Arsenal: Are We Ready?

Sometimes you wonder, how on earth can Wenger tolerate the capriciousness of his youngsters? 

One moment, Arsenal were flying in the Premier League. With huge wins over Blackburn and Bolton, Arsenal fans were really believing that this could well be their season. 

Who cares about the defeat to Fulham? That was considered a blip in this long and enduring season. 

To paraphrase Wenger, Arsenal are humans and not machines after all. 

But to ignore the defeat to Fulham will be to look at Arsenal from a very bias and myopic lens. 

The weakness of this Arsenal team was laid bare for the world to see during Fulham. And unsurprisingly, it surfaced again when they played Hull. 

No disrespect to Hull, but Arsenal were expected to win this game by a huge margin. This was especially so after Arsenal built their fans confidence over the past three games with some free flowing football. 

Alas, Arsenal hit the brickwall again against a supposedly 'lesser' team. 

The usual suspects again failed to inspire the team.

Van Persie like a tap, could turn his performance on and off in mere seconds. He was indeed back to his insipid form against Fulham a few weeks ago. He was hardly penetrating in any of his passes. Which ever few chances that came his way, he opted for a rugby conversion instead of hitting the back of the net. 

That exasperating last gasp volley in the dying seconds of the game summed up his performance perfectly. And it also told Arsenal fans another thing, Van Persie isn't the same man that Arsenal could rely upon after he got his long term injury last season. 

And indeed, Arsenal now looks heavily reliant on Cesc Fabregas. After selling Thierry Henry, Wenger sought to build football around a team and not an individual. However, Arsenal looks increasingly reliant on Cesc now. With his new dodgy hairstyle, Cesc reminded Arsenal fans that his performance can have their odd days too.

Cesc failed to get a grasp of this game. He was lacklustre, incoherent, largely invisible and sluggish to say the least.

Again, I find Cesc too one dimensional a player. A player that can only find the through ball. A player that all too often does not possess the ability to turn the game around the way Ronaldo or Deco can.

When not given the space, Cesc often struggles to find his rhythm. And this can only be bad news for Arsenal, who are now trying to run all their build up through him. Unlike Thierry Henry, you are frankly not going to expect Cesc to take the ball and start dribbling pass the whole defence.

For all his faith in the youth, Wenger still largely depend on Gallas to marshal his defence. Gallas is good, take nothing away from him. But his performance on the field has been lacking that consistency that he once had when he was playing for Chelsea. Now Gallas is famous more for his impetuous, more than his football. 

It is very disheartening to be an Arsenal fan now. Yes, this team can propel you to the dizzy heights of football. But they can also drive a wrench through your heart with some really excruciating performances.

You can be yelling 'I love Cesc' one minute and the next you could very well be yelling 'I hate you Cesc, why can't you frigging just shoot!'