The Libero - Arsenal problems all too evident
28 Oct 2009 - 08:26:57
Few can argue that Arsenal have been unrivalled in the attacking third so far this season, but their soft underbelly remains a real cause for concern in N5.
With the obvious exception of Barcelona - although even they have encountered a few problems over recent weeks - it is difficult to think of a team anywhere in Europe that currently plays more attractive football than Arsene Wenger's swashbuckling side.
With the peerless Cesc Fabregas at the heart of the team and the mercurial Andrei Arshavin conducting Wenger's orchestra, some of the football they have produced this season has been breathtaking.
They seem capable of scoring any number of goals, at any time and from any position.
And they have. Six against Everton and Blackburn, four against both Portsmouth and Wigan and three against Birmingham.
Robin van Persie has notched five already, while Fabregas, Arshavin and Abou Diaby have 10 between them. Even centre-backs Thomas Vermaelen and William Gallas are riding high in the scoring charts having bagged four and three each respectively.
Arsenal have scored 29 in the Premier League so far this campaign, a record for the division at this stage of the season, and the Gunners currently sit in third place, three points behind Manchester United in second, but with a game in hand.
Those kind of facts and figures would normally be enough to prompt fevered talk of winning the title for the first time since 2005.
So why the long faces around the coffee bars and restaurants of Islington? Why such doom and gloom? Because Arsenal's Achilles heel was once again thrust into the spotlight at Upton Park on Sunday, when they blew a comfortable two-goal lead and all too easily traded in all three points for a solitary one against West Ham.
The groans in the away end were audible. For all their magnificence going forward, Arsenal are far too porous at the back.
An ethic of 'you score four, we'll score five' can only take a team so far and it certainly will not win a league title. It is a problem Arsenal fans know only too well.
The hefty investment in Vermaelen over the summer was supposed to have helped address the issue, but West Ham's two quick-fire goals on Sunday - and those conceded against the two Manchester clubs earlier in the season - suggests little progress has been made.
Indeed, the continued selection of the uncertain Vito Mannone in between the sticks can only be classed as a step backwards.
Wenger's side do not like it 'up them', never have, and that was again horribly exposed by a West Ham side invigorated by two second-half substitutions.
When faced with a team desperate for points and playing in front of a passionate home crowd, Arsenal promptly wilted.
At 2-0 up, Arsenal should have come out after the break and killed off the game within the opening 15 minutes of the second half.
They failed to do so and paid the price, much to the clear annoyance of those Gooners who were moved to boo their team off at the full-time whistle.
But with plenty more games of that ilk to come in the remainder of the campaign, Arsenal need to toughen up, and tighten up, if they are to shut up their critics.
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