Arsenal Season in Review, Part III

By: Martin | May 28th, 2009

Today, the bad. And there was a lot of bad this year, which is why this season was so disappointing. The fact that most of the guys who were our best players last season (Cesc, Adebayor, Clichy, Sagna) are on this list really sums up why we were not as good as we had hoped this season. The guys that we were counting on to win trophies for us were not up to the task.

Now, once again, this list is relative to expectation at the beginning of the season. The fact that players are on this list does not mean that I think that they are bad players, just that I think they had disappointing seasons. I would also point out that their placement on this list does NOT mean that I am criticizing them, per se. While certain people on this list are here because of their own lack of effort and focus, some of the guys on this list are here solely because of injury, which is a circumstance out of their hands. Guys like Eduardo and Rosicky could not have done anything more to help the team than they did this year, but the fact is that at the beginning of the year, we thought we were going to get more out of them when we did, so they did, by definition, have disappointing seasons, which was undoubtedly bad for the team.

In no particular order:

1. 4th Place—There is no way to sugarcoat or avoid the fact that this team took a big step back from last season. Last season, we were in first place for much of the year, and finished in 3rd, just 4 points back of title winners Manchester United. We only lost 3 games all season. This season, we lost our 3rd game on November 1, and lost 6 games overall. In the end, we weren’t anywhere near 1st (18 points behind United), and weren’t even that close to 3rd (11 points back of Chelsea). The unbeaten streak was nice, but lost in all the discussion of it was the fact that many of them were low-scoring or scoreless draws, and the run was largely aided by a favorable schedule. The gap between us and Manchester United got wider this year, which is troubling.

2. Arsene Wenger—He’s all but admitted that he made a big miscalculation in not bringing in more experienced hands over the summer. Arsenal hasn’t won a trophy under him since the 2005 FA Cup, which is the longest such drought of his Arsenal career. The media has doubted, and begun to ridicule, his approach and seemingly endless belief in a group of players who thus far haven’t shown the ability to win much of anything. The spoiled, reactionary fans have called for him to be fired. And while that’s utter nonsense, I think almost all Arsenal fans realize it’s necessary for him to change his approach at least a little. Apparently the club’s shareholders openly questioned his management ability at a recent meeting. He made a lot of questionable decisions—not starting Arshavin in the FA Cup semifinal, playing everyone out of position in the Champions League semifinal, etc. I’m still a proud member of the “Arsene Knows Brigade,” but I do think he’s got to win a trophy in the next two seasons or his future at the club will be very much in jeopardy.

3. Abou Diaby—Just terrible. He’s got size and strength, but can’t use it effectively because he just doesn’t seem to care all that much, and never really seems up for it enough to physically challenge anyone. When he doesn’t have the ball, he generally just jogs around in the vague vicinity of where he’s supposed to be, seemingly without purpose. When he does have the ball, he almost always gives it away far too easily. Maybe I’ll be proven wrong, as he is still pretty young (just turned 23), but for me he was easily the worst offender in what was a pretty woeful midfield for much of the season. Arsene: 3,456,722; Martin: 1.

4. Emmanuel Adebayor—Last season: 40 appearances, 29 goals. This season: 29 appearances, 15 goals. More than that, though, it was his openly flirting with the idea of leaving the club over the summer, and during the season, which alienated him from fans. And this season, even more than last season, he showed a very concerning tendency towards laziness, even in big games like the Champions League semifinal against Manchester United. I think at this point many of us feel like he’s more trouble than he’s worth, and if we could sell him for £20-£25 million and use that money on an elite center back, we would jump at the chance.

5. Gael Clichy & Bacary Sagna—Last year, we had the best full-backs in the league. This year…not so much. I still love both players, and hope they’ll bounce back, but watching them this season you couldn’t help but scratch your head and wonder if they were the same guys who suited up for us last year. Clichy made a number of defensive mistakes that led to goals or goal opportunities, and didn’t play with the same passion and flair as he showed last season. Sagna was similar, and has really got to work on his crossing, which is abysmally bad. He seems to have no aim or control whatsoever, he’s like a drunk trying to kick a can across a bar parking lot. Wenger has shown before that he’s not overly sentimental when it comes to picking his first-team (see Pires, Robert), and with Kieran Gibbs coming on strong, both Sagna and Clichy need to have bounceback seasons next year.

6. Mikael Silvestre—Was hurt most of the year, and that may have actually been preferable to when he played, because he was pretty awful. He’s slow, he lacked toughness, and to put it bluntly, is just no longer capable of playing center back at this level. You know somewhere Alex Ferguson is still laughing at the fact that Wenger actually paid him to take Silvestre off of his hands. It’s tough to say because by all accounts he’s a decent guy and good teammate, but I’m a decent guy and a good teammate, and you sure as hell don’t see me suiting up in a Champions League semifinal.

7. Cesc Fabregas—Sigh. This is the hardest one to write. Last season: 43 appearances, 13 goals, 23 assists. This season: 32 appearances, 3 goals, 13 assists. And those numbers merely confirm what we saw with our own eyes, which was a less effective player than last year. Now, to be fair, there are a myriad of excuses—he was tired from playing for Spain at Euro 2008; he had to change his style of play because of the loss of his midfield partner Flamini; he was unexpectedly thrust into the captain’s role, and had to take on more team issues instead of focusing solely on his own play; and of course, he was seriously injured and out for a couple of months. I think all of these have some validity. But the fact that we even need to make excuses proves my point that he was not as effective this year as last. Now, he just turned 22, still loves the club and plays with effort and passion. And he’s still my favorite Gunner, I just can’t get enough of the guy. But this year was undeniably a step backwards for him—let’s just hope he can get some rest this offseason and come out of the gates focused and ready to kick some ass come August.

8. Tomas Rosicky—Remember him? The guy who terrorized defenses with his skill and creativity on the wing? The supposed reason we didn’t go out and buy another midfielder last summer? His bizarre hamstring event kept him out the entire season. He now hasn’t played since January 2008. While it was good news that he was back in training the last week of the season, even the most starry-eyed optimist would be hard-pressed to say that he would be able to come back the same player after such a severe injury and extended layoff.

9. Eduardo—Obviously, he was out much of the year after his horrific injury suffered in the Birmingham game last year. His comeback, in the FA Cup match against Cardiff, was a great moment for him personally and for the team, as he scored 2 goals in a 4-0 win. But he was hampered by injuries the rest of the season, as well, and only started twice all season (both times in FA Cup matches), and made two late substitute appearances in Champions League matches. He didn’t make a single league appearance. All told, he put in less than 2 full games worth of time in an Arsenal shirt this year. Hardly his fault because of the injuries, but it sure would have been nice to see a bit more of the man who is our most clinical finisher. If he can stay healthy next year, we’ll have a really dangerous strike force, with or without Adebayor.