Monday, April 18, 2011

What now for Wenger and Arsenal

What now for Wenger and Arsenal ; No one likes to be denied a win in the 102nd minute of regulation time.

So it was of no surprise that Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger chose to become involved in a verbal spat with his Liverpool counterpart Kenny Dalglish over the decision to award a penalty after Emmanuel Eboue and Lucas Leiva became tangled up in Gunners' penalty area.

But Wenger is once again missing the point. It wasn’t the decision to award a penalty or playing 12 minutes of stoppage time when only eight had been indicated that will almost certainly leave Arsenal empty-handed for yet another season. It’s that his players keep letting him down.

Sunday’s 1-1 draw was the third straight time Arsenal has been held at the Emirates, and the Gunners have now dropped 17 points at home this season, which contrasts sharply with the two that Manchester United has squandered at Old Trafford on what now looks like an inexorable march to a 19th title.

It was likely a good thing that new majority owner Stan Kroenke on hand to witness the despair at end of the game, because what is apparent is that Wenger’s squad, despite the Frenchman’s protestations that it is getting better year by year, is merely treading water. Kroenke, who missed the NBA playoff opener of his Denver Nuggets to watch Sunday’s game, is unlikely to inject masses of cash into the North London club, Manchester City style, but it will doubtless please the team’s fans that he has made a written confirmation that he will not place debt on the club to finance his takeover.

But it is evident that fresh blood is needed if Arsenal is to take the next step in its development, and that needs to start with a new striker.

Arsenal had gone 262 minutes without scoring a Premier League goal at home before Robin van Persie stepped up to convert from the spot in the eighth minute of injury time on Sunday, and despite the desperate need to find the back of the net against Liverpool, Marouane Chamakh, the Gunners’ big off-season signing, remained rooted to the substitutes bench. The former Bordeaux forward hasn’t scored a Premier League goal since November and it is becoming clear he is not the go-to guy that Arsenal needs to convert its swathes of possession into something tangible on the scoresheet. And Nicklas Bendtner, the Dane who is anything but dynamite, is equally inconsistent, despite his ability to tease with the occasional hat trick against weak opposition.

“I just don't think Bendtner and Chamakh are good enough," former Arsenal striker John Hartson told the BBC. "I feel [Arsenal] need that top, top striker who is going to stay in the box and give them 25 goals a season and help Robin van Persie. To take it to the next level, Arsene Wenger needs to go out and buy big on that front player.”

Whether or not Wenger actually takes the plunge and splashes the cash – something he has been famously reluctant to do in his 15-year tenure with the club – remains to be seen, but nothing will change until he does.

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