Do Arsenal need a new striker?

By Avenell Dave

Was Saturday a lucky win?

I guess you could say it was, given that Mikel Arteta was offside for the goal that won us the game.

It seems to have been a theme of the weekend with M*nure's winner also coming from a similarly unlawful position. Not that I'm complaining because the last thing we need is for the Ch*vs to get too far away in the table.

As usual, there were so many moaners complaining after the game and it just shows how few people understand football.

One of the virtues of the Premier League is that any side can beat any side - just look how struggling Wigan beat us and M*nure last season - and QPR are no mugs.

If you look at their side on Saturday, they actually had three Champions League winners in their squad and let's be honest, much as Mark Hughes deserves all the misery the world can give him, he has a pretty decent group of players if they actually start playing as a unit.

I don't think any of us know why Arsenal have gone flat lately and even with Jack Wilshere reminding us that he's a world class player even when he's only operating at 50-60%, bt there was plenty to savour.

Yes, we still rely too much on Santi Cazorla for inspiration and yes, the defence still looks shaky.

But if Saturday underlined one thing, it's that we need proper wingers to give opponents a proper hiding.

Aaron Ramsey runs his heart out and I won't have it that he's not good enough for Arsenal. His engine is one of the best in football and while not everything he tries comes off, I believe he is a superb footballer.

But playing him wide right is not his position. It's all very well tucking him in there to stifle threatening opponents but at home against a team bottom of the table, it makes no sense.

Equally, Lukas Podolski is a striker, not a wide left player, regardless of how often he has played there in his career.

Too many games are passing him by and that's down to him not being used to the demands of English football.

You can see how much better we looked with Theo Walcott and even Gervinho and then Andrey Arshavin and how much it created the chances that unconventional wide men simply can't create.

Much is still being made of Olivier Giroud's form but let's get things in perspective.

He's winning most balls in the air, holds the ball up well and isn't afraid to shoot, forcing fine saves out of the outstanding Cesar on more than one occasion.

And it was the Frenchman's header that set about the chaos that led to our goal, don't forget.

The concern I have with the side at present is that we seem to have stopped creating chances with the frequency we did in the past - and no striker can be blamed for not scoring if they are feeding on crumbs alone.

When you look at many of the strikers we've signed, apart from Ian Wright and Thierry Henry, they've all taken time to adjust and if he's given a decent run of games, I'm convinced Giroud will start scoring with the regularity of certain Dutchmen whose name we do not speak.

Arsene Wenger knows better than I what needs to happen to make us more threatening, but if it was up to me, I'd play Podolski and Giroud together with two wingers deeper so as not to leave us vulnerable. I know that's unlikely.

Anyway, all focus has to be on Saturday now, on stopping thev freescoring M*nure from pushing further ahead of us and of ensuring that we prove we can compete with title challenges and aren't just also-rans as some buffoon in the Observer suggested yesterday.

Arsenal fans: stop attacking our club!!

By Avenell Dave

First of all, let me make a few things clear.

When Arsenal lose, I feel lousy. I’m angry, my thoughts dominated by the failure, playing back key moments in my head and dominated by the disillusionment and disenchantment that all fans feel when their team fails to win.

I love going to Arsenal matches, one of the few times when I’m free from work and family commitments and can lose myself in the drama of the game.

I want to see Arsenal win and I want to see them play well.

I recall times when we used to snatch victories we absolutely didn’t deserve and while I enjoyed the victory, a little bit of me felt embarrassed by the dire football we were playing under George Graham and before him, Don Howe and Terry Neill.

Remember those days, when we were still considered a big club but often finished mid table?

We may not be winning trophies – and I’m desperate for us to win silverware – but I also accept that with the resources we have, we are doing pretty well.

I’ve been at other clubs on matchday when fans have invaded the pitch because the team is struggling terribly. We’re finishing in the top four every season and we need to finish top but let’s get things in perspective – we’re still in a position 88 other clubs would love to be in year after year.

Of course I’m not happy with how things are going at Arsenal.

We sell our best players, we get to the verge of being a decent club and then fall away again because we don’t have the resources – or they’ve been poorly invested – to compete and cope with the rigours of an English season.

I hate to see players not trying, to see some of the sub-standard performers given a chance simply because we don’t have any option and to see us play as we have done in the past two games leaves a chasm of regret and angst.

With the club raking in funds from fans and purportedly making decent profits, I yearn for some more quality signings that make us competitive again.

I get a little tired of the same old soundbites from the board about Financial Fair Play and how much we all want to win when the failure to bolster the squad with world class players would suggest otherwise.

I get increasingly concerned that Stan Kroenke does not engage with fans more, does not do more interviews and does not seem to have brought any added value to the club.

I wonder why Peter Hill-Wood thinks he has the right to dismiss or disparage fans during the AGM when they are the lifeblood of the club.

So many of the fans, the shareholders who attended yesterday’s AGM have very valid concerns and it’s great that they get the opportunity to grill the board.

There is a reason why the media focus on our AGM and supporters’ forums with the Chief Executive – because other clubs are not so engaging. Full credit for them for not ducking into the shadows even if their answers are sometimes less convincing than they should be.

I’m a member of AISA and the AST and it’s great that we have such organised and well-meaning organisations engaging with the Club.

