Arsenal's 2008-09: Redefining Success

It has taken me a little while to take stock of our painfully embarrassing Champions League exit and our humiliating crushing at home to Chelsea, and now, you'll be delighted to know (or not some of you may utter in disgust), that I'm back to offer an objectively stark, yet, somewhat diluted assessment of our season.

Stark in terms of the fact that it is now four years and counting in our never-ending search for some silverware, but diluted in that I am not here to bash the board, Wenger, and every player we have under the sun.

For this has already been a topic exhausted by many throughout the season, not least by yours truly, this is not a backtracking stance. Indeed, I still believe that many of what was said here, on other websites and forums, and most tellingly, in the stands, and indeed, many of what Wenger's hecklers at the annual Q & A session said, was true, and no one can escape the fact that we are just not quite good enough to compete at the very top.

Not just yet anyway, and the manager should of course shoulder a huge chunk of the responsibility.

However, speaking to my dad on the phone after Saturday's spirited 0-0 draw at Old Trafford, home of the eternal champions (or so it seems), he offered me to consider our situation with a bit more perspective. Injuries to key players in different departments all season long, a poor start to the campaign, and United's huge outlay in terms of resources and experience all played their part in placing United where they are and Arsenal where they are.

After an underwhelmingly poor start to the season, and, despite a constant air of negativity and ire surrounding the club, almost an atmosphere of hate, an unheard of concept amongst Gooners, the team managed to put together a run of 20-odd league games to retain our status amongst the "Big Four", also reaching the last four of the FA Cup and Europe's top competition along the way.

If Wenger and his players want kudos for that, then there they have it, congratulations to them on that front.

But it is a flat congratulations, as this is not what we believe we should be aiming for, and whilst Wenger had always stated, and indeed promised, his absolute belief that we can hit the top very soon, I fear that Wenger is just aiming for reaching Europe, with his dire experimentation with some talent (and a lot of mediocrity) a perfect smokescreen.

Now, while this is all well and good, and of course, I agree that we have been desperately unlucky to never have a full squad to choose from; in fact, we have always been missing at least two or three key players at any one given moment, it was Wenger who had chosen to gamble by not beefing up the squad with the necessary depth.

You might argue that he genuinely thought that our backup was good enough, or heck, he might never have even envisaged that we would be so short at key times of the season.

Whatever he thought, he has to accept that, ultimately, struggling to finish 4th in the table (and it was a struggle, considering how far the top three are from us) is not good enough and that some players have not improved as they should have despite being given a more than fair crack of the whip.

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