given me confidence that we have that player, and he’s showing signs of it already.
Looking at our Premier League games with Wilshere on the pitch, our goals for and against are 15-7 (2.14:1) and without him we are 13-8 (1.62:1). In addition, you’ll find that the opposition have never scored twice when Wilshere was on the pitch. When you look at our PL losses, Jack came on as a sub after already being down 2-0 to WBA, lost to Chelsea at the Bridge, but he didn’t play at all against Tottenham, and his performance against Newcastle was the only positive in that dreadful 90 minutes. I’ll admit, the evidence isn’t completely overwhelming, but we see that there is value in Wilshere as an 18 year old, compared to the more experienced Denilson and Diaby.
So what does this really mean in the end? What I see is an incredibly committed, determined and hardworking 18 year-old, who possess all the talents of becoming a world class player and a first-class leader. He’s a winner and adds a real spark to the midfield, which is something we’ve lost in recent years. If “mental strength” is required for Arsenal to be successful, Jack matches his talent with that mental side of the game. In addition to being a teenager, he’s not afraid to give his teammates hell, like he did with Chamakh a few games back. If his leadership skills continue to develop, I have no doubt who our next captain will be. He has all the makings of it.
Maybe Wenger saw this all along or maybe he hasn’t or maybe I’m completely wrong. With that being said though, I think all realistic Gooners know that there is something lacking in this squad. We may be able to win a trophy this year, but the all too familiar mental breakdowns have shown its ugly face on a number of occasions this year and continues to put our impending success in question. If we are going to get it together and win trophies on a consistent basis, we need this mental edge and leadership, and all too often we seem complacent and willing to put up with mistakes. Something that Vieira would never accept when he played for Arsenal Football Club.
Maybe, just maybe, it will take an 18 year-old to show these adults how its done. If he does, I’ll name my first kid after him. I just hope my future wife loves Jack as much as I do and feels the same.
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