Arsenal: Is This Team Really Ready?

It was yet another disappointing outing for Arsenal in the Premier League as they managed to scrape a draw at the Stadium of Light against a resilient Sunderland. It was a very average Arsenal performance today, and despite the pre-match predictions, it ended up being one point gained rather than two points lost.

When you play against teams like Sunderland, you have to choose the most attacking formation. For some strange reason though, Arsene Wenger went with a 4-5-1—with Robin van Persie playing on the left-hand side. What was even stranger was that van Persie didn't play in his position a lot of the time, drifting into the centre and leaving the left side exposed.

Yes, the team did well against Porto—but you have to remember that Porto had two clear-cut chances to take the lead which they missed. I think that this team has a couple of mistakes in it before coming to grips with a game, and not many teams are going to be that generous.

Even against Hull City the Geovanni goal, for all its brilliance, was poorly defended. Not a single player was even attempting to hassle him out of possession before he took the shot.

The same happened with Grant Leadbitter's goal today. Alex Song gave away possession cheaply and simply didn't do enough. It was a great strike, but the fact is that there was yet another individual mistake.

This is a young team, but we have been saying that for three years. When will the players own up to their responsibilities?

Of course, all that will be tough when you're lead by a player like William Gallas.

I'm still very disappointed with the Arsenal captain for letting the team down on the pitch this season. Many have defended him on this site, but I've been particularly critical of his performances.

You lead by your performances and your behaviour on the pitch—does Gallas get a check mark next to both of those boxes?

I'm not so sure—and that is certainly not the answer you should be getting for the captain of a football team.

There was also a distinct lack of width in Arsenal's game today. Theo Walcott was the only player providing that width, and with Clichy having to defend a lot on the other side, he was barely going to get forward. The narrow game certainly reminded me of the 2006-07 season where Arsenal fans used to get so frustrated with the patient game.

I'm still also unsure about Robin van Persie's game. He didn't stick to his position today all that often, and looked pedestrian at times. If Wenger really wanted to go into a 4-5-1, he was better off playing Samir Nasri on the left side. To me, van Persie is on fire one day, and goes missing for a few games after that. He's been unfortunate with injuries, but his goals come sporadically and without consistency.

Of course, the final issue is the most obvious one—the team lacks a genuine ball winner. Every Arsenal fan was crying out for a holding midfield player and Arsene Wenger took a huge gamble by not getting one in. When you look at Leadbitter and Geovanni's goals, you can't help but think that a more solid midfielder may have had to say something about those goals—particularly the goal that Geovanni scored.

Is the team ready for winning the Premier League? My answer is slowly, but surely becoming a firm "no". That said, I'm quite confident of our chances of winning any of the other three competitions for the taking. The season is also 38 games long, so there could yet be many twists and turns in the Premier League itself.

As I said at the beginning of the season, it will be a great achievement if we win something this year. Every season seems to be deemed a "transition season" but this was supposed to be the season when everything was going to click.

Unfortunately for us though, things have not quite gone to plan.