Is this season Wenger's greatest ever achievement?

By Avenell Dave

I think all Arsenal fans want to say 'good riddance' to this season, and it has certainly shown who are supporters and who are simply glory hunters with unrealistic expectations about what we are capable of achieving.

Of course we all want Arsenal to win trophies and we want to be winning the BIG trophies.

But things have changed since Arsene Wenger took over in the mid-1990s.

While M*nure were the dominant force with money to spend, even they did so relatively responsibly.

Now we have the Ch*vs and this season's victors Citeh to contend with, both of whom have spent unlimited funds to try to achieve their goals.

Yes, the summer could have been dealt with more efficiently, but that ignores the fact that Na$ri and Cesc both played contributory roles in compromising our ability to get a fair price for them. With the Champions League uncertainty as well, it's no wonder we struggled early on with players unwilling to commit until they knew the shape of our season.

When you look at how much Liverpool spent as well, it's a miracle that we can even compete for the top four.

Tradition and past success means nothing when it comes to remaining competitive.

Had Gervinho and Song not been suckered in at Newcastle, had Frimpong had the experience not to get sent off against Liverpool, things could have worked out very differently in terms of our season's start and in particular the need to field such a patched up side at Old Trafford, which will always be the outstanding negative of the season.

Add to that the loss of all four full-backs and the obvious impact that had on us and to even contemplate finishing in the top four is remarkable.

No one is happy with another trophyless season.

No one is happy about some of the lacklustre displays both individually or as a team.

But somehow, by the skin of our teeth, we managed to finish in the top three, Champions League football secured and a rebuilding and strengthening job can be done.

Of course that means moving on some players who have not contributed (Chamakh and Park) as well as some of those who have been on loan and whose futures certainly lie elsewhere.

The big challenge now will be that we cannot have players at the club on big money who are not part of the squad - Almunia may be leaving but we simply can't sustain that level of wastage with other players.

I suspect we'll sign two or three new players - hopefully 'super class' to use Wenger's language, but getting them done is going to be a challenge, especially with EURO 2012 on the horizon.

Looking back to that time in the season when Arsenal were lying 17th in the league, I reckon there aren't too many Addict who thought we'd finish third. The fact that it's only a few short years since we won the league by going through the season unbeaten means that fans have huge expectations of Arsenal, but after the most dismal start to a season I can recall, finishing in the top three, albeit 19 points behind the leaders, was no mean feat and the manager and the players should be commended for their fight back.

For now, without the need to crow about that small club down the road, let's admire the fact that Wenger has pulled it out of the bag - just - and that we can now regroup and build for next season without some of the uncertainties that hampered us last summer.

Thanks Arsene - you've done us proud. Now let's sign up Robin van Persie and kick on for a real title challenge next season.

Can Arsenal really beat West Brom on Sunday?

By Avenell Dave

Without wanting to sound arrogant, Arsenal should be clear favourites against West Brom on Sunday.

The final game of the season, we’ve been given a lifeline courtesy of other results and yet there is more a sense of trepidation than anticipation at the visit to the Hawthorns.

Since Mikel Arteta was injured, Arsenal have struggled, failing to win in our last four games. Three points from 12 is simply not good enough at any time.

This is not the time to be stalling and the difference winning on Sunday and losing will make to our season, our club’s future, cannot be underestimated.

Hopefully that has been drilled into the team – that the focus must be resolute and the discipline in place to ensure that we do not leave chances for our opposition.

Much has been said about Thomas Vermaelen bombing forward at 1-1 against Norwich, something he did not need to do and he must remember that his job is primarily to defend. I love his spirit and he can score vital goals for us but this must be restricted to set pieces and if we’re chasing the game (heaven forbid).

The other key issue, linked to Arteta’ injury, is the form and intelligence of Alex Song.

Don’t get me wrong, he has done good things going forward this season, creating a number of goals at key moments including for RvP last weekend.

But he is not Cesc Fabregas and I wonder if this season he has been encouraged to take over the Spaniard’s role.

Song is at his best when he is covering the defence, when he is tackling and being tenacious, careful in the tackle and simply with his passing.

Too often he leaves gaps in front of the back four, makes rash tackles that see him booked and on a knife-edge and tries the Hollywood pass when a simpler option is available and preferable.

How many times does Song get caught in possession, trying to take on too many players and leaving us exposed?

