Bleacher Report - Articles by Hasan Ejaz

European Under 21 Championships

Hasan Ejaz — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 21:25:25 -0400

With all the ridiculously simple 'Best Players in the World' slideshows currently in circulation on Bleacher Report, I thought I would make my own , one which would actually require some scouting and research. After keeping a keen eye on the recently concluded European U-21 Championships in Sweden I decided to try and figure out the best European U-21 team. Now this is a team so there would have to be a proper balance within the squad so the central midfield would have one defensive midfielder and one attacking. There might be abit of bias towards the German team but that is because I follow the league passionately and have greater knowledge of it compared to the Italian and Spanish ones. As a final note, I would like to say that I have only considered players born on and after 1988 as that would mean they are at least 21 or reaching 21. Anyways, here it goes. Starting from the back-line all the way to the strikers.

Begin Slideshow

Why Mesut Ozil Should Extend His Werder Bremen Contract

Hasan Ejaz — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 10:24:20 -0400

Not since Deisler was working the wings for Herta Berlin has Germany seen a more bright, technically gifted playmaker than Mesut Ozil. His talents were seen in bits and pieces during his rise to the Schalke first team, the 2007-2008 season proving to be his breakthrough.

It was as a thin, quiet 18-year-old against Chelsea that I saw him for the first time. It didn't take long to come to the conclusion that he was a special player. With a magnificent first touch and an eye for the right pass he shows the necessary instincts.

Then as January was passing, rumours were rife about a pay dispute with his employers. Unsurprisingly, famous youth developer Arsene Wenger was credited to having shown interest in Ozil but in the end it was the perfect man (or men) who took him under their guidance: The best attacking coach and playmaker in the land—of course I mean Thomas Schaaf and Diego Ribas.

Fast forward one year and now Ozil is the talk of the town, and his reputation has been extended to a continental scale after winning the Golden Ball at the European U-21 Championships. Juventus wanted to sign him along with Diego, but were quickly thrown away by Bremen's unwillingness.

After one season as an understudy, the time has now come for Ozil to take his mentors place as Bremen's for-most playmaker. The initial signs are better than expected, he has already equalled his Bundesliga goal tally of last season and has just recently scored his first international goal.

But while this praise will bring joy to a Bremen fans heart, news that he won't extend his contract past 2011 is worrying. With this, there is talk of German talent snappers Bayern Munich next summer enticing Bremen with an alternative to seeing him leave for nothing. If Ozil does make the move, then I would be very disappointed.

Bayern have not had a good record with German talent lately. Besides Ballack, the champions have seen the careers of Deisler, Schweinsteiger, Rensing, and Podolski take a downturn. There is only reason for this: addiction to success.

Bayern are the top German team. No two ways about it. And with that headline, a trophy laden season is a minimum expectation, and this expectation is thrown onto the players. The rules are simple; be part of a winning team and be hailed as a hero, or be part of an unsuccessful team and be hated.

This pressure can be too much for most young players reaching maturity, recently we have seen Schweinsteiger and Podolski take majority of the blame for the 2006-07 season and that has taken its toll on both. Schweinsteiger has since then been under the magnifying glass and was included in the recent list of players deemed "not worthy for the starting line-up" made by the Bayern Munich supporters group as part of their letter to the Bayern board.

At Werder Bremen, on the other hand, Ozil is the star player and will not have the pressure of high expectations. What is most important for a youngster is the freedom to play his natural game and under Thomas Schaaf, he will be the center of a formation perfectly suited to his playing style while also having an almost equally talented partner in Marko Marin with whom he can create a partnership that can not only be the fear of German teams, but also national teams as Marin too, is German.

Bremen will always be on the cusp of a Bundesliga title, contesting year in year out and also winning one after every few years so a challenge will always be there.

The need to play in Europe will also be fulfilled on normal form therefore the adaptation to all types of playing styles will continue. Also with being part of a big German club like Bremen, he will be a consistent fixture in the national side which can be of major concern to players especially with the coming of a major tournament.

