2012: what needs to change at The Arsenal?

1 match into the New Year and 3 points lost; given away by stupid defending and a coward of a referee.
But that has gone now and we need to look forward and now we have the rest of the year and need to make changes to the fortune by switching up something. 2012 should see (paperwork pending) the return of Henry to his spiritual home and, whether he does it on the pitch or not, I am hoping that a bit of the fire and fight comes back by hearing a true legend speak about winning titles and cups, something a lot of the current crop are not accustom to. There needs to be a mentality switch in my opinion; too many of our players in the past are a little blinded by Wenger’s protection of them in the media and started believing that the rest of the world were out to get them. The world is not out to get them, all referees are not programmed to be harsh on The Arsenal and (most) players do not go out specifically to injure us.

The “woe is us” attitude has to stop and we need to go out and fight for things. Anybody who plays competitive sport should know that most of the time, good guys come last and would Vieira, Petit and Adams let us get bullied off the pitch? Playing football, cricket, rugby and any other team sport requires a certain amount of strength and I think we are lacking in. I think the intimidation of playing The Arsenal has gone.

So how can we get it back? Firstly, we are never going to win a game well where Walcott and Gervinho are forced to sit back constantly. We are severely hampered without our full backs but anyone could tell you that and a hell of a lot of our style of play relies on full backs bombing forward and over lapping to create more space. The negativity and abuse that Walcott is getting I feel is due to him not having an attacking wingback to draw defenders off and open the gap for the ball to van Persie or to run into. I thought Walcott had improved greatly around October this year and looked like a serious player that would terrify anybody. Now with no recognised full backs and not even any centre backs to cover here (I don’t count Squillaci), then we need a new plan. Le Coq was fantastic at left back and I think, in Flamini champions league style, we should have Eastmond on the right of the defence. He is been injured and out of favour but he has done this job before and to a decent standard and the Leeds FA cup game could be a good format to test him with.

Another option is our reserve team captain and long over looked Gavin Hoyte. Let’s face it, his brother was terrible and the fact that Gavin hasn’t even made it into the first team squad doesn’t bode well for the speedy full back. However, at times like this you need players who have experience in playing in these positions and he has, albeit not at the highest standards. He is only 21 and will have plenty of running in him.

With the Injuries we have, I believe the Verminator is back first and Sagna at the end of the month, Jack is back with Sagna and Gibbs coming along too, the priority in my opinion is the right back slot. Tommy V can play left back and did a better job of overlapping than Djourou on the right. Get a replacement in on the right and everything will be fine.

Now on to the forwards situation; yes I agree we need a striker for cover for RVP or if god forbid he gets and injury and Henry might be great. My problem is after Henry is gone and who would be attracted to the Arsenal? As die-hard fans, of course we all see the appeal and the history of this amazing club but if you are a striker and you see what has happened to Chamakh and Bendtner, effectively overlooked on the side lines due to RVP’s phenomenal form and our unforgiving formation, would you want to come to sit on the bench and do a Nasri? Not many would and I think that is the reason we will not get Podolski.

I would be more willing to throw Walcott up there and see what he can do and play the Ox on the right with Yossi there if we need a more experienced head.

There is hope, but we need action now to make it happen.

Here’s to knocking out dirty Leeds on Monday!

@JoeyChuckle