Of the many Addicts I go to games with, though, one has left the AST and the others refuse to join, frustrated by the statements made by it purporting to represent views of the entire organisation.

Let me get this straight. The AST dos a great job by letting fans share in ownership of the club and challenging the board on issues that affect us all.

There are some very articulate, measured individuals on the AST, who, when they speak, do the organisation great credit.

And yet it seems that one member in particular is quick to jump on any negative opportunity he can to pipe up, feed the ‘Arsenal in crisis’ fires and become a rent-a-quote for the media hungry to find discord and dismay in the ranks. It’s called Napoleon syndrome.

Now I don’t care if anyone wants to go on the radio and voice their concerns about Arsenal, even though I would prefer us to stick together however disheartened we become.

But do it as an individual, not on behalf of us all. Especially when so many of your views are not always representative of the Addicts I speak to before, during and after matches.

In this day and age of instant electronic communication, why not give its members the opportunity to agree or disagree before making statements that claim to be on behalf of us all?

I love Arsenal. I live and breathe the Gunners and will fiercely defend the club against any outsiders who seek to attack our club.

And it seems there are one or two individuals who appear to love the limelight more than they love the Arsenal.

PS The Black Scarf brigade who claim the club is shrouded in greed and then suggest the away fans ticket prices be hiked really ought to think their confused agenda through before acting. It makes a mockery of us all.

Is Wenger to blame for Arsenal's deficiencies or the board?

By Avenell Dave

Fate has a funny way of creating awkward situations.

I suspect the Arsenal board and Arsene Wenger could do without the AGM this morning. Who can blame them?

Two defeats in two games, three in five games and hardly a shot in anger mustered at opposition goalkeepers.

A season that started so promisingly is now reverting to one of humiliation, frustration and indignation.

Those of us who didn't have season tickets bought the dream of becoming a superpower, competing with Europe's biggest and best.

We're rightly proud of our home but nothing else has gone right since we moved from Highbury to the Emirates.

We sell our best players every summer, we lose key players through injury for extended spells and we continually fall into the category of also-rans lacking the trophies or even the finals that our team should be comepting for.

We can point the finger at limiting, miserly long term commercial deals, at the uber-wealth brought in by Sheikhs or Oligarchs and some bad luck, but let's be honest, it's tough being an Arsenal fan these days.

I didn't expect us to lose last night but I did get a feeling that the side was set up to draw rather than win.

Schalke were set up in a way that stifled our midfield and our attack and let's be honest, they had enough chances to have won the game twice over.

I would have loved us to sign Ibrahim Affellay in the summer and Lewis Holtby, the Scouser who plays for Germany, was also superb.

There were cheers when Gervinho went off - and he was particularly frustrating - but at least he tried. What did Lukas Podolski do all game? A lot less, I would say.

Yes, Santos, Ramsey and Mannone had poor games again, Arteta looked tired and the fact that we hardly created a chance suggests we seriously need to look at what is going wrong.

But we are down to the bare bones, hence having no one on the bench but Giroud who should honestly be near the first team.

Some fans will castigate our continually extensive injury list.

Others will lament not bringing in quality players in the summer to supplement the squad and replace what we have sold. No one can deny we always seem to be a couple of players short of what we need to win things.

The fact is, all teams suffer with big injury lists. Just look at M*nure playing Carrick at centre back this week because of a lack of suitable cover for Ferdinand.

Sadly, too many of the Twitter generation can remember nothing apart from the Wenger years.

They don't realise the challenges of competing with clubs who have unlimited funds.

And they think we have a divine right to win.

There is talk from some 'in-the-know' experts who say the club is geared to provide bonuses for the manager and chief executive, ignoring the fact that win bonuses tend to be bigger than profit bonuses.

So many want Wenger out, failing to provide any reasonable alternative to a manager working under heavy constraints.

Some of the so-called voices of the fans claim we always have £70m burning a hole in our pocket, which would probably buy two players plus salaries and signing on fees. But they never offer any viable suggestions of who we should buy.

Listen, I'm not saying for one moment that Arsene Wenger is beyond criticism. Is anyone? Do you do your job perfectly every day? No, I thought not.

But it IS right that we get frustrated and angry at poor performances, whatever the circumstances.

The board have questions to answer.

We have appointed a huge commercial team and while the kit and sponsor deals cannot be renewed for 18 months, what of the raft of other sponsors Ivan Gazidis said we were going after in order to compete with the likes of M*nure who have 44 sponsors to our 10?

Why does Stan Kroenke never speak to the fans and share his vision? What discernible benefit has he brought to the club?

Why not take advantage of a cash injection to make us competitive if Alisher Usmanov's public declarations are true, before FFP kicks in?

How can we claim to compete when we never seem to buy players as good as those we sell.

Why don't we build a team, a squad, rather than hope that some of the young players come through and keep us going on an endless cycle of nurture and sell.

Why are our ticket prices so high when we don't seem to invest sufficiently in the squad?

So criticise Wenger all you like for not always getting it right but surely the board have questions to answer too.

All is not well at Arsenal and hasn't been for some time.

We can get angry, we can scrap with our fellow supporters, as I read happened last night, but in the end, victory comes through harmony.