'Are we ever going to win the League?' - An open letter to Arsène Wenger

Arsène Wenger needs to innovate if Arsenal are to challenge for trophies

Now that the 2014-15 football season is truly underway, Arsenal have managed only 2 wins in the premiership and started their Champions League campaign with a defeat against Dortmund followed up by a win against Galatasaray.

With last season’s FA Cup victory, a sense of relief was felt by the Arsenal supporters, and hope for the future was growing slowly but surely. Sadly, even with this new hope and some exciting new signings, Arsenal is still yet to hit the ground running. So, here is an open letter to EPL’s longest serving active manager.

Dear Arsène Wenger,

Your Arsenal has not begun the season in the ideal way and for this you must take large part of the blame. After the 9 year wait for silverware ended in last season, and as the funds freed up for potential high quality signings, Arsenal were expected to challenge for the premiership title along with the other big clubs. On the back of one of the better transfer windows in the recent past, Gooner fans would have expected an electrifying start to the new campaign which they are being deprived of due to the same old tactics.

Even though the season is a long one, you are losing precious ground to the front runners early on and it seems that now more than ever a change in strategy is a must.

One of the main reasons for the dismal start is that you are too adamant to implement changes even though it is as clear as day that things are not working. The same strategy is being used every week to prepare for each game irrespective of the opposition.

While it is understandable that one needs to concentrate on one’s own game as you have argued in the past, not paying heed to the opposition’s strengths and weaknesses is alarming. How can one imagine trying to win trophies with the same set of players and same strategy week in and week out?

With players such as Alexis Sanchez, Oxlade-Chamberlain, and Danny Welbeck in your ranks, Arsenal possess tremendous pace going into the final third, but where is this pace being utilized? With the likes of Ramsey, Wilshere, Cazorla, and Özil, all capable of pushing forward and creating goal scoring opportunities where are the goals? The problem resides in that there is no alternate strategy, no plan B or plan C.

Arsenal is lacking innovation in their game and as a result they have become far too predictive for all their opponents. You have those one-off matches where the team looks in complete control such as the game against Galatasaray, but then again these matches are too few for a club of Arsenal’s stature. In my personal opinion you need to spend more time studying your next opponents. Preparing each match with some tweaks here and there to adjust against each opposition can go a long way into turning those dull draws into precious wins. And for that, you would also need to get the balance of your team right.

Another key factor was this year’s transfer market. Yes, it was heartening to see that Arsenal went about their transfer business earlier than usual this summer. In doing so you were able to acquire some great talent in the form of Sanchez, Mathieu Debuchy, Calum Chambers and Danny Welbeck.

However, you should have continued in your pursuit for a quality holding midfielder. This was by far the most important position that needed strengthening. Arsenal’s current holding mid fielders Mikel Arteta and Mathieu Flamini are no longer capable of excelling in that position. Also, with the type of pressing game that Arsenal plays, it leaves them exposed to counter attacks. Hence, this was the ideal position to splurge the cash in the transfer market.

The news now is that you are planning to turn Abou Diaby into a holding mid-fielder. While this will give the team another option for the holding role, it doesn’t seem like the smartest way to address the problem at hand. A holding mid-fielder is a crucial position just in front of the back 4 and you must go into the transfer market looking for a specialist.

The addition of Welbeck although good as was proved against Galatasaray where he scored his first ever hat-trick, seems to be one for the future as is always the case with you. Arsenal needed to sign a proven goal scorer and with the likes of Diego Costa, Mario Mandžuki?, or Radamel Falcao on the market you should have chased after them to address the needs of the present. Arsenal has many talented play makers in its ranks, what you require is a genuine striker capable of finishing off the move with more and more goals. A physically strong striker is key for your team’s progression.

And of course, Arsenal needed a solid replacement in centerback after Thomas Vermaelen sought pastures new. Now, with Debuchy set to miss 3 months of actions, the vacancy is left to the young Calum Chambers, who incidentally is also your third choice centerback.

Another major concern for me is that of Özil’s position out wide. This is a player who has excelled as a central midfielder. Earlier, you decided against re-signing Cesc Fàbregas by stating that Özil had covered this position well.

The irony here however, is that Fàbregas plays in the center midfield role whereas you played Özil out wide for most of the matches at the start of the season. When you played him more centrally against Aston Villa, the difference was immediately seen in a burst of 3 fine minutes which took the game completely away from the hosts.

After the victory at Villa Park, you were quick to point out that Arsenal will now “go from strength to strength”. Unfortunately, not much has changed after that match and your team is still struggling for positive results. Sunday’s game against your bitter rivals Chelsea was a huge one and a win against José Mourinho and his tactics would have definitely helped regain some confidence for this Arsenal team.

Yet, once again you applied the same strategy of playing the safe passing game which you have been applying since the success in the early years of 2000s. What you are failing to combat is the physical game that most other title contenders bring to the fore and this is one of the biggest reasons as to why Arsenal keep on struggling despite having a star studded attack. You have to find a way to address this problem otherwise the team will keep getting trounced in the so called big matches.

Now it is really high time to iron out the flaws in this Arsenal team and more importantly in your tactics which need to be altered. Gone are the days where just controlled passing and possession would win matches. What ultimately remains to be seen is whether you are really ready to mix things up and implement new strategies in order to get back to the trophy winning days of the past. So, Mr. Wenger, with a new look team which along with the fans are hungrier than ever for more silverware, this is food for thought worth considering.