Arsenal: from yin and yang to just yang

As has become the norm following our general downward trajectory over recent years, there has been a lot of soul-searching this week following the loss to Man U.

One item that caught my eye in particular was this analysis and assassination on Arsenal News Review about where things have gone wrong.

In short, ANR’s argument is that Wenger is a control freak who was always going to sub the Ox at that time against Man U. He daren’t keep him on despite playing so well because he was showing Walcott up and that could lead to descent in the camp, a camp that is focused on earning its next big pay day.

I disagree with a lot of it – every great manager is a control freak to a greater or lesser extent so it’s not really a major flaw; Wenger has been inflexible with substitutions since day one; and I don’t sense this group of players are motivated by money any more or less than every other. You can’t attribute our lack of success to those factors, however lamentable they are.

But what does ring true is the idea that Wenger seeks harmony inside the squad.

Calming influence
When he first came to Arsenal, Wenger brought with him a sense of Japanese serenity and order to a squad that was desperately in need of it. A side containing ‘volatile’ characters like Wright, Adams, Parlour, Keown, Merson et al stoked up by Bruce Rioch benefited massively from Wenger’s calming influence; he brought the yang to their yin (if you excuse the levering in of a bit of Asian philosophy).

Players drafted in around that time like Cole, Vieira, Ljungberg, Lauren, Henry and Lehmann, were schooled alongside the influential old brigade. The balance prevailed and it continued to bring success.

But during the years either side of the move to Ashburton Grove, Wenger – through a mixture of economic necessity and under-estimating the importance of experience – shipped out most of the key players from the earlier era.

Meek and mild
He replaced them with a new breed who haven’t brought the same fire required to balance the influence of the scholarly Wenger.

Some of it can be attributed to the youthfulness of the new Arsenal – a teenager will rarely be as headstrong as a veteran. But look at the older players that have been brought in too, people like Rosicky, Chamakh, and Arteta who can’t be called passionate.

Arguably there are some exceptions to my argument. Gallas, Van Persie and Szczesny are hotheads but generally we now have a squad that is meek and mild.

The balance has gone. We have a team and manager that are both yang.

I don’t think that is down to control-freakery on Wenger’s part. I think his obsession with the technical side of the game to the detriment of the mental side has cost us. His approach worked when the squad contained world-class players and the vocal influence of people like Adams but without them we struggle as the balance is lost.

So when the manager is yang and the squad is yang, what is the solution? We could always offer Jose Mourinho a way out of Madrid as I’m pretty sure he would fall into the yin category.

I think I’d rather get The Romford Pele out of retirement…

Wenger in the ManUre / a cause for Oxtimism

Arsenal 1 Man Utd 2

Arsenal-Man U games have a history of providing incidents that overshadow the matches they are connected to. Think of the Busby Babes playing their last game on English soil at Highbury, the two Old Trafford melees or the Ian Wright-Peter Schmeichel spat.

I would never have thought we could a substitution to that list but the replacement of Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain with Andrei Arshavin – or more precisely the fury directed towards Arsene Wenger by the home fans as a result of it – certainly has the air of another landmark.

It feels like the moment when the general discontent among a large number of supporters – maybe now the majority – towards Wenger made itself clear to the world on one of the biggest stages possible.

I doubt whether the Ox would have been more able to prevent the Man U winner than Arshavin and more of the blame should be directed towards his defensive colleagues, namely Song and Vermaelen, for letting two one-twos to be completed in the box than the Russian.

Nevertheless, what I can be sure of is that Ox had put in one of the best individual displays of the season by an Arsenal player and he should have been left to continue it. Tired or not, he still would have offered more in attack than Arshavin.

Wenger made things worse by offering up a terse, ‘Do you know who I am?’ response when questioned about the decision.

All the boss does by being so aloof and defensive is aggravate whatever doubts are held by increasing portions of the Arsenal populace.

In truth, we didn’t play that badly and I don’t think our first half was as terrible as some commentators are making out. We started each half well but after the two time-sapping injuries, to Jones and Nani, we were incapable of picking up where we’d started. Whether that’s just coincidence or another sign of our mental fragility I don’t know.

