Grading Arsenal: a Position-by-Position Analysis of the Gunners' Current State

Only two EPL games and two Champions League games into the season, Arsenal already know one thing: they are in the middle of a crisis. With injuries, attitude problems, and Arsene Wenger's refusal to spend money, the horizon isn't looking too good for the Gunners.

Though it's too early for this to be very meaningful, after Arsenal drew with Newcastle and lost to Liverpool, they are tied at 14th in the league table. (Crisis!)

Plus, the Gunners have yet to score in a match in the Premier League so far, which isn't a good sign for a team that is highly regarded for its great attack. (Crisis!)

In the Champions League, however, Arsenal won both matches against Italian side Udinese by a score of 1-0 at home and 2-1 away. (Not so much a crisis!)

Let's take an in-depth look at all of the positions and identify where Arsenal's problems lie.

Goalkeeper

The only man who has played in goal so far this year is this man, Wojciech Szczesny. He has barely made any mistakes, and when he did, they were minor ones.

Neither of the two goals allowed by Arsenal were Szczesny's fault, and he made quite a few outstanding saves during both of the matches.

The biggest mistake that he made was against Newcastle, when a fight broke out at the Toon's end of the field. Instead of standing in his own goal and waiting for the fight to blow over, Wojciech sprinted down the whole pitch and berated the referee, earning himself a yellow card.

Szczesny is looking in great form to continue for the rest of the season. Arsenal fans are hoping that the Pole doesn't pick up an injury later this year. He saved a penalty kick beautifully in the second leg against Udinese.

His replacement would be fellow Pole Lukasz Fabianski, who played for quite a bit of last year's season. He proved to be a good shot-stopper, but was prone to making big blunders once in a while.

Arsenal would definitely rather have Szczesny than Fabianski.

Grade: A

Szczesny is solid.

Center Backs

OK, let's get one thing straight about Belgian center back Thomas Vermaelen: he is an absolute beast.

In Arsenal's two games in the EPL, Vermaelen was everywhere at once, covering the mistakes of fellow teammates by shifting over to make tackles.

He is strong and fearless, and made it extremely difficult for Newcastle and Liverpool to penetrate the Gunners down the middle. Both goals allowed by Arsenal were started off on the left flank, which isn't the Belgian's job.

Arsenal also have Laurent Koscielny, another Belgian defender. He is also strong and tall like Vermaelen, but he is a bit more mistake-prone. He is usually solid, but has made a few blunders in the past. However, Koscielny injured himself in the game against Liverpool.

The Gunners also have Johan Djourou, a Swiss international. He is very young and can perform the same tasks as Koscielny.

In my opinion, he is better than Koscielny, and both of them get a lot of playing time. Djourou got injured against Udinese, and it was identified as a hamstring problem. Luckily, he returned and played well in the second leg.

When Koscielny was injured against Liverpool, the Gunners were forced to play 18 year-old Ignasi Miquel, who was captain of the Arsenal reserves for a while. He wasn't terrible, but he looked extremely uncomfortable on the ball and isn't exactly the ideal option for the Gunners.

Grade: B+

Vermaelen is great and Djourou is good, but if one of them gets injured, there is no good backup.

Fullbacks

The right back for Arsenal is Frenchman Bacary Sagna, who is proving that he is a very worthy defender.

He is always there to make the tackle, in the right place at the right time and has held the Gunners' right flank effectively.

The one problem with Sagna is the following: When the Gunners are on the attack, the Frenchman tends to aimlessly launch cross after cross into the box. That almost always comes to no avail, in part because Arsenal doesn't have an attacker who can head the ball.

He can't do that anymore.

The left back position now belongs to Kieran Gibbs, and it has ever since Gael Clichy moved away to Manchester City. Gibbs is touted (a lot by Arsenal fans themselves) to be a fantastic young talent, and is expected to really perform in a few years.

Recently, in a Champions League qualifier against Udinese, Gibbs pulled his hamstring. Though it doesn't appear to be serious, he was dearly missed in the match against Liverpool.

When Gibbs is out, Arsenal are forced to play Sagna on the left and Finnish national team captain Carl Jenkinson on the right. Jenkinson doesn't have much experience playing in the EPL, so he tends to get quite nervous when he is pressured. 

Arsenal have no replacement left back.

Grade: C+

Sagna is good on defense, but the Gibbs injury means Jenkinson is forced to play. That isn't good.

Holding Midfielders

Alexandre Song is the main holding midfielder for Arsenal.

He is strong, extremely tough and isn't afraid to go in for challenges. However, sometimes the Cameroonian commits rash challenges and is often booked. Overall, though, he is solid. 

Right now, Song is serving a retrospective punishment that he didn't get in the Newcastle match for a stomp on the leg of Joey Barton.

Jack Wilshere is touted as one of the best (if not the best) youngsters in world football right now.

Though he is short, he is tough as nails. He is fearless and can use his body extremely well to shield the ball from opponents. Wilshere needs improvement on his strike, because when he shoots—a rarity—the shot tends to not have much power.

Wilshere got injured before the season even began, but he is expected to come back soon. In that time, he will be missed.

When both of these two aren't on the pitch, Wenger plays 19-year-old Emmanuel Frimpong. Though loaded with potential, Frimpong seems to have absolutely no sense of when to stop, as he keeps commiting foul after foul without thinking about the consequences. As a result, he got sent off against Liverpool for two yellows.

Song and Wilshere make a formidable couple, but when both of them are out, there is trouble.

Grade: B

It would be an A, but neither Song or Wilshere are able to play in the EPL right now.

