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.

Which is why this summer is Wenger's biggest of his Arsenal reign. Losing Flamini and Gilberto Silva last summer stank of a lack of forethought and insight by the manager, and indeed the paymasters up at boardroom level, the wrenching odour of which has been painfully dominant all season.

With every Tom, Dick and Harry acknowledging that our spine is just about as weak (if not weaker) as an old granny with brittle bones, the manager will surely, surely, have recognised the desperate need for quality in defence and central midfield.

This also comes on the back of the aforementioned Q & A session held on Thursday night, with an open floor greeting Le Boss with apparently muted applause, before, of course, Wenger was hit by missiles left, right and centre by clearly frustrated shareholders.

Talk of shipping Adebayor, players lacking fight, the "unreliable geriatric" that is Silvestre, and questioning the manager's tactical nous and transfer policy were all on a spicy menu, issues which involved heated exchanges between manager and fans.

Incidentally, the guy who said that about good (or not so good) old Mikaël deserves a medal, though Wenger was clearly upset by the comment, probably more a reflection of his own advancing years (without sounding too ageist), as I would struggle to think that Wenger still thinks much of Silvestre after having seen him "play" this season.

And, although Wenger is obviously an incredibly intelligent man, not just for what he has done for the club in yesteryear, but in the way he has deflected all current criticism of his players onto himself, knowing full well that experience and quality reinforcements are needed, his true test of what HE sees as success lie ahead in the summer, addressing the weaknesses that everybody up and down the country has talked about.

Now I do not personally know who his targets are, and indeed, I try to make a point of not mentioning any names, as they usually turn out to be fantasies, the kind of fantasies that any supporter embraces, but, if the figures quoted by the ever-so (un)reliable Daily Mail of a miserly £13 million war chest are true, I can only fear another summer of the arrival of unknown 17-year-old Afro-French "aces".

Not that there is anything wrong with that. Actually, there is everything wrong with that, as now is the time to redefine our targets, redefine our future, and redefine our success. The 0-0 draw at Manchester United will have only been an incredibly short-term pain relief, the sort of relief that Wenger had used to retreat to his comfort zone before.

But the fans have all woken up now, and Wenger must surely act on that and stop messing about with weak youngsters and fancy formations.

As the players trudged off the Theatre of Dreams pitch following the stalemate that ensured United's near-domination of this decade as well as the 1990s, I wonder what they were thinking. Well, since I cannot read their minds and indeed they looked happy enough embracing their United counterparts congratulating them for yet another title success, I can tell you what I thought—sickening.

Green with envy as I watched the screen, listening to anybody who is anybody pouring lavish praise onto Ferguson and his troops.

It was meant to be us who would take the 2000s by storm remember, after our "invincible" season? So, is dad right in taking this season's "failures" with a pinch of salt and looking ahead to the next? Possibly. And is Wenger the man to lead us out in August, despite four years of firing blanks? Probably.

Whatever happened this season, I just hope that my assessment inspired from "me old man" was not just Wenger pulling wool over our eyes with his Mohammed Said Al-Sahhaf-like spin, and that he will answer his critics with some proper business over the summer.

So, is there room for some real success next term? That is a most definite yes. And with that, I leave with you the modern-day Gooner's favourite term, a term of foolhardy optimism—next year for sure!