We’ve now slipped back into tabloid ‘crisis club’ territory but we have to remember we had reached similar levels earlier in the season and recovered enough to get back in the race for fourth spot.

Reaching the Champions League places is certainly not out of our reach, though we still remain severely weakened by the defensive absentees and lack of quality in midfield, where Ramsey looks increasingly poor.

The one ray of light is the performance of the Ox. If he can reproduce that regularly we have something to build on.

Perhaps the more pressing question is whether Wenger still has the sense to realise he deserves the chance to reproduce that form.

Going backwards / injury record / Ancelotti

There’s been quite an outpouring of anger following the Swansea defeat on Sunday. But like the 8-2 defeat to Man U when we were forced to field a severely depleted line-up, I personally didn’t find it quite so offensive. At least, I didn’t find it surprising that we lost considering five/six first-choice players, and at least two next-best stand-ins, were missing.

Of course, that highlights two things – our inability to keep key players fit and that the quality of our squad, as opposed to our best XI, is not good enough.

It’s incredibly difficult to objectively assess the club’s injury record – pessimistic supporters of every team must reckon they have more crocks than everyone else.

But it does seem we suffer from a stupidly high number of lingering injuries; injuries that are diagnosed as a relatively minor problem before turning out to be something far more significant that involves missing a major chunk of a season. Or players who return too early, playing just one or two games before disappearing for another two months.

It could be plain bad luck but surely that can only last a finite period. The number of serious injuries we have suffered over the past few years suggests there is something more fundamentally wrong, either with the way we train, the way we diagnose injuries or the way they are treated. Whatever the cause, something needs to be done to rectify it.

What we can be more sure of is that the injuries we have suffered have exposed the lack of quality in depth in the squad. Without having a coherent defensive foundation to rely on it leaves us floundering when the likes of Vermaelen and Arteta are missing.

So we find ourselves having lost the momentum picked up after the abysmal start to the campaign and now we find ourselves going backwards with no prospect of investment being made in this transfer window (though frankly I think the faults are too big to deal with in one month anyway).

Great timing to meet Man U, then. Oddly, we beat them 1-0 at the end of last season when we going through a similarly bleak spell and, typical of our inconsistencies, I wouldn’t put it past us to do it again. But if Man U show as much appetite as they did during the 8-2 horror show it’s going to be another long afternoon for Wenger to endure.

Any chance of an Ancelotti-Wenger job swap?
As I said in November, and has now been confirmed by the man himself, Carlo Ancelotti was hoping for a stab at Arsenal or Spurs come the summer.

That’s a real loss for us, though what odds he and Wenger will do a job swap when the boss does get the boot?

At least it shows the calibre of coach we should be able to attract when the time comes – the world won’t end when Wenger departs. Actually, it will feel a sunnier place to be.

He's more steam-powered than HS2 now but Henry can prove a point

It was almost inevitable that Thierry Henry would be the saviour on Monday against Leeds. The whole night was his night.

And who should begrudge him that? He’s a bona fide Arsenal legend – perhaps the only player we’ve ever had who was at times the best in the world. He’s earned at least one evening of pure adulation.

I’m unsure how much more impact he can make over the six weeks of his loan considering he’s chunkier, and doubtless slower-paced, than at his peak.

But his bigger contribution may come off the pitch.

One of the concerns about his comeback has been that it might knock a few noses out of joint in the dressing room, now our star names will be overshadowed for a few weeks.

Judging by the exuberant celebrations (compared to Henry’s usually laid-back approach to life, at least) after the goal and at the final whistle, I get the feeling that’s what Henry wants to do – he wants to make the players aware of how fortunate they are to be plying their trade for the Arsenal.

It sounded a bit corny, but when he said he was playing the game as an Arsenal supporter for the first time it had a ring of truth to it. He’s been there, done that and won the medals as an Arsenal player so understands how important the club is to us fans.

Of course, I’m basing all this on his body language over the course of about 20 minutes and his comments certainly don’t suggest he’s got a bigger, psychological agenda in mind.

But if he manages to get inside some of the egos in the dressing room and show those players whose performances have been, at best, hit-and-miss what playing for a club like Arsenal should mean to them, then his time here will be a success.