Midfield

Cesc Fabregas left Arsenal over a week ago to the dismay of Gooners all around the world.

He was Arsenal's best midfielder, with great vision and the ability to play the ball exactly where he wanted it. Fabregas proved to be the incisiveness itself of the Arsenal squad, as his balls would set up teammates for goals.

Samir Nasri is no longer an Arsenal player, as he has just moved to Manchester City because they will more than double his current salary of ₤90,000 a week.

Also, the Frenchman publicly said that he wanted trophies.  Since Arsenal are having a hard time winning, City are a great team with whom he can win some.

Aaron Ramsey is currently the Gunners' main midfielder, and he was expected to be a great player. In 2009, however, Ramsey had his leg gruesomely broken in a tackle by Stoke City defender Ryan Shawcross.

His improvement has been clearly stunted since then, as he missed a whole year of his footballing career. While teammates like Jack Wilshere and Wojciech Szczesny were improving, he was sitting on the bench.

Though he was expected to be fantastic this year, Ramsey hasn't yet displayed the qualities that were anticipated. He didn't assist on any of Arsenal's goals, and hasn't really set up good chances for Robin van Persie.

Tomas Rosicky is also a component of the midfield. The Czech midfielder was another who was supposed to have talent, but he didn't use it as well as he could have while at Arsenal. He will probably see a lot of playing time this year with Fabregas gone.

Grade: C

With Fabregas gone, and Nasri almost gone, the Gunners need to look for a creative midfielder.

Wingers

Theo Walcott is fast.

Alex Song once said "Theo Walcott is like car." Yes, he is virtually a car. You would think that he uses this as a huge advantage, but often, Walcott finds himself too fast for the ball; he simply outruns it.

Walcott can be good at beating defenders for pace, but his final ball needs to be worked on. Often Theo sprints past defenders, creating a sense of expectation around the crowd, but then delivers a terrible cross. He gets a lot of criticism for this, and rightly so. Therefore he must improve his crosses and shots.

Walcott has scored two goals—both on breakaways—and one in each leg of the draw with Udinese.

Andrei Arshavin was purchased three years ago following his brilliant performance in the 2008 European Championships. Arshavin led Russia to the semifinal, which was much further than anyone expected them to get.

Arshavin has been pretty good at Arsenal, and a telling stat is that since his debut for the Gunners, he has had more assists than anybody on the squad. He has also scored a few goals, but setting up his teammates is his best quality.

This summer, Arsene Wenger bought Gervinho, an Ivorian winger with loads of talent. In his few games at Arsenal, he has looked pretty good due to his ability to beat defenders.

He also scored a brace on his debut. Gervinho was fantastic in the second leg against Udinese, and he beautifully assisted Robin van Persie's goal to put the Gunners level.

Also, Wenger purchased Japanese youngster Rio Miyaichi, about whom scouts and critics alike have been raving. Arsenal fans hope he will live up to his potential.

Further, Wenger bought English starlet Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain from Southampton. He is another youngster with loads of talent.

Grade: B

Gervinho can be very good, but Walcott needs to improve (despite the fact that he scored twice), as does Arshavin.

Striker(s)

Robin van Persie is Arsenal's main striker.

Before the 2010/2011 season, van Persie was believed to be "over the hill" or "past his prime." Last year, however, he proved all that wrong.

The Dutchman had an outstanding goalscoring run of eighteen goals in nineteen starts, and he finished in third place for the Golden Boot. He ended up third place behind Carlos Tevez and Dimitar Berbatov, as they had played in twelve and thirteen more games than him, respectively. 

Van Persie scored against Udinese, too.

Besides him, Carlos Vela is a man in contention for a spot in the Arsenal attack, but Arsene Wenger has been loaning him out of late. Earlier this year, he was loaned to West Bromwich Albion, and is now out at Real Sociedad.

Nicklas Bendtner is a potential starter. Though he has been heavily linked with many other clubs, including Stoke City, he is very talented. He has a reputation for passing off easy chances, but still the Dane is a man who could be very good.

Marouane Chamakh was bought in the summer of 2009 after a successful career at Bordeaux where he teamed with French midfielder Yoann Gourcuff.

Though expectations were high for the Moroccan, he turned out to be a one-dimensional player; he could only use his head. With the ball at his feet, he couldn't really do much. Chamakh must work on his shooting skills.

Wenger bought Costa Rican youngster Joel Campbell this summer, and he is supposed to be a great player in the future.

Grade: A-

Robin van Persie is excellent, but Bendtner, Chamakh, and Campbell must step up.

Conclusion

If you didn't want to read all those slides, here is all of it in a nutshell: CRISIS.

Some of the positions have one excellent player, but the person alongside whom he is playing isn't so great.

Let's take Thomas Vermaelen, for instance. He is one of the best center backs in the league (if not in the world), but he is now playing alongside Ignasi Miquel, who quite frankly is not the ideal man (boy?) for a big club like Arsenal.

The midfield is in disarray, because Aaron Ramsey has not lived up to the high expectations set by Gooners. Tomas Rosicky hasn't fulfilled anything either, and Emmanuel Frimpong's head is not in the right place.

The only two positions that are good are the goalkeeper and the strikers. Szczesny and van Persie are both solid players whom Arsene Wenger is very lucky to have in his squad.

There is only one way to solve these problems: buy players.

Wenger must buy one or two center backs, maybe a left back and a creative midfielder if he wants the Gunners to finish in the top four. Of course going on a shopping spree isn't something that Le Professeur normally likes to do, but if he wants to finish decently this year, that may be the only option.

Overall Grade: C-