To Be or Not To Be Champions

Good morning for some, and evening for most

I haven't wrote a blog for some time. I've had plenty of subject matter but no motivation. I think I am at the point of the season where I am suffering from Arsenal fatigue. I want so desperately for the team to play well, and to do so consistently that when they don't I take it personal. I feel like they are failing me.

I went so far as to prepare a blog about our captain, and his leadership failures. I was so pissed about the loss at Porto that I was willing to bring him into it. After some reflection I still feel his captaincy is more of an appeasement than an appointment. Simply put, Cesc is not a verbal leader nor will he be that type [right now, maybe later] but with these youthful guys in the side he really needs to do more to get into them, lift their spirits and give direction. I felt that he went absent after Fabianski's first error, and then again after the 2nd. Cesc is the on-field manager and often times I think the team looks to him and he is anonymous. If we are to challenge in these last 11 matches he really needs to provide on-field direction, by example but also with some passion and urgency.

Moving forward, and after this weekend I feel that Ramsey is ahead of Denilson in terms of selection. Ramsey did have 2 major errors that nearly resulted in goals but Denilson has had just as many throughout the campaign. If we're gonna have players who error lets at least have one that is somewhat dangerous going forward. Ramsey can spot a pass, and is not afraid to shoot while Denilson cannot pass and start a counter-attack. Denilson continues to pass lateral or backward; he actually kills our speed on the counter. To Denilson's credit he has had some nice goals but Ramsey has also but in far less appearances. In short, it's time to drop Denilson as Ramsey brings more to the side. Denilson has had his chance and as @ALopezEsq stated, "Denilson is the most mediocre Brazilian" and we don't have time for mediocrity.

Diaby is good. Diaby is good with a string of games. Diaby makes some really stupid decisions, but is rarely fit enough to really hone in on improving in this category. The long and short of the Diaby experience is that he is not fit long enough to provide consistency in the squad. What a shame.

At the end of the day the Arsenal back line is fragile. We don't have a solid goalkeeper, never mind Average Al's clean sheet on the weekend. Clichy has improved immensely and will be crucial in these last matches as Traore has proved to be fragile and Silvestre is past it. The Vermaelen-Gallas pairing has been good throughout the season so my hope is that Gallas takes the time necessary to heal his calf and come back for the remainder of the term. Sol has been a good pick-up, but doesn't have Capi-pace. I think we can survive a few matches w/o Capi but we need him back now, not later. Lastly, I think Sagna has been shocking in the last few matches but we've been fortunate to have an emergent Eboue. Eboue can cross; Sagna cannot. Now that we have an actual target in the middle in the form of B52 we might be able to convert some of those right and left back crosses.

So, at the end of the day, we enter a do-or-die period. I think Arsenal can lose one more match and maybe get a draw ending with 84pts. I really think losing is not an option, though. Ideally, I would like for us to end at 88 but 86 would be solid. Fortunately, Arsenal's remaining matches are against the bottom-half of the table with big matches versus Spuds and Shiteh mixed in. Of course, the matches versus bottom dwellers are tricky because they often chose to kick us out of the match. In terms of quality we are unmatched. In contrast, both IOU and Chavs have matches versus top-half opponents and have to play each other plus Villa, Liverpool, Shiteh and Spuds. Points will be dropped and/or shared so really Arsenal need to focus on their results and just hope for the best. I truly believe that if we are meant to be champions it will be. I am forever optimistic that things will work out for those who play the right way, and do the right things. Certainly, and eventually the Arsenal way must come to fruition with a championship.

Oh, and with some luck we'll see RVP for the last string of games. RVP may not play but his sheer presence may be the morale boost the team needs. Sometimes a psychological boost is all one needs to push on and i'd love to see him come back and offer that talismanic influence.

Everything to play for and it continues at Stoke. Here we go.

ArsenaLOS