Arsenation

Not that these strikers weren’t scoring goals but they would need 5 clear cut chances to get you a Goal, although there was no shortage of Chances as we had Fabregas, Hleb, Rosicky, Flamini all good passers of the ball but were less potent around the opponents box

Arsenal fans weren’t use to this as theses players replaced players like T. Henry, Pires, Vieira, D. Bergkamp. Then any player in the Arsenal team could score a goal

At this new age RVP was one player who retained the “Clinical Finish” arsenal fans were used to but he was severely prone to injuries.

Arsenal fans cried out to Arsene Wenger “Get us “David Villa” “Carlton Cole” “Agbonlahor” and what did they get in return Adebayor was shipped to Man. City and no replacement was Signed (Bordeaux wanted £15 million for Chamakh who had a year left) so our strikers were Eduardo, Bendtner, Vela, RVP and at a time A. Arshavin. Wenger switched to a new 4-2-3-1  formation to suit C. Fabregas, this meant Arsenal had to play with one Striker.

The likes of Rosicky, Nasri, Walcott, Arshavin, Eboue, Eduardo & Bendtner had to get used to the playing as Wingers & Inside Forwards. These players were not traditional wingers and of course only Arshavin put up Good performances from the left wing before (you know the rest) . This meant less chances more Confused & Disgruntled  players. Then the expected happened RVP got injured by Chellini in a friendly match against Italy. The Arsenal Medics gave an ETA of 5 weeks but it turned out to be 5 months.

Arsenal were doomed we finished 3rd that season thanks to a new born defence courtesy of T.Vermaelen. Walcott was dropped from England’s world cup squad, Fabregas won the world cup and spent too much time with Barca players. He came back expecting to pack his bags and head to Barca but Barca offered only £29 million for Arsenal’s Captain. His head was turned, he & RVP missed preseason due to their involvement in the World cup finals. Fabregas wasn’t interested and his Hamstring didn’t help matters.

Arsenal surprisingly did ok without them. They had a new Midfielder Jack Wilshere & Wenger finally got Chamakh for free. Chamakh would miss loads of

chances but he was scoring Headers and forcing opponents to give away Penalties. Fast forward to the Newcastle Match RVP was back, he took a little while to get back on form but when he did it was the best of his Career. Chamakh was relegated to the bench and no one cared because RVP was Unbelievable.

Then by  the Carling cup final, Arsenal had lost Theo Walcott & Cesc Fabregas to injuries at Stoke city and they later lost RVP during the game. There was no leader on the pitch and well you know the rest.

Arsene would bring on Chamakh and switch to 4-4-2  when things were not working out but unsurprisingly Arsenal went from Title Challengers to Fourth place.

2011/2012

Barca sure took their time, but Cesc Fabregas eventually earned his transfer, Nasri with a year left on his contract was sold to Man City joining Gael Clichy , Eboue was sold to Galatasaray, Bendtner, Denilson, Vela were sent on loan. Diaby and Wilshere took a one year break from football.

All these players were the “New Arsenal” Wenger was building, so practically Silent Stan bought a Majority stake in Arsenal and Arsenal sold Majority of its players with only Gervinho Chamberlain  & Carl Jerkinson as new additions and Gervinho being the best of them was from French League. Arsenal’s only positive moment was qualifying for Uefa Champions League group stage.

Arsenal later activated their Transfer mode but it was to late, Clubs wouldn’t release their best players with so little time to find replacements but Arsenal had to buy so they went after available players

Metsacaker, Andre Santos, Mikael Arteta, Ju Park & Yossi Benayoun (loan). The fans were jubilant “Half loaf is better than None”.

A Different Arsenal

Gervinho – Dribbler, Quick & Direct Added a different dimension to Arsenal’s Attack

Carl Jekinson – Arsene’s traditional signing, Unknown & Unproven. Committed & industrious though.

Chamberlain – WTF,  why would you spend that much on an unproven young player from a lower league.”Wenger should go”. This signing happened after we sold Fabregas. Now it’s “unleash the Ox”

Fast, Strong, Industrious & Hard working. He also no afraid to shoot.

Pet Metsacaker – Tactician, Slow but Experiened

A. Santos – Poor defensive Ability but very good Attacker as opposed to Clichy who could be poor at both.

Mikael Arteta – experienced Box to Box midfielder,  Premier league proven player but Not Fabregas. Tactically more disciplined, better defensively & but not as Creative as Fabregas.

Ju Park – Good player, Decent set piece taker, A decent player all round. Limited Chances

Benayoun –  No one Understood this, probably signed as backup. But  he turned out to be Fantastic. Experienced, Level Headed, skilful (for his age) and efficient.

This new Arsenal is a bit different they don’t roam around the edge of the box cluelessly any more they are more committed, direct and disciplined in their play, although they don’t create as much but they are much more efficient.

Imagine where we would be without RVP’s goals, would Nicklas Bendtner have scored through that Song’s lovely pass against Everton? The Brilliant through “passes” of Fabregas has become the Brilliant through “pass” of either A.Song/Arteta/Rosicky/Ramsey. but the wasteful strikers have been swapped for a more Clinical one “who Scores when he Wants”.

if you ask why Arsenal fans are Happy with Third place this season, it is because we actually did a Fantastic job, judging by the Circumstances. Also the players worked their hearts out to Finish third admist stronger oppositions

Now the Ultimate question is

Should we clear what is left of the Old Arsenal: Almunia/Djourou/Arshavin/Denilson/Bendtner/Vela in order to give way for A New Arsenal 2.0 or should we integrate the players who have gone on loan (they have all done averagely well) and hope the attitude of the New Arsenal would rub on them or risk the proverbial “bad egg” result