Post-Mortem of a failed season

On the greatest day of the year for sports fans (NHL playoffs, Masters, Man Utd v. Arsenal, Baseball), I take a break from the festivities (and half-time of the TFC v. LA Galaxy match) to write the inevitable post of the official completion of Arsenal's ruefully disappointing season.

A 2-1 loss was not surprising in the least for the Gunner's this afternoon. A typical match really as the team did enough to make one believe they could pull one out only to make the usual idiotic mistakes that are chalked up as nothing but lack of focus (players' fault) and lack of preparation (manager's fault). Arsenal missed the usual 3-4 easy chances in the first half before Adebayor finally was able to put one by the Red Devils and like Wednesday's abysmal performance at Anfield kept the lead for all of 2 minutes before the uninspiring Gallas handled the ball in the penalty area. Then after another couple of missed chances and some bad luck on a couple of deflections that hit Van der Sarr, United finished the woeful Gunner's off with a free kick given in absolute worst place to give one. It's at that point I turned the game off and Arsenal's season was officially turned off (although as I've written here before, the season was over already but they might have had a chance for 2nd which they don't now - hopefully they can hold onto 3rd).

Where did Arsenal's season go wrong? So much promise and quality for the first half of the season in all competitions had fans all over the world marvelling at the quality of Wenger's side only to have all hopes come to multiple crashing halts in all competitions. Arsenal didn't just get knocked out of competitions this year, they crashed out with all the drama and ineptitude of a team in way over their heads.

The first reason for AFC demise is that this team was simply not as good as their headlines. They did win a lot of games early on but to measure quality in European football one must measure how teams do against the big clubs in Europe. Lets start with the big four in England. Arsenal managed a record of 1-4-3 in eight fixtures against the other three in England. The one win was at home against Chelsea in what was the lowest point of the season for Chelsea. Man United beat them twice and Liverpool and Chelsea once each. In Europe, after an easy advancement in arguable the weakest group, their only reasonably remarkable win came against AC Milan in the rd of 16 (2-0 away after blowing countless chances at home to put the game away). But even this win is not that great when you consider that Milan is in 5th place and likely not even to be in the competition next year!

Injuries certainly played an important role in Arsenal's collapse. None other then Eduardo, Rosicky, Van Persie, Sagna, and Flamini missed significant portions if not most of the season with injuries. On a perfect day, all of these players are likely in the starting 11. But all teams suffer their share of injuries and Arsenal's horrific run in the second half really exposed Wenger's inability to bring in depth to the club during the January transfer window. This point speaks to the third reason for the failure this year, Wenger's blind faith in his squad.

Luck, or lack of it played a sizable role in this season's comedy of errors. In addition to the numerous missed chances for Arsenal throughout the season, the non-call in the CL first lag coupled with the bumbles against Chelsea a few weeks back really were not that normal. Even today against United, balls that always go in against Arsenal would luckily hit the woodwork or accidentally hit the goalkeeper. Although it's not the only reason, some lucky bounces Arsenal's way this year would have gone a long way to salvaging something out of this season.

Wenger can't be criticized for much in his tenure as Arsenal's manager but I think he made some fatal miscalculations in his squad during this year. Yes, Arsenal's top 11 can contend with any club in the world on their day but rarely, if ever, was this team together for one match. Wenger also didn't factor in the importance of experience required to be successful in England and abroad. Gallas proved to be not the captain this team needed. His inconsistency and poor attitude did as much harm to this club as his occasional heroics helped it. After him, where do you gain any experience? Where is that Dennis Berkamp or Robert Pires to get a late strike when all else seems doomed? Arsenal didn't have the experience and depth and it showed remarkably in the numerous blown leads and late mistakes this club made. Wenger has come out this week (including after today's game) saying he has faith in this club and won't be spending a lot in the transfer window. This is not reassuring as a supporter. A good portion of this side have been around for the past three seasons of which no silverware has been collected. Sure, there is youth but with the way clubs in England don't wait around for youth to develop, Arsenal can't afford another season of being so far from even sniffing at a trophy. Wenger needs to buy depth up front, add a solid defender or two, and possibly bring in a world-class goalkeeper.

The reality is that if at the start of the season one would have given me the results of Arsenal, I would not have been very surprised. This team simply is not in the same class as a United, Chelsea, or obviously now, even a Liverpool, week in, week out. Improvements need to be made. With the size of this club, and the revenues generated, there is no excuse for not being more competitive.

One could question whether Arsenal is even improving. Last year, they were fourth with a League Cup final and a disappointing round of 16 loss in CL coupled with a similar QF loss in the FA Cup. Two season ago, a disappointing league season was contrasted by a trip to the CL final. The season before, they were runner-ups and FA cup winners. Wenger's "rebuilding" should be graded an average at best when you consider that the club's position and progression through cup competitions, as a whole, seems to be regressing. I mean, how else to you truly measure success of a team other then by how it does in competitions?

As a conclusion, I can see Arsenal relinquishing fourth to Liverpool in the EPL. There is nothing left to play for and 3rd is really no different then fourth. There is really no danger of Everton catching them for fourth (if only because, thankfully, it's almost mathematically impossible). One doesn't want to be too negative but one could see Arsenal evolving into a pergatory of fourth place finished with the occasional run to a QF in some cup competition. The other big three are going to continue to spend the money that Wenger is for some reason reluctant to spend and definately not take the sit on the hands approach of Arsenal. Wenger has to look very closely at himself in the mirror and realize that he is mostly responsible for the epic collapse that this season brought forth. I hope he see's in himself the mistakes that we all do. Finally, at least I can now look to cancelling my Sentanta sports for the summer and get on with watching the remaining, less frustrating sports I enjoy watching. Arsenal gave me some thrills this season but by and large, I was bitterly disappointed with how things have gone down. I truly hope the teams takes some significant, needed steps forward for next season to avoid falling further behind the remaining big three in England.