Gilberto and Wenger at odds? Henry to Return?

Henry
By Boris Mellor
January 2 2007

Arsene Wenger still refuses to say that his team can no longer win the league, not that he is really arguing that Arsenal are best placed for such a prize, its more that he feels that the team should not give up trying to win it, even if it is unlikely.

But it seems that Gilberto is finding that target a bridge too far, so before the Charlton match Gilberto wrote on Arsenal.com:

"In the situation we are in every game is very important to us and we cannot afford to lose games like we did on Saturday. If we are not 100 per cent and help each other we will find it hard. At the moment it is very competitive for the Champions League places. It is difficult because we are very close with Bolton, Liverpool and Portsmouth. It will be a fight but we need to do the best we can."

In other words Gilberto is warning that Arsenal’s Champions league place is at risk, and he finds that difficult enough, not some distance target so far away that only the most optimistic can believe in it. Nor are his words that confident – "we need to do the best we can" is hardly a blood stirring rallying call. After the Watford game Robin van Persie found it hard to keep a straight face when pressed on Wenger’s aim that Arsenal can still win the league.

I can understand Wenger’s wish not to throw in the towel before the year is out. It seems like dereliction of duty, of cowardice under fire, but his team does not see it that way. They feel they are struggling hard enough to achieve a CL place, let alone catch up and overtake Chelsea.

A squad undermined by an extensive injury crisis leaves players unconvinced of Wenger’s target. They feel the ground shifting under their feet, it is not firm enough to launch a sustained attack on the Premiership leaders. If the injury list was not so long then maybe Arsenal could have launched a drive for top position. Both Man U and Chelsea have dropped points, but then so have Arsenal. If Arsenal were to catch up then the Xmas programme was the time.

I can’t help feeling that it is not a good situation for the club to be in, that a gap could open up between Wenger and the players. Arsene has kept Arsenal at the top for ten years; he has done it on a shoestring budget, not only that but he has enabled the club to move to a state of the art stadium.

Wonderful achievements, but achievements that add to the burden on Wenger’s shoulders. Success has created high expectations, and the stadium financial pressure. Wenger intends to solve the conundrum of big ambitions with little expenditure by using young players. But youngsters are inconsistent, and find matches against cynical old professionals, on flooded pitches, hard to deal with. They lack the experience, and that lack of experience is transferring the burden from the manager’s shoulders onto the teams.

So Arsenal are work in progress, but Wenger doesn’t want to mark time whilst progress is underway. That might seem unreasonable, but last season the team got to the final of the CL using Arsene’s formula. He clearly believes that is a mistake to talk of transition, that to do so would allow the team to stagnate and underachieve. Indeed he believes the opposite, that if only the team would believe it could achieve miracles. Well he was nearly proved right in the CL, but that’s a knockout competition, the Premiership is over 38 matches, and with experienced squad members injured it’s a lot harder to repeat the formula.

That’s not to say that if Arsenal had not had so many injuries then his objective may have been more realistic. But the squad is weakened, and the team is now too far adrift from Manchester United, it is time for a more realistic set of objectives, for there is a risk that a gap will open up between the team and Wenger, if they feel his demands are unreasonable.

However this article is not a call for spending in transfer window, Wenger has a first eleven due to return within next month, the problem is our season could be effectively over before they return.

But how could new buys solve the problem? They would take longer to adapt than it would for the injured to return. More steel in midfield – Diaby; more experience in defence – Lauren and Gallas; more attacking options – Henry, Walcott and Adebayor. This must be the worst injury crisis Arsene has ever had to endure. Nor is this article an anti Wenger one, he is the best manager we have ever had, got, or is available. Rather the author believes that more realistic objectives will make the team more confident and able to achieve more. Pessimism of the intellect, optimism of the will.

Of course the next objective is to beat Charlton a team that has not won away all season, that should set some alarm bells ringing. Gilberto has warned the team that they cannot afford to slip up against Charlton. Charlton had a surprise victory, at home against Villa, this was probably new manager syndrome, after all Curbishley beat Manchester United.

Pardew has become a bogey for Wenger, we all remember Arsenal playing West Ham off the park, last season, and losing 3-2. Wenger is yet to beat a Pardew team this season or last, I just hope there are no slip-ups. I would hate to see that ferret faced weasel, or is it weasel faced ferret, have anything to celebrate at our ground.

Henry to return?

At present it is not known who will be in the squad, there are rumours that Baptista and RvP have joined the injury list and will not play, another rumour is that Henry will return. It’s very hard to make predictions without knowing the line-up but don’t forget to enter your prediction on the table.

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