The conditions are perfect for the little master to perfect his skills and go to the brink of being a world class player. A move to a bigger club would only be feasible once Ozil becomes mature enough to handle not only domestic pressures, but also European competition pressures.

For only when he will be able to show he can conquer the biggest clubs in the world, will he be one of the worlds best.

That is why Ozil should extent his contract and remain at Bremen, to 2013 in my opinion and have a bit more patience. At 25 years of age he would have enough experience of the highs and lows that come with being part of a top domestic club and experience of European competitions to be a major player in one of the heavyweights of Europe.

Manchester United-Chelsea: Giggsy and Gazza Show They Aren't Finished Yet

Hasan Ejaz — Sun, 11 Jan 2009 14:19:58 -0500

The dawn of the new season brought different prospects for Manchester United legends Gary Neville and Ryan Giggs. While the latter was reaching the end of a career that saw him garner more trophies than any other British player, Gary Neville was seeing a new chapter in his career unfold.

After almost two injury-ridden years, he looked certain to assert himself back in the United and England squad for one last hurray before his career to comes to an end.

Yet both of their seasons have gone on relatively similar paths. The meteoric rise of youngster Rafael Da Silva has forced Neville to face less minutes on the pitch then he would have hoped for.

Ryan Giggs, 35 years young, found himself a new position as a central midfielder (not so new if you consider his role towards the end of the 05-06 season). But with Carrick, Anderson, Fletcher, and Scholes it was always going to be difficult for him to hold a starting position. Thus, he too wasn't a consistent fixture in the first XI.

Being a life-long United fan, it was a bit depressing to see Neville and Giggs spend so much time on the bench, but deep down I and everyone else thought that they just didn't have it in them to compete in today's league.

Therefore, it would have been a shock to any football fan to see them both included in the starting line-up against heavyweights Chelsea today. One would think it the reason to play them was the wealth of experience they brought to the team, but their performances showed much more than that.

Any thinking man would have predicted Giggs to be over run by the strong central midfield of Ballack, Lampard, and Mikel. But the Welsh wizard, who for years dazzled opponents with his skill and speed, showed the gritty side to his game. Never was he out-muscled, winning the ball consistently and always looking in control when in possession.

Now for Gazza's performance.

A keen watcher of the Premier League this season would know that one of Chelsea's main strengths are their attacking full-backs. Defender Ashley Cole has, on occasions, played more like a LW than his on paper LB position. With his speed and Gary Neville's old age, it seemed a match made in heaven for Chelsea fans.

Oh how wrong an assumption that was.

Neville was an absolute rock in defence. Fergie was once quoted saying that Neville would have been England's best Center Back had he been one inch taller. Today was living proof of that. With the help of Three-Lung Park, he kept one of Chelsea's biggest attacking threats quiet for the whole 90 minutes. Add to that some superb last ditch headers clearing dangerous crosses.

Giggs recently said he was considering retirement at the end of the season, and with Neville's contract too running out at the end of the season, this could well be their last season at Old Trafford.

I think I speak for every United fan when I say "Please Stay On Gazza and Giggsy!"

Also Cheers to Sir Alex for once again showing his tactical genius by picking both of them today.

And I have just been informed by Samuel from the comments underneath that Gazza has become father today. Congratulations to our greatest RB (sorry ol' Foulkes). What a day for him!

Bundesliga Top Scorer Award a Curse?

Hasan Ejaz — Sun, 30 Nov 2008 21:17:13 -0500

The moment you say "Hoffenheim," the first name that comes to mind is Vedad Ibisevic. His season has been nothing short of a revelation, and a dream not even the most ardent Hoffenheim fan would have thought of.

He currently has 18 goals from 15 appearances. If that doesn't make you shiver, here's a little something that should help it sink in: If he continues scoring at this rate, he will match a record set by football's greatest goalscorer—yes, Gerd Muller's impossible 40-goal season in 1972. Hell, the man even managed to have an article devoted to him in the New York Times!

