Did Arsenal Really Deserve To Win The League?

Arsenal are now guaranteed to finish this season trophy-less yet again, it has become something of a tradition lately, and the fans kept saying one thing over and over again.

Arsenal deserved a trophy for their efforts this season.

But is that really the case?

First of all, before we continue on and answer a question as complicating as this, we need to look at this from more than just the eyes of Arsenal fans, we need to look at things from the eyes of critics, managers and football players.

We also desperately need to look at the most important thing that most football fans overlook with such naive behaviour.

Variable change.

Football is more than just a game of instincts, it's more than just pass and shoot, and by that I don't just mean tactics and strategies, I simply mean to look at all the factors, all the situations and all the decisions influencing them.

Over the course of 90 minutes, simple seconds can change an entire game, and an  entire season, one small error that can occur in less than two seconds can affect an entire season consisting of 38 games.

Once we look at all of these points, we can truly judge whether Arsenal, as a squad, deserved to be league champions or not.

Let's take it from the very beginning, Arsenal sold Adebayour and Toure, both to Manchester City, and bought Thomas Vermaelen from Ajax, Wenger supposedly had 40 million pounds from the sale of both players, subtract the 10 million on Vermaelen, and Arsenal supposedly had 30 million pounds to spend.

It's not exactly easy to tell if Wenger had the money and didn't spend, or did the board take the money t pay off debts?

Here is a point where we can't criticize any of the parties involved, when Wenger splashed the cash at his disposal, he bought the signing of the season by a mile, he didn't buy Chamakh when told he would cost over 8 million pounds, but then again Wenger might get him for free this season.

Knowing the economist that is Wenger, it's easy to tell that he was tempted to get Chamakh without paying.

Then, Arsenal started the season in the most magnificent fashion imaginable.

Arsenal thrashed Everton by six goals in Goodison Park, no one even imagined the scoreline to be anywhere near that number.

Arsenal kept the good form and outclassed Manchester United at Old Trafford, only to have the referee give Manchester United all three points, when Arsenal didn't deserve just one point, but all three.

You can't exactly blame Arsenal here, they were great, and a free penalty, along with a gift of a free-kick that resulted in a Diaby own goal cost Arsenal the game.

Later, Arsenal played against Manchester City, and all was good, until Adebayour, one of the most hated players on earth, stomped Robin Van Persie, and also hit Fabregas ruined the game for Arsenal, and didn't even get sent off, because the referee didn't see him.

Afterwards, Adebayour ran the entire pitch to celebrate in front of the Arsenal fans, leading to the fans throwing things at him, and one can only imagine what will happen when Adebayour sets foot inside the Emirates Stadium.

When watching both games against the teams of Manchester, one would conclude that Arsenal verily were extremely unlucky to get out with zero points out of six.

However, Arsenal pulled things together, and were magnificent throughout the following games.

Arsenal's performance was abysmal against the big teams, with the exception of Liverpool, who are arguably having a season worse than Arsenal's.

Arsenal lost by three goals to Chelsea, in a game where Chelsea had minimum possession, and rarely even attacked, the usual own goal against Chelsea in the league was scored by Vermaelen, the third time in a row that Arsenal scored an own goal against Chelsea in the league, followed by the usual gift of a free-kick that resulted in the third goal coming from the free-kick.

Arsenal then were 11 points behind Chelsea, and critics wrote them off, but in less than six weeks, Arsenal were the league holders.

A mentality beyond amazing, Arsenal closed a gap of 11 points, and were enjoying their time.

Arsenal then played against all the top teams in the league in a row, Aston Villa, Chelsea, Manchester United and Liverpool, all in a row.

The FA were laughing their asses off.

Arsenal gathered 4 out of 12 points, and Arsenal were once again 9 points behind Chelsea.

Arsenal are to be blamed for their toothless behaviour against the big teams.

With the easiest fixtures remaining, Arsenal looked capable of getting back in the competition, and late goals in all their following games were a testament to that.

However, disaster struck, and in the game against Stoke, Shawcross broke Aaron Ramsey's foot, and the usual curse brought by teams who play in an anti-Arsenal manner was brought back again.

Ramsey missed the remainder of the season, and the injuries were pilling up.

The Arsenal did not give in, they were brilliant, and showed the mentality of true champions.

Arsenal were enjoying silencing their critics.

Sadly however, not all the Arsenal players were having a great season.

Almunia and Fabianski, were destroying Arsenal's season with their errors, that's not to say that they are blamed for the other players errors as well, but they certainly weren't good enough by any top team's standards.

People went as far as to make groups making fun of both goalkeepers on many websites.

They say that a good goalkeeper saves 12 points for his team in the season.

When calculated, Almunia and Fabianski didn't fail at saving 12 points, but some of their errors actually cost Arsenal points as well.

Instead of +12 points, Arsenal are more likely in the range of -5 points, a different goalkeeper might have saved Arsenal's season.

And here is where the real criticisms begin.

Arsene Wenger did his usual tradition of trying to buy players on the deadline day of the transfer window during the winter.

Sorensen and Saha were on the radar of Arsene Wenger, but apparently even though it is said that Saha was close to joining the Gunners, the deal failed to materialise, and Stoke refused to let go of Sorensen.

Had Wenger played it safe, and attempted to buy early on for a normal price, instead of a cheap one, Arsenal's season might have been very different.

