Gooner Daily

34 points from 20 games.

This is undoubtedly Arsene Wenger’s worst season in the helm of affairs of the club and after showing off their attacking verve in the emphatic victory over Newcastle, the Gunners failed to turn up against a struggling Southampton side.

With Tottenham grabbing maximum points against Reading, coupled with Chelsea’s potential victory over QPR tonight, Arsenal will lose further ground on the leading pack and more importantly, that coveted fourth place position.

In the wake of Arsenal’s disappointing draw against Southampton, some questions have been raised from a faction of the Arsenal faithful and they are worth sharing in today’s post.

What Happened to Arsenal’s Creativity?

When the Gunners hosted Newcastle two days ago, the creative juices of the attacking personnel flowed like a fountain which led to boatload of goals scored. Many attributed Newcastle’s slump to the mind-blowing 4 – 3 defeat they suffered against Manchester United, coupled with the fact that nine of their first team regulars were nursing injuries.

If my memory serves me right, this was the same Arsenal team that ran riot past Southampton at the Emirates in September 2012. Lukas Podolski curled in a beautiful free kick, Gervinho bagged a brace, Theo Walcott had a simple tap in and there was also the tale of two unfortunate own goals.

Yesterday night, Arsenal produced a very lethargic performance reminiscent of the Norwich, Schalke 04 (home) and Manchester United games, where they just failed to turn up. There were a few half chances here and there but ultimately, they weren’t enough.

Shamefully, the Gunners had to rely on another own goal from Guly do Prado to get something out of the game.

After the game, Arsene Wenger rued the lack of creativity (via SkySports)

Where Was the Influence from the Midfield?

Arsenal’s holy midfield trinity of Jack Wilshere, Mikel Arteta and Santi Cazorla have been ever-present figures all season long. While the Spanish duo have become mainstays in the team, Wilshere’s return to full fitness has seen him fill up the box-to-box role, where he has thrived admirably since donning the pitch against QPR in October.

Wilshere was in imperious form against Newcastle. His drive into the box and that delicate chip in the build up for Podolski’s goal made the fans drool. Against Southampton, Wilshere was very sloppy in possession and he looked like a somewhat clueless figure, lacking ideas and the usual passion he exhumes on a regular basis.

Santi Cazorla has been a creative lynchpin for Arsenal this season, but like the games against Norwich, Schalke 04 and Swansea, he was smothered by the energetic Southampton midfielders. The Saints pressed the Gunner’s midfield so hard, that they hardly afforded the midfielders the opportunity to create chances for the forward line.

Arsene Wenger took a bold step in removing Santi Cazorla for Aaron Ramsey and as expected, the Welshman didn’t light up any fireworks.

How do we contend with Walcott’s Bad Day at the Office?

That Thierry Henry-esque finish, the shot that slammed the roof of the net with some many bodies in the box and that exquisite delicate chip. These were the goals that made the name Theo Walcott reverberate round the Emirates in the last game of 2012. 

Instead of singing, “Theo Walcott, he scores when he wants“, the Gunners echoed that infamous YouTube video, “Walcott, sign da ting“. It’s fair to say that the hat-trick staked his claim to make the center forward position his for keeps, even if many still dispute the issue of the 100,000 per week offer. 

Unlike Newcastle that played with a defense no different from a leaking vessel, Southampton had a pretty defensive shape and they matched Walcott pound for pound, getting the better of the Englishman on several occasions.

In a game where Arsenal required Walcott to play as a target man, linking up play with his teammates as well as coming deep to win those balls for his team, he want found wanting on that front. Instead, Walcott decided to wait for those defense-splitting through balls, which never came.

After an hour of the game gone, Wenger brought on his natural center forward, Olivier Giroud, with Podolski getting the axe. Giroud’s cameo performance against Newcastle was hugely encouraging but he turned out to be another peripheral figure against Southampton.

Late on, Giroud had a chance to seal all three points for his team but he launched his header into orbit with a gaping goal in sight. The same feats he achieved late on against Sunderland and Chelsea this season. Typical.

With Wenger ruling out a move for King Thierry Henry (via BBC Sport), I wonder what the transfer window has in store for the Gunners this winter. A seasoned center forward and a tenacious defensive midfielder are the highest priorities in the club’s shopping list.

Where is the Mr. Consistency we Used to Know?

I once tagged Bacary Sagna as the football S.I. unit for measuring consistency.

The way he balanced his attacking and defensive play was a stuff of legends, he hardly crosses the ball but when he does, it’s usually to devastating effect, his tackles are always timely and inch-perfect, his determination is second to none and he has produced stellar performances week-in week-out for the Gunners.

