Time to talk about the unanticipated progress of the gunners this season. The time is ripe to take a look back at few of the earlier posts written on Arsenal as the season had started. If you are not familiar with those, take a look at the following scorning the team:
Another bad for Arsenal – Is this the beginning?
Arsenal’s knights in shining armors.
Ridiculing Arsenal to become a hate crime.
I have to admit that the gunners, since their onslaught under the hands of a young Manchester United team at Old Trafford, had never looked back. 12 Wins, 3 losses and 3 draws. Not bad for a team that was the laughing stock of EPL.
Arsenal, as a team, has raised its profile with every game they have played so far. This was quite evident with an incredible win against Chelsea. A game that the critics along with the many “haters” out there, reviewed as one that could either make or break Arsenal’s season.
And to think about it, it’s mainly because of none other than their star Dutch striker – Robin Van Persie. He has been ridiculously thrilling from beginning to end in all the games, with goals coming from all sorts of angles. And to say, some brilliant goals from that one man who is in the best season so far of his entire career.
But what does this mean? For one, it’s just Robin Van Persie who is currently carrying the goal scoring duties for the team. Yes, occasional goals from Gervinho, Walcott and Arteta help but as an Arsenal faithful one cannot be comfortable with the conversion rate of these players. RVP has scored 13 EPL goals in as many games, on the other hand, goals from his immediate support do not even add up to 13. RVP, so far, has had an injury free season, yet it is a worry for Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger. In fact, Arsene has voiced his concerns recently regarding the number of 90-minute games being played by both RVP and Gevinho, stating that they are in the so-called “red zone”.
Yet again, we saw the lapse of the team as they played Manchester City in the Carling Cup. Although Arsenal was the superior that evening, they were missing that one quality; the significant finishing quality of RVP.
Moving on to Arsenal’s early season transfers. From the six knights that were brought in, only two have performed. Arteta and Andre Santos.
Arteta, again as mentioned in my earlier post when injury free, can replace the hole left to a certain extent, with the departures of Fabregas and Nasri. He has rightly done so.
Andre Santos as I see it has been an excellent addition to the team based on his performances so far. He, like every other Brazilian fullback, enjoys playing on the offensive end of the pitch. However, him attacking is also his main drawback. When he makes that offensive run, who is going to defend that left back position? I might be wrong here, but I personally do not see him as a defender. Have seen quite a few people run past by him at ease.
This piece would be gratifying to few of the Arsenal faithful out there, but I will still stick to the point that they have a long way to go before they can achieve their much needed trophy.
Last night a friend of mine was mocking me on City’s early exit from the Champions league, especially after the amount that was spent on shaping up the team. I ended the conversation with one of my far right wing diplomatic statement.
“If I had to take bets on Arsenal having a 50% chance of qualifying through the stage of 16 or Manchester City having a 50% chance on winning the Europa, I would go with the latter.”
I just hope I do not have to revisit this last statement in the coming future.
