Arsenal Let's Take a Look

Arsenal's 8 game unbeaten run in the premier league came to an end on Sunday night at Etihad Stadium. Second half David Silva goal was enough to send City back to the top of Premier League table. Though Gunners piled the pressure on city defence and created some good chances (a definite penalty appeal was turned down by Referee Phil Dowd) but were unable to break a solid City defence.


“It is encouraging but at the moment we need encouragement and points and we got only encouragement.”

“There are a lot of positives, I feel the team has made a lot of progress since August and they can be proud of it. The team has a fantastic spirit and they have shown that again today. Let’s hope we can continue our progress and get closer to City.”

Clearly by their performance Gunners proved that you don't necessarily need to splash cash to be a good team. Though Wenger's team nearly matched Mancini's side but there was still something that was still lacking in their performance. After a disappointing start to the season Arsenal have improved a lot but there are still some areas that Wenger needs to take care of.

Have a look at these loopholes that I hope Wenger must have noticed

1: Wing/Gervinho since joining Arsenal in summer transfer window he has impressed almost everyone with his sheer pace and intelligence. As a result he has been pushed up in the line-up over the likes of Arshavin and Rosicky but you have to agree that he is still a raw material. He creates a lot of opportunities for himself and team mates with his well timed runs but often seems to be short of ideas when reaching the final third and often ends up passing the ball backwards or losing the ball which was quite evident on the night. No doubt City defenders performed really well (possibly their best performance this season) but there was little he did to stretch them. There is no doubt he is a top talent but this is time for him to take a look at his shortcomings. There are enough examples (Walcott) in his team from where he can learn.

2: Not So Convincing a Bench No matter how strong starting XI you have, at some stage in the match you need players from your bench to come to the field and make the difference so if you don't have enough quality on the bench then you’ve got a problem.

With a little luck you can stay in the title race but you can’t win the title with this kind of incomplete squad and people will raise questions over your ambitions as a club. Numbers are not enough to win the titles you must have enough quality.

On the night when Arsenal needed someone to come in the second half and inspire with his performance, there was hardly anyone who suggests being an able replacement for the players already on the field. Wenger fielded Arshavin (only god knows what’s going through his mind), Chamakh, and Miguel in the second half and everybody knows what difference they made. The point is as a top team you got to have able replacements on the bench which Arsenal seems to be lacking at the moment and Wenger needs to find a fix for and possibly bring some quality in January transfer window sooner rather than later.

3: Lack of Specialists in Some Positions on Sunday night when City full backs were giving important contribution in the attack Arsenal didn't have a single specialist full back on the pitch so the acting full backs were not attacking enough and that possibly was the main factor that turned the match in City's favour. Yeah we know that the team is struggling with injuries in that position but you can’t afford that if you are competing for the title. Plus you need an able replacement for RVP in case he gets injured (fingers crossed for that) because any team can ignore injury risk but not Arsenal.

4: Luck and a Little Support from Referees: I am sure everybody will agree with this one because if Dowd would have awarded that blatant penalty to Arsenal the result would have been surely different and that's really has been the case for Arsenal over the years. Often Arsenal ends up on the wrong end of referee’s decision and these are the little things that make the difference in the title race.

So what should be done about this problem?? ^-^ I mean why are you asking me.... Go ask Alex Ferguson cause for some reason he always gets those decisions in his favour and end up winning titles.

Seriously you must be lucky to achieve big things in life and Arsenal fans know the meaning of this word LUCK very well.

So these were the points that I noticed should be taken care and I’m sure you think likewise and if you don’t, feel free to comment.

Guest Post: Vishvender Singh