Genuine question there that I’d love to get some comments on from anybody tuning in today.
We’ve had the Champions League come and go (which to be honest most of us must have thought that would happen anyway after the draw), we’ve seen a chance for FA Cup glory melt away after a lacklustre home performance, then as of this weekend just gone by we’ve all but seen the league title slip away. So what is the remainder of this season for Arsenal fans?
For me it will feel odd, because I don’t think that when I turn up at the pub at 1pm on Sunday, I’ll be as nervous as I usually am ahead of a game. Crystal Palace feels like it might be similar to Watford i.e. A team with an eye on an FA Cup semi final, but we can’t be sure until we see the opening exchanges of the game, I suppose.
It also feels like this is the sort of game we win comfortably, because the pressure is off, the players are just fighting to remain as the also-rans in third. They will be at home, they will know that their opponents aren’t in great form, as well as the fact that we have a decent record against Palace. Palace will probably sit deep and we’ll have more of the possession, so it’ll be on our front line to deliver against a team who would undoubtedly take a draw.
The game, in essence, will feel a little meaningless. Well, that’s what it feels like to me, right now. Perhaps a little closer to the weekend I’ll start to get the buzz. But if I’m honest, I’ve had a lot of the stuffing knocked out of me since the beginning of March, when the real folding started to happen to the team with the United and Swansea defeats. I feel like I’ve been punched in the metaphorical Arsenal leg so many times that it’s all just a little bit numb for the rest of the season.
There’s still points to play for, there’s still third that needs to be secured, but at the moment it doesn’t really feel like there’s any major pressure on the team. So I don’t feel like it either.
So what does that mean for the rest of the season? For me it means experimentation. It means trying things with a view to seeing if they work. We have to continue to have a mobile front three and so the continuation of the Iwobi-Welbeck-Alexis formation has to be soup de jour, but behind those three I wonder if there is some opportunity for others to have a crack. Ow about in that midfield, for example? Coquelin and Elneny have been good, but why not see what Elneny and Wilshere might be able to do, or as Ben has said to me outside of social media – Elneny and Cazorla. Ben isn’t the biggest fan of Coquelin, but he is warming to Elneny, who we must all admit looks more cultured on the ball than the Frenchman. He’s also got the ability to put his foot in, so the idea that we could have a ball-playing, deep-lying, central midfielder who can sit alongside the silk of someone like Santi, feels quite appealing to me.
Or perhaps we should even try having Ramsey and Elneny alongside each other. Two midfielders who cover a heck of a lot of ground does feel appealing to me. The question that would need to be pondered would be whether Rambo can still have the defensive discipline when he has somebody like Elneny alongside him. Would this duet have a guy who wants to play electric guitar and sing up top all day because it’s a little bit cooler, leaving the metronomic sound of the bassist behind keeping the rythmn going, or would it all just sound a little bit like a cacophony of cats screeching in to the wind?
No idea. But I do know that with some winnable games on paper and with some major work needed in the summer, the manager might as well start looking at which partnerships provide more balance. Jack and Coq? Jack and Elneny? Ramsey and Elneny? Elneny and Santi? All seem like there’s something about the individuals that might work. So why shouldn’t we have a play around?
I also wonder whether we should be taking another look at Chambers at centre half. Gabriel has been a little clumsy at times since his run in the team and Per seems to have trampled all over Arsène’s azaleas, such is his demotion from the team, but I think Chambers should be given an opportunity to see how he does with a run of games. He’s in his early 20s, he’s looked good in the last few games he’s played and I think he and Koscielny would form a very good partnership.
There are some people who have questioned his ability, but I’d ask those people to really rack their brains on games where Chambers has been poor. I have and when I think about it, it’s been when he’s been playing as a full back. Arsène may have bought him as that when he signed from Southampton, but I think it’s clear to all that he’s less comfortably there, certainly when you compare his performances at centre half.
Now imagine that he was given a run of games like he was at the beginning of 2014/15. He played well, looked assured and many were making references to Tony Adams back then, so what’s changed? Only that he has a better knowledge of the club and he’s played in a few different positions which probably haven’t suited him. So why not give him a run now and see if he looks the part like he did when he first arrived?
That’s just my view, anyway, because whilst there are plenty of players who I think should probably get in the bin, there are some who I think deserve a shot.
I just hope they get the chance to prove it now.
I am afraid that all what you are saying has already been said again and again in the last 10 years. Unfortunately for us, all the players you mention are average to good quality players and it has been proved through the years that big clubs are made by exceptionally top class players, something that Arsenal does not have. As long as we do not realize that we must spend big money and buy top top class players in key positions like 2 center backs, one midfield player and one center forward who scores 20 goals every season we will always be a lost case.And with Wenger and Kroenke in the team it seems that this is very difficult.
But don’t you think that in the modern game, you also need very good squad players? That’s what I see somebody like Chambers potentially being, or perhaps realising his potential and becoming a world class player. I still hold high hopes for him.
I do not disagree as long as these squad players is not all the team. But on the other hand, for a team that always fights for the title mentality is an issue and Chambers, I am afraid, does not have it. He proved it during matches when the big pressure was there and the team was down and he was either lost or he could not offer that something special to the team.Do not forget also that big talents period is something tha must last 2 years the most and not longer.All those well known and famous players in all the world grasped the opportunity that was given to them and established themselves in their teams as top class players in no time.
Although I don’t agree as many of those players are as sub-standard as Andreas makes out (I think Arsene is making the sum look a lot weaker than its parts at the moment and has done so for many years), I do think he has a point about Chambers. Though I agree his poor performances have come at right back, there are a couple of times when he’s been done like a kipper and you can see in his body language he’s beaten (that Swansea away game comes to mind but there have been others). That said, like you, I do believe the right coaching could get more from him.
To answer your question though, mate, we’re 6 behind Spuds with a game in hand – the team has to try and finish as high up the league as possible. Leicester might be out of reach but the Spuds aren’t yet. Plus we’re only two ahead of City,so could slip down into the CL qualification place.
I would love for the pressure to be off and for us to try some different combinations but I think there’s still too much to play and probably still a fair bit of pressure on the side – title or not.
I can see why that would make it more interesting for us as fans (because Jesus, wouldn’t it be amazing if we did something that wasn’t entirely predictable in the league at least once?) but the reality is there’s still a job to be done. Sigh. It could have been so different…!