Missing Pieces of the Puzzle

This has to have been the most bizarre season yet as an Arsenal fan. The football climate is more changeable than a Spring day, with emotions riding high one minute only to be followed by abject disappointment the next.

Last week was one of those weeks in which our title hopes were rejuvinated with a solid victory over our North London neighbours, and with confidence riding high our misery was all the more painful after we were roundly beaten at Stamford Bridge.

Wenger said something in his post match interview which was definitely more than a little worrying. To paraphrase, he essentially argued that one win and one loss yields a greater return than two draws.

Now obviously Wenger was looking to try and bring some positivity back into the room, which is part of his job as a motivator. He is forced in public to look largely at the positives in order to keep up morale amogst his players.

Logically and from a cold, statistical viewpoint (a perspective Wenger is renowned for taking) three points is indeed better than two. But the argument falls short in a great number of ways.

No offence to Tottenham but the minimum we would have expected this season is four points from our two fixtures. Had it not been for a Sigurdsson wonderstrike to claim victory over Southampton, Spurs would have failed to win in 5 games, amidst a season in which they have struggled to find form. Bale-less and with a dip in form for players like Lennon and Townsend, Tottenham look even more moist than Chamakh's hair.

The team to take points off of was Chelsea. They were the real litmus test of how good a side we truly are and look what happened.

It's no good saying that three points is better than two, that's incidental a result of beating a team we should expect to beat. The sign of progress is standing up against the sides who have finished above us the last few seasons. Our record against the three teams above us in the league is pretty much awful, 3 points against Liverpool, 1 against Chelsea and 0 against City (although we are yet to play them at home). From a possible 15 points against our direct rivals we have earnt just 4 and many wouldn't back us to take 3 more against City.

Our table-leading form at the start of the season was achieved through beating the teams we were supposed to beat, plus an outstanding display against Liverpool at the Emirates.

The final piece of the puzzle has got lost underneath the sofa again, maybe it fell through a crack in the floorboard, maybe the dog ran away with it and its now buried in the back garden next to a pile of shit.

Who knows, but it certainly hasn't been slotted into place. That would've been the case had Arsenal achieved a draw against United away, rather than concede a soft set-piece, or got the winner at home to a Chelsea side who parked the bus.

Instead we wilted under the pressure, which is crazy considering we then went to Bayern and got a draw, and could have done the same at home, if not better, had Ozil converted a penalty.

On our day we can play the best football the league has to offer. With every player fit and a full squad to choose from I trully do believe we are the best side in the league, the first half of the season proved it. Ok we lost to City and United but we were still top because we were able to do a job against lesser sides. Since the festive period when we lost Ramsey and Walcott and not long after Wilshere and Ozil we lack the potency to claim those vital points that provide a cushion for the tougher tests.

Had we beaten Stoke say,  then our loss against Chelsea wouldn't have ruled us out of contention for the league. As it stands however our title challenge is effectively over.

Back to those missing pieces of the puzzle. What shape do they adopt? In my opinion we are missing two pieces. The first takes the shape of a world-class marquee striker. Enough with stop-gaps and experiments, enough with a striker who is more pass machine than goal machine. We need someone who gets a hard-on at the thought of banging the ball into the back of the net, not a hard-on when he looks in the mirror or sees the latest advert for GHDs.

I read a great article today by Arsenal blogger Le Grove who makes a good point. Our squad is full of international stars, those who have won international tournaments (Cazorla), Bundesliga titles (Podolski) La Ligas (Ozil) and players who could have done the same but have remained loyal to the club (Wilshere, Sagna, Ramsey et al). They know how to win, and can win when playing in successful systems.

That's why the second piece of the puzzle takes the shape of an backroom overhaul. What the hell are our fitness staff being paid for. They obvioulsy feel like they need to earn their keep by running our players into the ground, overpreparing them to the extent that by the time the season comes around their bodies are at breaking point, literally.

Steve Bould I like, his record speaks for itself. Bringing him in last season has had a positive effect on players like Koscielny and Mertesacker who have thrived with the shake up to their training methods. The players are capable, hungry and talented, what they need is to be kept fit, paced throughout the season, rotated when necessary and not brought back from injury too soon (think Walcott playing three full matches in the space of ten days). Similarly they need to be surrounded with fresh faces, people who have new ideas and those who can both aid and challenge the manager in helping him prepare for matches in the same maticulous way others do.

Finally the squad itself is almost there, this season has shown that we can go a long stretch of the way, what has proven to be our downfall is stamina. That is the job of the coaches and the manager to see the bigger picture that enables the players to concentrate on the immediacy of the moment.

Swansea up next, and if you look at our remaining fixtures we should be aiming to win them all (a realistsic target) as well as take a point from City. In that instance we will finish strongly and at the very least have a good crack at the top two as well as widen the gap between ourselves and those outside the top four.

The plan is to look back at this season as our interim moment, when the pieces began to fall into place even if they currently resemble Sloth (Dirk Kuyt) out of The Goonies. The players have shown that they can launch a serious assault at the title, they've had their taste of the adulation and pressure that goes along with leading the league for an extended period. All thats left is finding our next Henry/ Ian Wright/ RVP to bang in the goals when others dry up and a coaching staff who can keep the players fitter for longer.

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