All this has formed inevitable transfer links to some of Europe's biggest clubs. Some newspapers are saying Sir Alex Ferguson is looking at him to be United's fourth striker, while some in Madrid speculate he will be the natural successor to Ruud Van Nistelrooy.

All this might be a bit premature, but there is no denying that a transfer will be coming if he maintains this level for another season or two.

Many fans would think so given his extraordinary performances thus far, but a little peek into recent history reveals a startling truth about Bundesliga's top marksmen: Thomas Christiansen, Ailton, Marek Mintal, and Theofanis Gekas.

All these players have something in common with a certain Miroslav Klose. No, it doesn't involve previous clubs; it is regarding a certain goal scoring title. They are all winners of the Bundesliga's Top Goalscorer Award for the five seasons prior to 07-08.

An average football fan would be initially shocked at this. (Trust me, I've asked.) Wouldn't the likes of Mario Gomez, Dimitar Berbatov, Roy Makaay, and Lukas Podolski be the Bundesliga's top marksmen?

So, one should ask, why haven't these strikers become household names? What has forced them to go into footballing obscurity after conquering all in one of Europe's top leagues? Could it be a curse?

Before you think I'm getting a bit paranoid, consider this: All these strikers have had horrible seasons following their award winning ones. Christeansen became a bench warmer at Hannover, Ailton scored just 14 goals for Schalke, Klose scored 13, Mintal barely played the next season, with the same being true for Gekas at Leverkusen.

While Gekas, 28, still has a lot ahead of him in this career, the likes of Ailton, Christiansen, and Mintal have all seen their career go into free fall. Ailton ended up being a travel enthusiast more than a footballer, going from Turkey to Austria and back to Germany, barely playing any football in between.

Christiansen played barely 50 matches for Hannover over the next three years before they decided not to extend his contract. Marek Mintal now finds himself in Germany's second division after reportedly rejecting a move to Liverpool during his scoring prime.

Also, I forgot to mention that Giovane Elber was joint top goalscorer with Christiansen during the 02-03 season. This achievement was followed by a spell at Lyon where he played a bench warmer role and spells at Monchengladbach and Cruzeiro where he ended is career.

So, from what we have seen, can it be said that there is really a curse attached to the Top Goalscorer award? Should Ibisevic consider playing defender for the next 19 matches and let someone else take the award for the good of his career?

Maybe he should start doing that against Bayern next weekend.

Germany V England: The Aftermath; What Went Wrong for Germany

Hasan Ejaz — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 19:36:06 -0500

I'm not going to divulge into any introduction stating the rich history between the two nations, it makes this loss feel even worse when thinking about that. The scoreline at the end of 90 minutes was 2-1 to England. Now here is my view on why that happened.

First of all, the morale is tremendously low and it's not hard to see why. All the pre-match hullabaloo was about the off-pitch rift between experienced players Ballack, Frings, and manager Low and it effected everyone.

I personally think Low overreacted to both comments and didn't need to take the drastic steps he took.

When it comes down to the match, the first thing I remember saying when I saw the Germany team sheet was "What the Hell is Low thinking?!" Debutante Marvin Coomper at LB? He hasn't even played a minute at LB for Hoffenheim this season! Marcel Schafer or even Westermann at LB would have been a much better choice.

Then seeing Jermaine Jones in midfield with Simon Rolfes was frustrating. Low is starting to have a habit of playing two defensive midfielders whenever Ballack has been unavailable, which is a lot lately. That is something which has never worked out well for the Germans given their style of play.

Jermaine Jones, in my opinion, has never been Germany quality and was utterly poor the last time he donned a German shirt. This performance was no different. While Rolfes held his own pretty well, Jones was running around like a headless chicken mis-controlling every pass that came to him and never looking to do anything productive.

It wasn't a surprise then to see a much better German performance when Schweinsteiger moved to a more central position in the second half, something I've been stressing a lot lately.

The last of my worries from seeing the team sheet was the striking partnership of Klose and Gomez. It is never going to work. I said that before the Euros and wasn't proven wrong and I'm saying it again. Its not that either player is bad, its just that they cant combine with each other.

