Arsenal fans were eagerly waiting to see their newly signed stars Alexis Sanchez, Mathieu Debuchy, Welbeck, David Ospina and Calum Chambers. It did not take long for the new Gunners to show the Arsenal fans what they were capable of doing. They all played big roles in shaping Arsenal’s season. The new shaped Gunners are a stronger outfit compared to the one that was battling with Everton for a fourth-place finish last season. However, they must take some important steps if they are to reclaim their position among European Elite teams.
Below are 5 steps Arsenal needs to take to achieve this feat
#1 Consistency
Inconsistency was Arsenal’s major bane last season; they started the season on a poor note conceding 12points lead to Chelsea after 11 games. Their performances in the second half of the season were much better. They pulled up strong performances which put them among the best performers in Europe and the best in England so far in 2015. The importance of a good start was demonstrated at the end of the season where they trailed the champion (Chelsea) by the same numbers of point they lost at the beginning of the (12).
Arsenal’s inconsistencies extended to the champions league where they were eliminated in the knock out stage by Monaco. Old habits were hard to eradicate in Europe as yet again, Arsenal were their own worse enemies. Despite being widely expected to reach the quarter-finals having been given a favorable draw in the round of sixteen vs Monaco. The Ligue 1 Runners up won the first leg at home (3-1), as Arsenal’s 2-0 win at the Emirate was rendered useless. That summed up Arsenal’s fifth consecutive elimination in the knock out phase of the Champions League.
The FA cup victory confirmed arsenal as the most successful club in the competition. Wenger needs to add motivational skill to his job description, and push his players to their optimum in every game.
#2 Balance in the midfield
Arsenal can boast of having several skillful attacking midfielders in their team, but the same cannot be said of the defensive midfield position. The impact of Francis Coquelin was reminiscent of Mathieu Flamini’s impact in his heydays. With age catching up on Flamini and Arteta becoming more prone to injuries, it becomes necessary for Arsenal to bring in another defensive midfielder. There are reports that Wenger is courting Monaco’s Geoffrey Kondogbia and Morgan Schneiderlin of Southampton the later seems to be a better option.
#3 Intimidating striker
One of the strongest points of a striker is the ability to incite fear among opposition defenders. Arsenal’s Oliver Giroud is a good striker who knows how to put the ball in the back of the net. Giroud scored 18 goals and assisted 4 in 35 appearances. if you compare him to Chelsea’s Diego Costa, who scored 20 goals and made 5 assists in 37 appearances you realize there is no much difference between them. The major difference, however, is that even when Costa doesn’t score, he batters the opposition defense, runs the channels, and creates space and opportunities. But if Giroud doesn’t score he tends to be anonymous. Arsenal needs to buy an effective striker to compete with Giroud, with Milan seeming to beat Arsenal to the signing of Jackson Martinez, Arsenal must take full advantage of the transfer window.
#4 Cohesion and #5 Leadership
Throughout the first part of the 2014/15 season, we saw a disjointed Arsenal team who do not know how to play as a unit. They appear and disappear in games, but they showed a significant improvement in the second half of the season. Arsenal’s stats in 2015 is very impressive, if you analyze deeply, however, you will discover that most of the Arsenal players do not know what it takes to play for a top club, the absence of a real leader in the team makes it quite obvious. Wenger’s men must learn how to control games and take responsibility or else they would continue to play second feedle to the likes of Chelsea, Man City and Manchester United.
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