Wynalda’s point on Fox Football Phone-In was basically this: Pick five guys from Arsenal and five from Chelsea. Drop the ball in the middle and place bets on who will come up with the ball.
Presented with this scenario, I think most people will come to the same conclusion, which sums up the issue with Arsenal. On any given day, Arsenal can beat anyone. But over the course of a season, a number of games will come down to Wynalda’s scenario. Can you win a fight or not? Pretty football might be successful most of the time, but if you can’t win the Wynalda scenario, your chances of success in the Premier League are limited. And that’s precisely what we saw over the weekend.
The jury is in on whether Wenger can create a team that plays beautiful football without breaking the bank. However, with this rebuilt Arsenal side, the jury might also be in on this team’s ability to fight a battle.
The lack of hardness in the Arsenal side is not the fault of the Arsenal players. You can’t ask Cesc Fabregas to be Michael Essien. You can’t ask Andrei Arshavin or even Robin van Persie to be Didier Drogba. But you do need players in your side that can fill these roles. And if anything has been clear over the past few years, Arsenal doesn’t have those players any more.
So why not? Do we really believe that Wenger’s philosophy is that he can pretty his way to the title with pint sized players? Surely Wenger has made offers for plus sized players over the last few years. And surely Wenger has had offers turned down for players who might fill this roll over the past few years. But failing to acquire players in this mold comes down to desire to get a deal done. If in fact Wenger recognizes a weakness in the team, he needs to address that weakness. And it’s not like Wenger needed to suppress his economic instincts and go out and buy an established player. He simply could have bought a player with the physique and engine to do battle. Those players are out there and many of them would not require Arsenal to break the bank.
Conventional wisdom is that Arsenal lack big players with big experience. However, it’s a bit more clear to me that Arsenal just lack big players – big as in size. Arsenal don’t have to change the way they play most games, but they need a second option, a fighting option.
Arsenal will continue to struggle against teams that can be both technical and physical until they get a physical presence. And that comes down to Wenger, not the players.
+1 for Eric Wynalda.
