Reflections After The Week That Ended Arsenal's Season

Over the course of eight days Arsenal have been knocked out of the Champions League and are now most likely eliminated from Premier League contention.  

2 away games, 2 goals scored, 6 goals conceded, and 2 losses.  

The first game against Barcelona was a showcase for the defending champions.  Lionel Messi ran riot against the Arsenal "defense" and scored four goals.  The Barcelona midfield dominated possession, and Arsenal failed to create many attacking chances of their own.  They were truly beaten by a great side.

The next game, at White Hart Lane against Arsenal's most fierce rivals Tottenham, was a completely different game.  Tottenham could not possess the ball.  The created only a few chances.  But for as poorly as Tottenham played, Arsenal were even worse.

Thomas Vermaelen stopped an almost certain goal by blocking a Roman Pavlychenko shot on the six-yard box, leading to a corner kick.  The kick was poor, and Manuel Almunia came out to deal with it.  Inexplicably, without any pressure on him, Almunia chose to punch the ball and not to catch it.  As he landed after the punch, he slipped and went to the ground.  Danny Rose seized on the opportunity and fired a shot on goal with his weaker left foot from 35 yards out.  Almunia, who got up in time to see and save the shot, reacted too slowly, flailed at the ball, and missed it.  After 10 minutes, it was 1-0 Spurs.  

Almunia is not alone to blame, because Rosicky could have closed Rose down more quickly, but he should shoulder most of it.  It wasn't out of the ordinary; he has been one of the worst in the Premier League all season.  He has cost Arsenal at least 6 points due to errors and bad decisions.  

Forget the fact that Arsenal were missing 6 of their top players due to injury.  With a decent goalkeeper, Arsenal could be leading the league right now.

But the problems with Arsenal do not stop there.  Later in the first half, Vermaelen went down with an injury.  Mikael Silvestre came in to replace him.  I knew at that point Arsenal would concede a second goal.

Against Barcelona, Nicklas Bendtner gave Arsenal an early lead.  Two minutes later, Mikael Silvestre assisted Messi with a terrible touch to gift Messi his first of four goals.

In the first minute of the second half, Silvestre completely lost Gareth Bale, who was held onside by Bacary Sagna on the far right side.  Silvestre did what no defender should do, even when playing an offside trap, and turned his back on Bale and lost him.  Bale was played in and scored an easy goal.

46th minute: Tottenham 2 - Arsenal 0.

Knowing they needed a win, the Arsenal players knew at that point the season was over.   

Mikael Silvestre is the worst player I've seen wear an Arsenal shirt in my entire life.  He seems to lack any positive qualities.  He is slow, he lacks height, he doesn't seem to have any leadership qualities, and for all his experience while playing for Manchester United, he seems to make more mental mistakes than any other Arsenal defender (which is impressive given the lack of playing time he gets). 

A team with a player as bad as Mikael Silvestre as their fourth-choice center back will never win the league.  Injuries and suspensions happen to center backs, and teams will always need at least four decent players in that position to succeed over the long Premier League season.  

Silvestre and Almunia are the most glaring weaknesses in the Arsenal team, but they are not the sole causes of Arsenal's problems.  

The defense, in general has been poor.  The addition of Vermaelen has helped from last season, but inconsistency from Gael Clichy at left back and a below-form season from Bacary Sagna at right back has not helped the problem.  Silvestre has illustrated Arsenal's lack of depth at center-back as well.  

But the real problem lies in defensive midfield. 

Alex Song has been fantastic this season.  He has been Arsenal's most improved player and has turned into one of the best defensive midfielders in the league.  Now injured, Arsenal have struggled to play without him.

This is not the first time Song has been absent from the squad and Arsenal has suffered some devastating defeats as a result.  In January, while Song was playing for Cameroon at the African Cup of Nations, Arsenal were blown out in back-to-back games against Manchester United and Chelsea.  

Denilson slotted in the defensive midfield position and could not fill the shoes.  Now that Song has been injured, Denilson tried again to fill in for him and again Denilson was very poor.  

Denilson is a frustrating player.  

When playing alongside the likes of Song and Cesc Fabregas, where no responsibility to help in either the defense or the attack is placed on him, he is a fine player.  He makes less mistakes than Abou Diaby and can keep possession well.  

But when he is given any sort of important defensive role, he is terrible.  He lacks the toughness required of a defensive midfielder.  He is too small and gets shoved around.  He is just a kid, but he doesn't seem to run hard or try hard.  

Offensively he seems to have a pretty good shot from distance, but offers nothing else going forward.  He has no creativity to his passing and rarely completes a pass going forward.  He only passes laterally and keeps possession.  This would be acceptable if he was a good defensive player, but he isn't.

And yet, for all his weaknesses, Denilson has played in 26 games this season.

Arsenal need a tough defensive midfielder who can fill in for Song when Song is either injured, playing for Cameroon, or slotted in at center back, which he also can play very well.  They need a new goalkeeper and at least two center backs (assuming William Gallas does not renew his contract this summer).  Thats all.  Add three or four players this summer, and Arsenal can end their trophy drought.

In the 22 minutes he played on Wednesday night, Robin van Persie showed Arsenal fans what they'd been missing all year.  He is one of the best strikers in the Premier League, and if he can stay fit, he can score just as many goals as the likes of Drogba and Rooney.  

In Cesc Fabregas, Arsenal has one of the best players in the league already, and he's only 22.  

With Tomas Rosicky, Samir Nasri, Andrei Arshavin, Theo Walcott, and Jack Wilshere, Arsenal have one of the best group of wingers in the league as well.  They have a great combination of experience, talent, and potential.  

In Abou Diaby and Song, Arsenal have two of the most improved center midfielders in the Premier League this season, and both are under the age of 24.  Aaron Ramsey also has shown that he too is one of the best young players in the league.

With Nicklas Bendtner, Arsenal have a target man who has scored 9 goals in his last 11 games.  If Marouane Chamakh comes on a free transfer as he is expected to do, Arsenal will add the French League's best striker to their ranks as well.  

And with Thomas Vermaelen, Arsenal has the best signing of this Premier League season.  Now its up to Arsene Wenger to make some more signings to play alongside of him.  No excuses.  The rest of the team is too good for players like Almunia and Silvestre to keep holding them back.  The time to spend is now.