It might have had possibilities a few years ago with a younger and better playmaker, Klose, the one who provided 16 assists in the 05-06 season with his sublime one touch passing. But now he is a shadow of that player and seems out of his league when receiving the ball from more than 16 yards out.

The same with Gomez, he actually looks like an utter buffoon when the ball is at his feet outside the box. He more often then not mis-controls it and his passing makes Luca Toni look like Andrea Pirlo. He is a class finisher, with emphasis on finisher, he's a target man. But more often than not he received the ball 30 yards from goal with hardly any space. This brings me to my next point.

The tactics that Germany came out with were poor to say the least. Playing with Klose-Gomez upfront and Jones-Rolfes in midfield, one would expect a long ball game with the defence and deep lying midfield try to seek out the strikers with long passes.

No! Lets try and play quick short passing football. It was an utter disaster! I never quite knew what they were trying to accomplish while in possession. Yes England's midfield did a splendid job of closing down their opponents, but of course they will when Low plays two defensive midfielders in the centre and our two best playmakers on the wings.

Jones and Rolfes have never had the first touch Ballack has and therefore they were always going to struggle with the team expecting them to create offensive plays. They don't have those roles for club so why did Low expect that from them?

Whenever they received the ball they struggled to maintain possession and thus either lost the ball trying to play it forward or ended up passing back to the defence. Both Jones and Rolfes lacked any forward movement to trouble Barry and Carrick and thus made it a piece of cake to cover them.

It was when Schweini moved in the centre that Rolfes was allowed more space to seek out the forwards and wingers. Since, with a more attacking central midfielder, England's central midfield had to push back to try and restrict him.

With Klose and Gomez receiving passes at their feet with their back towards goal, there really isn't much they can do as it isn't either's strength. It was in that situation that they needed Helmes/Podolski to be able to run at the defence and cause havoc, just like they did when they came on.

The second half though was a vast improvement because of the changes Low made. While you could commend him on that, the question is why he wasn't wise enough to realise that before.

It was the a similar issue against Wales in the previous match where Germany were struggling to create clear opportunities with a tiring Ballack in central midfield. Not after the break when Schweinsteiger moved to a more central playmaker role did the offense start to click.

I'm not going to criticise the defence, they were good when they were called upon. Mertesacker and Westermann were very good in the center considering they were against two very quick and inform strikers, when they lost out on pace their great positional skills removed any danger.

Regarding the goals; Adler may have flapped the corner that gave away the first goal, but he is still the best 'keeper in Germany. This one mistake shouldn't ruin the two years of brilliant consistency he has shown for Leverkusen and take away the No.1 jersey.

And you cant blame Westermann for Terry's goal, it was a peach of a header. Westermann did everything you would expect while defending a set-piece, he was in front of his man and looked set to clear the ball had Terry not stuck his neck out and somehow guided it to the far corner.

All in all it the match was ultimately lost in central midfield, I could go on with the article looking at the performances of the wingers but those weren't as important as the issues above. Low needs to go over his tactics and seriously consider not playing two DMs again and playing Schweinsteiger at LM when Ballack isn't fit.

I'm starting to lose my respect for Low as a tactician. I thought a lot of him when Klinsmann said he was the brains behind Germany's reformed style of football but now it seems he cant cope with the pressure of being the head of the squad.

And please don't comment saying that it was "just a friendly" because it was only in name. A lot more things matter than three points. There's pride involved, thankfully we only lost one today.

Manchester United's Youth: Where Has The Tradition Gone?

Hasan Ejaz — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 17:40:35 -0500

Tuesday was a day of great frustration for me. Not only could I not watch United take on QPR, I was left with no choice but to watch Arsenal's U-19 side take the complete mickey out of a full strength (albeit Heskey) Wigan side.