It would be unfair to blame him solely for the third Norwich goal last weekend but it was clear from the interviews Arsene Wenger gave afterwards that he thought Song had let him down.

Hopefully this week has focused the Cameroonian.

Aaron Ramsey is much better going forward and yet has been asked to do the holding role, something I can’t get my head around. It hasn’t helped him win over doubting fans and despite covering every blade of grass, it’s just not his natural position.

Maybe it is too late in the season to make wholesale changes, but I would love to see Francis Coquelin playing the holding role – his natural position. That would give Song some freedom to push forward while still helping out as he needs to do.

With Bacary Sagna injured, that means Carl Jenkinson coming into the back four and I’m confident he can do a job, but with Kieran Gibbs also poor last week, I’d much prefer seeing Santos start on the left.

That just leaves the forward positions and given the impact he had when he came on, I’d love to see Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain start on the right. He can cause huge problems for the home side, balanced with Yossi Benayoun on the other side of RvP.

No one can underestimate how big a game Sunday is, especially with Roy Hodgson hoping to leave the Baggies on a high before he takes over England.

Let’s hope his mind, and those of his players, is on the summer.

West Brom have nothing to play for, so we can get the win we desperately need to finish this nightmare season on something of a high.

Addict XI

Szczesny

Jenkinson Koscielny Vermaelen Santos

Song Coquelin Rosicky

Oxlade-Chamberlain RvP Benayoun

Was Wenger as angry as Arsenal fans on Saturday?

By Avenell Dave

Arsene Wenger is a man frustrated.

Last summer killed his title hopes and the paucity of the options available to him has made it impossible to tinker with the team and secure third place in the Champions League.

He lost all four full backs at one stage and again on Saturday lost another, although thankfully at almost the right time, if there is one, with the end of the season upon us.

But anyone who believes that Wenger is happy with the way his team performs, the way his team fights and scraps really doesn't get the man at all.

Regardless of the potential of Francis Coquelin and Emmanuel Frimpong, he knows he needs a strong commancing defensive midfielder and while some think Yann M'Vila is that man, I've heard on good authority that he is not the man Wenger will sign in the summer.

With Alex Song as indisciplined as ever, trying Hollywood passes when the simple option is best, Aaron Ramsey has been asked to play that role with Mikel Arteta injured.

How we have missed the Spaniard and while Ramsey hasn't been a world beater, the Welshman covers every blade of grass, never gives us and deserves more respect than he is getting from some elements of the support.

The fact that we cannot kill a game with ten minutes to go says a great deal about how quickly this team crumbles and make no mistake, there have to be changes in the summer.

We need to stop letting in as many goals as we have done this year, even if eight of those came in one calamitous game.

We have to cover more when we don't have the ball and suffocate the opposition in the way Barca do when they don't have possession.

And we need to use it more efficiently and with more pace if we are to take advantage of the positive ethos that Wenger has instilled.

Wenger knows he needs more quality - more attacking options and more discipline at the back. He was fuming at the team's loss of shape, of the poorly times lunges and careless passing. But he cannot do anything about the fear in his players.

We all love Thomas Vermaelen but when Kieran Gibbs was left one on one with Grant Hold for Norwich's second, where was his marker?

It's all very well being halfway up the pitch trying to make things happen, but Vermaelen's sorties need to be coupled with the realisation that he is a defender and that at 1-1 as the score was at the time, he need not put the defence at risk as he did.

I read a stat that Wojciech Szczesny has the worst shot to save ratio in the Premier League apart from Paul Robinson, Juusi Jaaskeleinen and Paddy Kenny.

We all know he can become a great stopper and that he makes some superb blocks at times, but he needs to work on his blocks and his distribution, which is shocking. After Euro 2012, he must continue working to hone those elements of his game that are costing us.

Kieran Gibbs was at fault in some part for all three goals and looks a long way from being the next C@$hley C*le. He has to get tighter to players and judge his attacking forays better as well.

There is so much to lament, so much to frustrate us and yet, strangely, I feel more optimistic than ever about next season.

T*tt*nh*m and Newcastle's failure to win means it's back in our hands, and the players have one game to ensure this summer is not as transitional and chaotic as the last. Failure to get top three and we're in trouble.

Getting third next Sunday, my fellow Addicts, would be an incredible achievement given the injuries and personnel we have had this season.

Keep believing.