Arsenal are not good enough, Arsene.
Not good enough to win the Premier League, not good enough to win the Champions League, perhaps not good enough to win a Capital One Cup or an FA Cup. It’s a good squad, but not a great squad.
Napoli and Galatasaray exposed enough problems that we hoped had been eliminated, but haven’t. Against Napoli it was defensive and goalkeeping errors. Jenkinson’s failure to deal with a high ball caused the first and Fabianski’s rash move out of his goal led to the second.
Galatasaray got serious in the second half when they brought on Sneider and Drogba and quickly grabbed control of the match. Wenger made a few substitutions (Zelalem, Miquel) which further tipped the scales their way and they made us pay.
I’ve got nothing against Zelalem and Miquel, but their inclusion revealed our lack of depth on the bench. Drogba dominating our defence is an old problem and the fact that he still can shows our defence has not improved.
I must confess that this was the first time I’ve ever watched an Arsenal game live and I left the ground depressed. My family were happily buying Arsenal gear after the match, but I had no appetite for buying after seeing our late collapse against Galatasaray. If only Arsene developed a taste for buying, then we could fortify a good young squad and make them challenge for the trophies mentioned above.
We desperately need another centre back. Sagna is decent, but he’s a right back. Several times against the Turks he started marauding up the field like a fullback, only to run into Jenkinson. You cannot tell me that we have not been able to find one decent centre back on the entire planet this summer.
We need Sagna to play right back. I’m still not convinced by Jenkinson, who is improving but still looks shaky at times. He still doesn’t trust his left foot and his ball handling can be suspect when he’s nervous.
We need some steel in our midfield, especially a holding midfielder with some muscle. Letting Coquelin go made me think Arsene Wenger had someone in mind, someone to provide backup at least. However nothing’s been done, nobody has arrived.
Earlier this summer we heard about Arsenal making two significant bids to sign Lars Bender of Bayer Leverkusen. Since then nothing, although we’re told by sources that the club is interested in Fellaini. If the Fellaini stories are true, then we’re likely to miss out as he’ll probably move to United or Spurs or Liverpool as punishment for not signing him earlier in the summer.
Finally we need someone to unlock defences, someone who can either supply the through ball or someone to weave his way past defenders. Gervinho, who it was hoped would provide the former, is on his way to Roma. Are we going to replace him?
Wenger has failed to land Grenier of Lyons and has apparently passed on the young Brazilian Bernard, which leaves us with … the injury prone Ryo Miyaichi. Perhaps the Ox will be used more on the left this year, but we lack a left winger right now.
However, in midfield I’m still not convinced by Aaron Ramsey. Against Galatasaray he struggled at times. Although industrious, he too often slows the play down and is guilty of trying to force his way or his pass through the opposition. Only once or twice did it come off, although to be fair Cazorla struggled to have an impact as well.
Finally, goalkeeper. We can survive with what we have, but Martinez needs experience somewhere else. He needs to go out on loan. Thus we need another goalkeeper. Seeing Fabianski’s error against Napoli brought back many bad memories. I had hoped he’d purged himself of those kind of mistakes. We can make do with what we have, but it would be better to bring in someone else to provide competition.
While I understand Wenger’s pursuit of another centre forward like Suarez, it is the rest of the squad which needs some attention right now. Suarez won’t fix a shaky defence, a midfield with little muscle, and goalkeepers who lack polish.
The Emirates Cup revealed that Arsene’s confidence in the squad he has is misplaced. While they have the makings of a good squad, they don’t have the makings of a great squad. Get on the phone, Arsene , and don’t call Brendan Rogers!