by Simon Wright

Created on: April 08, 2008   Last Updated: April 09, 2008

2008 has been another season of heartbreak and disappointment for fans of English football (soccer) club, Arsenal. They were knocked out of the league cup by local rivals, Spurs, humiliated in the FA cup by Man Utd, fell away in the league (after a very promising start) and then suffered agonizing despair in the Champions League quarter finals as Liverpool scored two late goals to knock them out.

What this means is that 2008 will be another season without a trophy, just as 2007 was. Yet it's not that long (2004) since a famous Arsenal team won the English league without losing a single match during the entire season, earning themselves the nickname, The Invincibles'. How, then, have Arsenal gone from Invincibles to also-rans in such a relatively short space of time?

In part, it's down to the emergence of Chelsea as a super-power, backed by Roman Abramovich's billions. Suddenly, instead of competing just with Man Utd to domestic titles, Arsenal find themselves having to contend with a resurgent Man Utd and a very powerful Chelsea team. Added to that, Liverpool are showing some signs of emerging from a period of mediocrity.

To put it down just to the opposition, however, would be to bury one's head in the sand. The current Arsenal team and, dare I suggest it, also the management have shown some weaknesses that are proving very costly.

A long running criticism of the current Arsenal team is that they try too hard to score the perfect goal. There's lots of pretty passing and sometimes that leads to spectacular goals. However, when that Game Plan A doesn't work, they seem to be loath to switch to a Plan B. It is often said that the hallmark of a truly great team is that they can grind out a win even when playing badly. That's an attribute that the current Arsenal team lack.

The team is also very young and seems to lack on-field leaders. Too often when they go a goal down or things start to go against them, they seem to let their heads drop rather than digging in and gritting their teeth.

To be fair, there have been signs of improvement this season. Playing Adebayor up front has given them the option of mixing up their game a bit more with the occasional long ball to the tall striker. Additionally, they have come from being to win or draw a number of games. In particular, they came from 2-0 down, away from home and whilst down to ten men, to beat Bolton in the league. This augers well but the feeling persists that they are not yet as mentally strong as their main rivals.

Arsene

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