But that's not the main issue, the main problem is that even when Almunia and Fabianski were, abysmal at the very least, Mannone never got his chance after impressing greatly at the start of the season.

His game against Fulham gave Arsenal all three points, were Arsenal made one good attack and scored, it was all Fulham afterwards, and young Mannone was enjoying himself.

He can't be blamed in his fina game, against West Ham, a free-kick that some might say to be soft, which he saved but failed to clear rebounded to Cole, and he scored from it, and a very soft penalty to try and ruin Arsenal's season as always, Chelsea and Man U fans might think of this as whining, but when was the last time they got screwed like Arsenal, especially Man U, who seem to get free penalties by the truckload at Old Trafford.

Vito Mannone deserved his chance, but he never got it, and Fabianski needs to leave Arsenal alone, his games against Chelsea and Porto in the past, and his weak game against Wigan are proof that he is not Arsenal's answer in the long, or short-term.

Wenger's decisions weren't always spot on, his choice to bring Campbell back proved to be a good one, although some might argue it's because he was free, but not buying an attacking player when Arsenal had their players injured was the low point of his campaign.

Also, no one would've ever predicted the crazy number of injuries that Arsenal collected, although Wenger should've known better, seeing how Arsenal players always are victims to anti-football.

Ever since February, Arsenal lost Ramsey, Gallas, Arshavin, Fabregas, Song and Vermaelen, not to mention losing Djourou before the beginning of the season, and the loss of RVP and Bendtner at the start of it.

It's considered amazing that Arsenal hung for as long as they did, Chelsea couldn't shake half missing, half injured Arsebnal squad of their backs, until the injuries finally affected the Arsenal players.

And here is where it all concludes.

The backup players.

The fans can't say that if RVP wasn't injured, Arsenal would have won the league, maybe that is true, the he would've made the difference, maybe if Ramsey was able to avoid Shawcorss' mad tackle, Arsenal would've had a better season with Ramsey playing instead of Denilson, but as Arsene Wenger himself said; "If doesn't exist, we live in the real world".

What's done is done, there's nothing that can change that, but you can try and minimize the damage, and to do that you need to have adequate players filling the gaps left.

Ask anyone with great knowledge in football, and they'll tell you that the game between Arsenal and Barcelona didn't prove anything.

While the Barcelona fans were celebrating about how Messi scored against a half missing Arsenal squad, and how Ibrahimovic scored against a half injured Arsenal squad, they didn't take a moment to look at the players they were playing against.

The likes of Silvestre and Denilson do not represent the true strength of Arsenal.

Arsenal were missing almost everyone, Gallas, RVP, Fabregas, Song, Arshavin and even Ramsey and Campbell would've made a world of difference.

While the likes of Fabregas, Song and Bendtner, who was remarkable since coming back form injury, while they all did indeed deserve to be premier league champions, the likes of Denilson, Almunia, Silvestre and Eduardo didn't.

In the end, it's a team game, one marvelous player cannot pick up a team all by himself, when Almunia and Fabianski make pierrots of themselves, they make Arsenal look the same way as well, in the end, even some of the reserve players get to have a say in a team's season, they get the chance to define it.

When Bosingwa got injured, Chelsea had Ivanovic to replace him, and when he got injured, they had Ferriera fill in the gap, they had the depth they need to make it this far, but Arsenal didn't.

When the burden fell in the hands of Fabianski and the rest of the backup players, they failed to make the required impact.

While some players, like Gibbs before his injury, and like Sol Campbell excelled when called upon, some players never looked confident at all.

Most of the backup players did not deserve to be champions, and sadly their effect was stronger than that of the first team, who most of them had an extraordinary season, and have indeed shown maturity worthy of being champions.

Wenger needs to buy backup players, forget about one or two super signings, they won't make the difference should they get injured, but the players filling in for the injured are the ones who can make a world of difference, especially with this Arsenal side.

Wenger needs to buy players who understand their role, most players come to Arsenal because they want to play first team football, Chelsea have the ability to keep Deco and Ballack on the bench, while Arsenal get problems in having good players as substitutes.

That is the main problem with Arsenal, Wenger have spoken thousands of times on quality coming from the bench, and he says that specifically in every game against a strong team in the Champions League, but honestly I've never seen it happen.

A bench that has Silvestre, Denilson, Vela and an off-form Eduardo isn't good enough to make the difference.

Only Rosicky, and Merida who didn't get his chances this season might be looked at as good players, and with Merida's contract expiring, and Atletico Madrid waiting for him, one has to wonder if Wenger is indeed on the right track.

Wenger needs great backup players, no youngsters or cheap club players, but quality players from good teams, they might cost good money, and they might play no more than 15 games a season, but in the end, those 15 games can win you an entire season.

Arsenal have had a strange season of sorts, many players deserved to lift the EPL trophy, most notably Fabregas, the Arsenal captain, but some players aren't even worthy of finishing in 3rd place with Arsenal this season, the goal keepers in particular have been found guilty on many occasions, and Fabianski seems to have the credits rolling on his Arsenal career.

The one person who we can't judge is Arsene Wenger, simply because no one knows whether he had the money or not, he has always done a great job with what he had at his disposal, Vermaelen is a shinning example of that, but was that all the money he had at his disposal all season?

One has to wonder, and in the end, the Arsenal fans wil be looking towards next season yet again, and hope that this time, Wenger will have all what he needs at his disposal.

And in the meantime, the fans are left saying the ever so popular sentence.

In Arsene we trust.