Arsenal's recent struggles

Arsenal’s Recent Struggles

With the loss against Spurs, Arsenal's season has been thrown into further discontent. Faith in the manager is waning rapidly with a portion of the fans and with the players not performing well enough, where is the light at the end of the tunnel for the Gunners?

With a reported £50 million to spend in the summer, is Arsene the man to lead the squad into the new season and a new era of success? He certainly has the pedigree despite Arsenal's recent lean years. Arsene could find a top European club to manage almost immediately if he resigned.

Who would replace the man who signed Thierry Henry, Fabregas, Walcott and a host of other superstars? Recent signings such as Carzorla and Podolski show that Arsene still has an eye for a quality player, but their defence has been questionable yet again this season, shipping goals in important games such as the north London derby.

Without Van Persie’s ability to lead the line on his own and no true replacement in sight, Arsenal are struggling to keep pace with their arch-rivals and many correctly predicted that Spurs would have enough to win it on the day.

Astonishingly, Arsenal has only been in the top 4 three times this season, for a total of only five games. By this time last year, even after their appalling early form, Arsenal had clawed their way back into the top 4 and finished in impressive form.

Yet another summer transfer saga befell Arsenal last year and they can’t afford to go through it all again. If they lose any more key players (such as Wilshire and Walcott) the spine of an already fragile team may be broken and any manager will struggle to get them challenging for a title.

As usual with Arsenal nowadays, it seems the emphasis is on the future, but the squad could do with a few world class players. Mike Ashley’s Newcastle have stolen a lead in French talent and players like Ben-Arfa and Cabaye would no doubt have complimented Arsenals continental, fluid style.

I think Arsenal have what it takes to challenge for honours, but until the belief comes back the squad will keep getting beaten by ‘big’ teams. The recent champions league mauling’s after the groups these past years have dented Arsenals confidence but on their day they can beat the best.

I hope they stick with Arsene, he clearly loves the club, but major investment is needed to overhaul the defence and they could do with big personalities to usher the club on to a new era of success, aiming for more than just qualifying for the top 4.