But my anger was more towards the on-going match at Old Trafford where United were taking on Championship strugglers QPR. Now, lets have a look at the facts here for a moment:

QPR:- 7th in the Championship

Manchester United:- 4th in the Premier league (one game behind Arsenal)

Now why, why would Sir Alex Ferguson play Park Ji Sung, Anderson, Nani, Tevez, Gary Neville, Kuszczak and Ben Foster against a Championship side?

Looking at Wenger show complete confidence in a team of 17, 18, 19 and even bloody 16 year olds to play against a Premier League side lead me to think just what Ferguson thinks of our young lads that he doesnt even trust them against Championship side.

I couldnt really have cared less about the match even if United won 5-0 with Tevez scoring four and Nani scoring from the half way line!

Arsenal's reserve side that contains many of the players that were on show against Wigan have attained nine points from six matches in their reserve league; United's reserve team has seven points from four! Is there any clear indication of a bridge of talent from that?

Every year we hear of United's "new and exciting youngsters." Just before the match, manutd.com had a three page article about players like Gibson, David Gray, Possebon etc. Yet off them only Gibson, Possebon and Rafeal, who all started and Wellbeck, got to play.

Yes last year we lost to Coventry with a young side but that doesnt mean we should completely scrap the idea of testing out these youth and reserve players. They wont get many more chances other than these early Carling Cup and FA Cup matches.

I've been following United's reserve and youth matches for a very long time, reading post match reports and watching as many highlights as I can find. Let me tell you there are a number of wonderful players we have besides the well known Da Silva twins, Possebon and Evans.

Young central midfield powerhouses Matty James and Oliver Norwood, who I've seen blast in more 30 yarders than Anderson has got on target in his career. Strikers Federico Macheda and David Petrucci amongst others.

Even the lads that graduated before them, the likes of Sam Hewson, Craig Cathcart, Tom Cleverley, Galbraith, Zieler and Eckersley who reached the 06-07 FA Youth Cup final are fantastic players.

Oh and funny thing, they beat the Arsenal youth team in the semi-finals that year.

While I talk about these players I've probably left out the best. The Reserve Quadruple winning side of 04-05. Yes, Quadruple!

This team had the likes of Jonny Evans, Gerard Pique central defence with Phillp Bardsley and Adam Eckersley out on the flanks. Darren Gibson and David Jones in central midfield with Chris Eagles down the wings. The regular strikers being Ebanks-Blake and a one Giuseppe Rossi.

Of these, only one remains in the current first team. Jonny Evans, which leaves one to to wonder why. Yes there are players who werent of United calibre, players like Eckersley and Jones, but the rest could have gotten a decent run in the first team.

Some did, Phillp Bardsley played at RB for a number of games in 05-06 while Neville was injured, and performed admirably for his age but was never given another first team match after that, eventhough playing well at Aston Villa on loan.

Rossi is always the one whose sale pains me, and causes my hatred of seeing Tevez play; it should have been Rossi. Now that he scoring plenty for Villarreal, it shows just what we are going to miss.

His sale along with the coming of Tevez, Anderson and Nani told me about a starch change that is about to come to United, no more will we be seeing youth players get the chances they deserve.

No more will we be seeing the Salford boys from Carrington celebrate a goal against Liverpool by kissing the badge infront of the Stretford End.

Every great United team from the past has had a heart and soul thats come from Manchester. The Great Busby Babes, the European Champions of 68 with Charlton, Best, Kidd, Sadler, Nobby, Foulkes, Aston and The Class of '92.

Will we ever see the likes of them again? I'm sure we will, the legacy of Matt Busby and Ferguson will still live on at United and as long as it does, another generation will arrive to take it to the money spinning foreigners and give them a lesson of how football should be played, football taught by Matt Busby!

What Is The 'Perfect' Game?

Hasan Ejaz — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 05:35:40 -0500

Alot of matches, over the years, have been labeled as 'beautiful' or 'perfect'. The latest being the enthralling encounter between English rivals Manchester United and Arsenal. Arsenal came out 2-1 winners, but the common opinion amongst most people who saw it was, "It was football who won in the end".