After his long-awaited return from his leg injury suffered at the tail end of last season, Sagna returned to the team replacing a resurgent Carl Jenkinson that had really matured as a footballer. The Frenchman went through a rigorous period of Under-21 games but when he was deemed fully fit, he was drafted back into the squad.

When Arsenal played Newcastle, Sagna came up against Gabriel Obertan, a winger that had failed to command a starting berth in Newcastle all season long. The commentator had even stated that Obertan’s last start for Newcastle came as far back as March 2012, which obviously meant that he was in the team to make up the numbers.

When the Gunners hosted Newcastle, Obertan bested Sagna many times to devastating effect, as he was impeded by the Frenchman for the free kick that led to Demba Ba’s first goal. Obertan also made mince meat of Sagna in the build up to Sylvian Marveaux’s simple tap in where Kieran Gibbs was caught ball watching.

Against Southampton, Sagna put up another putrid show which was epitomized by his aberration of a clearance which caused a goalmouth scramble that ended with Gaston Ramirez blasting the ball past Wojciech Szczesny to put the hosts ahead.

Many have been quick to point out that Sagna has become a disgruntled figure at the Emirates and he’s probably next in line to join the exodus out of the club with his contract expiring in 2014, putting him in a strong position to negotiate his future. At 29, he’ll be seeking a fat pay-rise like the Flying Dutchman with the little boy inside him and one tends to wonder if he’ll get that contract at Arsenal.

The least he could do will be to put up his string of consistent performances Arsenal fans have become accustomed to. We could do with them right about now.

When are we going to have the Right Quality in Arsenal’s Bench?

At the start of every Premier League campaign, teams are instructed to present a list of 25 players that will be used for the grueling 10-month Premier League campaign. While 11 players take on the pitch, each team is eligible to bring in three players from a possible seven which will include a spare goalkeeper as well as a couple of defenders, midfielders and strikers.

When Arsenal visited St. Mary’s Stadium yesterday, Arsene Wenger had a bench that had Damian Martinez, Per Mertesacker, Francis Coquelin, Aaron Ramsey, Tomas Rosicky, Gervinho and Olivier Giroud. 

Martinez is a relatively untested Argentine goalkeeper that hasn’t impressed me in his Capital One cup appearances this season. Mertesacker was returning from an illness so he wasn’t in his optimum health levels, Rosicky is also in that mold with his fitness levels not at 100% and Coquelin, in my honest opinion, hasn’t done enough to contend with Mikel Arteta for the holding role.

This ultimately meant that Arsene Wenger’s sure-fire cards on deck were Ramsey, Gervinho and Giroud and as expected, he used the aforementioned players as reinforcements as the game progressed.

Giroud was the first to be thrown into the thick of things, with Podolski withdrawn, causing Wenger to change his tactical setup with the Ox drifting to the left and Walcott to the right allowing Giroud to strut his stuff through the middle. Sadly, the same Giroud that wetted our appetites against Newcastle was pretty poor to say the least, and his late miss didn’t do anything to help his cause.

Ramsey and Gervinho came in simultaneously for the fatigued Cazorla and the ineffectual Ox. The Welshman couldn’t stamp his authority on the game and the Ivorian has become a complete shadow of the player that did well in the early part of the campaign.

If Arsenal had that seasoned center forward like let’s say, Fernando Llorente or Demba Ba and a midfield enforcer like Yann M’Vila or Cheick Tiote, their outstanding qualities would have helped the team through a game of this magnitude when there’s no place for mental fragility.

Demba Ba’s attacking prowess needs no introduction as Arsenal got a first-hand demonstration of his lethal abilities and predatory instincts in front of goal. Having a Tiote or M’Vila in the team would have allowed Arteta to impose himself on the game as he has done in times past.

With no one to protect the shaky backline that had potential time bombs like Thomas Vermaelen and Laurent Koscielny, Arteta couldn’t dare drift further up the pitch and to make things worse, Jack Wilshere and Santi Cazorla were struggling up front.

Arsene Wenger has the entire month to sort the state of his team and if Arsenal passes through January without making any signing, no one should raise an eyebrow if the club fails to qualify for the Champions League at the end of the season.

Enough sulking for one post. A tricky FA Cup fixture against Swansea is around the horizon and all Hell will break loose if the Gunners fail to get anything out of the game, as the FA Cup seems to be the only realistic chance of silverware this season.

Sayonara.

You can download the Gooner Daily  BlackBerry App to receive notifications on your Smart Phone when a post is published.

You can follow Gooner Daily on Twitter  @goonerdaily. I’ll follow back

Feel free to visit Gooner Daily’s  Facebook page and click on the like button.

You can also join Gooner Daily’s Mailing List to get notifications of new posts by email by clicking on the Follow button