Arsenal: Defensive Reinforcements And Injury-Free Robin EqualsTrophies

Arsenal have gone through a barren spell of five years without a trophy under the astute stewardship of Arsene Wenger.  For a brilliant and successful manager like Wenger, it is hard to believe that his team have not won a trophy for so long.

There has been various reasons that have contributed to this trophy-drought.

The most important reason being that Arsenal have had to endure some financial crisis because of the debt incurred by building the Emirates stadium. This has stifled Arsenal's investment in the transfer market.

The other obstruction Arsenal has had to face is other clubs, being taken over by billionaires, paying over the odds to sign a player. 

Chelsea, in the past, and Manchester City, at present, have shelled out millions to acquire a title-challenging team. I believe that there should be financial fair-play rules that do not inflate the transfer market outrageously.

The above factors have made Arsene Wenger invest heavily in the youth policy which is only just starting to pay off.

As an added advantage, it has helped Arsenal easily overcome the new "home-grown" players rule in the Premier League (Cesc Fabregas, Gael Clichy and Nicklas Bendtner would all qualify under the rule).

Over the last season though, the injury to Robin Van Persie and the lack of a tight defence were the prominent weaknesses that crippled Arsenal in mounting an effective title challenge. The injury to Robin van Persie stemmed the flow of goals, and the defence (and the goalkeeper) leaked too many goals for a team challenging for the title.

How important is Robin van Persie to Arsenal?

Anyone who watches Arsenal play will agree that Arsenal do create a lot of chances every single game. They need a technically strong and able finisher to convert a good percentage of their chances.

This is where Robin van Persie comes into the picture.

He is an experienced campaigner who can finish with aplomb. He is a proven goal-scorer and benefits greatly from Arsenal's style of play. Nevertheless, Van Persie has not had a season bereft of injuries, and that has added to Arsenal's woes and contributed to their title drought.

Besides that, Arsenal's young team look up to Robin van Persie as an inspirational figure. A look at the Tottenham game and any layman will tell you when Arsenal really threatened to score. 

Arsenal's No.10 can lead the line or play the role of a second striker which provides versatility to any formation.

Another dimension of his game, which can be overlooked by many, is his threat from free-kicks. He is a set-piece specialist who provides Arsenal with a left-footed option which they lacked last year (only Thomas Vermaelen is a left-footed set-piece taker).

The Arsenal star has cracked in some fabulous free-kicks and expect him to deliver when the season starts.

Robin van Persie's fitness over the season has been under scrutiny for some time now. With the acquisition of Marouane Chamakh, I believe resting Robin van Persie for some matches should be considered.

If Robin van Persie can stay fit, Arsenal would score goals for fun and power past many an opposition.

Need for Reinforcements at the Back

For all the goals they score, they need to have a decent defence to protect their lead. Arsenal's defence is not among the best in the Premier League, and they need to make some further additions to improve the quality of the defence.

Having suspect goalkeepers only adds to the defensive worries, and Arsene Wenger would do well to address some of the goalkeeping concerns.

Arsenal have allowed William Gallas, Mikael Silvestre, and Philippe Senderos to leave at the end of their contracts, and Sol Campbell, who signed in January, is still in "no man's land" regarding his future as an Arsenal player.

New signing Laurent Koscielny is an interesting signing because he is not very experienced and is pretty much an unknown entity. But Arsene Wenger is a smart player, when it comes to transfers and Arsenal fans trust him to make the right choice.

With the inclusion of Koscielny, that makes Arsenal having three central defenders in Johan Djourou, Laurent Koscielny, and Thomas Vermaelen, who was outstanding last season.

Arsenal would need to make up the numbers in this department if, as expected, the injury crisis were to hit them during the season.

Centre-back Thomas Vermaelen is a sure starter, if fit, and had an outstanding season last time around. Despite that, he was caught out of position more than a couple of times and needs to tighten up next season.

Having said that, possessing one of the best defenders in the Premier League is a great advantage and let us hope he continues his impressive form.

The problem lies in who is going to be Vermaelen's partner.

Johan Djourou has only just returned from a long-term injury and is bound to be short of match-fitness. Laurent Koscielny is inexperienced and not much is known about him, though one can expect him to be pretty good, if Arsene Wenger rates him so high.

Signing Sol Campbell for another season can only be an advantage, and he can be the experienced person to guide this inexperienced defence.

He is a leader on the pitch and expects his teammates to give it their all. He brings with him a lot of passion which will rub off on Arsenal's youngsters. He has still got something to offer and being a winner, he has got all the experience in the world. Arsenal will look to sign him for at least one more season and if reports are to be believed, he is still open to an offer from Arsenal.

Alex Song, who impressed in the defensive midfielder role last season, was sorely missed when he was injured and no one else could really be effective in his role. 

Denilson and Craig Eastmond need to provide quality depth in that position. Youngster Havard Nordtveit can play in a number of positions in defence and also as a defensive midfielder, and it is up to him to make this a breakthrough season.  

As Johan Djourou said today, Arsenal have got quality players all over the pitch but what is lacking is the organisation.

It is time for these Gunners to make Arsene Wenger's dream of winning trophies with a young team a reality.