Here is what Arsenal manager

Arsene Wenger had to say, "t was a great football game overall, both teams were going for it. "

Manchester United manager

Sir Alex Ferguson shared similar views: "Some of the football from both teams was magnificent—you won't see a game as good as that anywhere in the country."

Well-known pundits came out singing praises towards both teams at the end of this end to end battle. Skysports

Chris Kamara wrote the following in his weekly column headlined, 'What a game! Just Wonderful!':

"Arsenal against Manchester United was fantasy football of the highest order........The standard of that game at The Emirates was so high that you just wouldn't find it anywhere else in world football."

This lead me to thinking. Was it really football of the 'highest' order?

From a United fan's perspective I was very disappointed with our defence. Edwin Van Der Sar was constantly flopping at crosses while Ferdinand and Vidic were lacking positional sense most of time. The same could have been said about the Arsenal defence who committed several errors of judgement including giving away a free kick inside the box.

When asked which team plays the best football, Arsenal are widely regarded as number one eventhough it is clear that they lack a solid defense. Is defending even part of football? From the opinion of a common football fan, it looks like attacking football is implied when you say 'best football'.

You can argue that people usual say 'attractive football' when they talk about Arsenal. But whats not attractive about the perfect tackle?

So, when judging the quality of a game of football, does defence even count? It doesnt seem to be so. After thinking about this, it doesnt come as much of a surprise that Fabio Cannavaro was the first defender to win the Ballon d'Or after Germany's Franz Beckenbauer in 1976. Eventhough some of greatest defenders in history had graced the game during the time inbetween.

From Italy's Paolo Maldini and Franco Baresi to Germany's Andreas Brehme.

So then, what is the 'perfect' game? Does it have to be an all out attacking showcase with goals galore or a game where defenders stuff every attack? Clearly it has to be a mix of the two. Goals, created by brilliant attacking moves and pieces of brilliant defending.

An example of this, was the first half of FC Bayern Munich vs FC Schalke 04 match during the weekend. It was 2-1 when the whistle blew which ended what was an end to end battle between two top teams.

All three goals were from great pieces of attacking play, the pick being Bayern Munich's second scored by Frank Ribery.

With Klose winning the ball in midfield; Borowski, Mark Van Bommel, Toni and Klose again all exchanged the ball until it finally came to Frank. The Frenchmen burst forward, held the ball at the edge of the box and with Ze Roberto making a 60 yard run from LB played a one-two and resulted in Ribery scoring from a simple tap in.

In between these three goals was constant attacking from both teams but superb defending and goal keeping keeping the strikers from increasing the lead. Westermann positioning himself to get to end of crosses and Lucio making last ditch tackling.

My opinion on this debate comes down to the point that defenders need to be given credit. Most of them are labeled as 'boring' and defensive tactics are labeled as 'anti-football' but it is a part of football and is just an art as attacking is.

A football match cannot be hailed as great or 'perfect' unless we see both aspects of football played at the highest level, which could not be said about the Arsenal Manchester United match or the Germany Italy 1970 World Cup. Exciting yes, quality no.

Darren Fletcher: The Answer for Manchester United

Hasan Ejaz — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 00:35:53 -0500

Well, as you can see from the title, this is sort of a reply to the article named "Wayne Rooney: The Answer For Manchester United" by Nathan Lowe. Its not that I completely disagree with Nathan's comments, I also think Rooney would make a great CAM, but I think the downside of losing his role as a SS would be greater.

Also, there is in my opinion a greater solution and one which I have had in mind for quite a long time—playing Darren Fletcher and Anderson in midfield.

Darren Fletcher has long been one of my favourite United players, the man has a great mentality for his young age and always performs when most needed. His matches two seasons ago against Roma and AC Milan were true testament to that, and not to forget his performance against Arsenal in the 4-0 trouncing in the FA Cup 4th Round tie last season.

I thought Fletcher should have and would have played alongside Anderson against Arsenal at the weekend but an injury sadly ruled him out. That for me was the reason United lost.

I was of the opinion that Carrick would not have the defensive abilities to counter Arsenal's attacking play, which has made all the more evident with Arsenal's second goal were Nasri was left completely unmarked at the edge of the box.

Now coming to the reasons as to why I think Fletcher would have been better. He is a mix of Scholes, Hargreaves, and Carrick all in one. While he doesn't have the individual attributes all these three great players have, his ability to play all three roles makes him a valuable player to have in midfield. Therefore he is able to adapt himself too any role given to him, and is able to perform very well.

He has shown over the course of this season that he has developed the ability to make late runs into the box, something a young Scholes had in abundance, scoring vital goals like the one against Newcastle and Everton in the process.

He also has great passing skills, short and long, which are vital when the defending team play deep and allow little space in the final third.

To top it off, Fletcher has good defensive ability—something Carrick and Scholes miss. His stamina and energy are on the level of Rooney, "Three-Lung" Park, and Tevez. He has used his energy, along with his tackling-marking etc, to dominate players like De Rossi, Pirlo, and Fabregas over the years, which goes a long way in demonstrating the ability he has.

In Anderson, you get a powerful, highly energetic midfielder of the mould of Paul Ince. He has shown great creative passing skill as well, and can therefore surely be a force in the final third.

But with that you need to look out for the defense, and that is where Fletcher comes in.

Anderson isn't a fully offensive player himself and has shown a tendency to help defend when not in possession, using his high energy to do that well (his role at Anfield last season showed that). With Fletcher's ability to cover attacking midfielders and also help out in attack, the two will therefore make for a great future partnership.

Man United v. Arsenal: Could a United Romp Help Arsenal?

Hasan Ejaz — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 07:17:42 -0500

First of all I would like to say that I'm a United fan but I'm writing as a neutral.

Watching Arsenal this season has been a treat for me. They clearly lack physical presence and the risk of playing young lads has not been paying off, and as a result Arsenal look all but mathematically out of the title race.

Loses to the likes of Stoke and Fulham, and draws against Sunderland have clearly shown the frailties in the Arsenal line-up which, frustratingly enough for Gooners, was evident even last season, but Wenger has failed to try and rectify them. The question on every neutrals mind is "How much longer can the fans tolerate this?."

The answer has to be, a huge lose to their biggest rivals (sorry Tottenham, okay biggest competitve rivals, there!). Rewind to February 2001, United are 13 points ahead of the Arsenal in the league and a win will set virtually seal a 3rd straight title. Arsenal could have given United fans a mini fright with a win, but ended up on the losing end of a 6-1 mauling.

The result? A complete revamp of the Arsenal squad. Petit, Overmars, and Anelka had all left the season before and that left Arsenal struggling, that lose was a wake up call for Wenger that change was at hand.

Adams and Dixon, two defenders who had been part of one of the most formidable defences in England, were growing too old and needed to be replaced. Winterburn had retired the previous season and therefore Arsenal were lacking a left-back.

Then, next season saw the arrivals of Sol Campbell and Lauren, two solid defenders to replace Adams and Dixon. Campbell would go on to form a formidable partnership with Keown while Lauren had the makings of a solid defender and an excellent attacker to help out Ljungberg in attack. The season also marked the arrival of a young Ashley Cole into the starting line-up, his energy and willingness to burst forward would be a major reason behind the results that followed.

So what happened next season you may ask? A league and cup double for the men from North London which also the basis for their invincible season of 2003-04, quite possibly their greatest ever team.

Now coming to this season, Arsenal are once again struggling, though for an opposite reason to that which was the root of their problems in 2000-01. The young side are failing to cope with the physicality of the league and even though having the easiest fixture list amongst the top four, Arsenal find themselves far behind the pack.

Therefore, could another heavy defeat by their rivals mark a change in the scheme of things for Wenger and Arsenal? Would Wenger finally be forced to come out of his budget box and spend on experienced players to help pave the way for his exciting youngsters in the seasons to come?

How about a Senna in CDM supporting Fabregas, or Camoranesi out on the right providing competition for Walcott?

Only time, and results, will tell.