ARSENAL SANDWICHED BETWEEN GREATNESS AND A FIGHT FOR FOURTH PLACE

FOR the past five years Arsenal have been a team in transition. The team Arsene Wenger had built up by the turn of the century was nothing short of outstanding. He had the skill and trickery of Robert Pires, the guile of Patrick Vieira and the flair of Thierry Henry.

All have since left the club along with Ashley Cole, Kolo Toure, Gilberto Silva and the retirements of Dennis Bergkamp and Ray Parlour. Wenger has spent these last few years building the team back up to a standard which he believes can bring the glory days back to the club.

They have struggled to find the funds for him to go out and buy ready made quality and so has been forced to bring in younger talent and rear them - something which is not unfamiliar to the Frenchman.
Newer first team players such as Abou Diaby, Samir Nasri and Nicklas Bendtner all clearly have the talent to play in an Arsenal team but consistency is a key issue with all three. Nasri, compared recently to Pires by Arsene Wenger, undoubtedly needs to score more goals to complete his all round game (Nasri has netted five times in 32 games this season).

This season, in many ways, has been a disaster for the Gunners. They failed to win any silverware for the fifth year running, have been comprehensively beaten (in terms of score line) by both of their main rivals, lost to North-London rivals Tottenham who at this stage of the season can still mathematically finish ahead of Arsenal, and finish the season with a whimper and an injury table full of what might have been.
Now, Arsenal are sandwiched between having that little bit extra and winning the league title, or dropping in standard and having to fight for fourth place. Who knows, that little bit extra could have been and probably would have been a fully fit Robin van Persie and Cesc Fabregas all season. Football fans are terrible for dwelling on the past and what could have been - none more so than the long suffering fans of Arsenal Football Club.

Those who see a team on the edge of greatness, but who fall at the second to last hurdle, losing many brave men along the way. Those who become frustrated with their managers lack of activity in the transfer market - but know they could never stay mad at him for too long. Those who feel like tearing their hair out when the team insist on their one dimensional "pass it into the net" style of play - but not one fan would have it any other way.

Arsenal play beautiful football - everybody knows that, but the two games against Barcelona were - to use an old cliché - like watching men against boys. They were taught a lesson in how to play free-flowing attacking football over those two legs, and it hurt. Winning just one game (a last ditch 1-0 against Wolves) in their last six including the two against Barca, Arsenal's season has come to a damp end like a whoopee cushion running out of air. After the first big loud noise, there’s only enough air left to make a small hissing sound at the end.

If Arsenal are to push on next season and reach that much anticipated trophy which has eluded them for so long, Wenger must delve into those deep pockets and find the funds to bring in two or three top quality additions to his squad - and hope that next season brings a little more luck with injuries.

UNDER FIRE RAFA MUST STAY

In January 2008, I wrote an article about why Rafael Benitez shouldn't be sacked at Liverpool. Almost two years and no trophies later, I still feel the same way.

The Spaniard currently has a higher win percentage than Bill Shankly or Bob Paisley and the highest of any manager since Kenny Dalglish. Granted - they all won more trophies, but at the current pace with which he has moved Liverpool forward since 2004, winning the Champions League along the way, the man deserves at least a bit of room for error.

In the top flight, unless you have a billionaire owner who will spend money no matter who the manager is, the key to success is stability. Since the Premier League, only teams who have had a long serving manager (Arsenal, Manchester United) or have spent millions on players have won the league (Blackburn, Chelsea).

Sir Alex Ferguson didn't win a thing until 4 years into his tenure, and there were calls for him to be sacked after finishing 11th twice in his first three seasons. Keeping Sir Alex was arguably the best thing United have ever done. I believe that Benitez has the potential to be a great manager.

In the last season or so he has made one or two mistakes. Buying and then selling Robbie Keane was probably one of the biggest and then failing to find a replacement even more so. Liverpool have been struggling with injuries this season but that cannot be blamed on Rafa, although an injury-prone Alberto Aquilani is not nearly an adequate replacement for the departed Xabi Alonso.

All great managers make mistakes. To name a few - Fergie has made a few baffling decisions in his time. One, to sell David Beckham arguably in his prime, keeping Fabien Barthez in goal for so long, and the signings of Eric Djemba-Djemba and Kleberson in the same transfer window.

Arsene Wenger, a man who can pick a diamond from nowhere in the transfer market has also made a few mistakes - Francis Jeffers and Richard Wright to name two.

After Liverpool's exit from the Champions League, the club are in serious trouble of ending their season before Christmas having already been eliminated from the Carling Cup at the hands of Arsenal. Currently 7th place in the league and 5 points off that all important fourth place. If they are to finish there by the end of the season they need to start picking up the points - and fast - which makes this weekends game an absolute must win.

So....a nice easy one then...a passion filled, high tempo Merseyside derby! Good Luck Rafa!

YOUR CESC IS ON FIRE

Arsenal's Cesc Fabregas has been in the best form I have ever seen him this season. The Spaniard has been around for years and it's easy to forget the the Gunners captain is still just 22 years old.

So far this season he has managed to triple his goal tally for the whole of last season and is currently just four away from his career best total for a season to date - 13.

The little midfield maestro has looked in fine form this season, despite personal problems at home, and he hasn't let this affect his attitude on the pitch.

In his last 3 games alone, he has scored 4 goals, including that superb solo-effort against North London rivals Spurs, and it seems that Cesc has turned goal scorer rather than the assistant we are used to.

The good news for Arsenal is that, whereas in past seasons they may have needed Fabregas as one of their only options to provide a killer pass, they now have an abundance of wonderfully gifted players like Andrei Arshavin, Samir Nasri, Tomas Rosicky and Robin van Persie who can now provide those passes for him.

With the injury to van Persie last weekend, the game against Sunderland this weekend will go some way to providing proof of Arsenal's strength-in-depth and their title credentials. Last year, given the injury list they have at the moment, they would no-doubt have completely flopped and ended up out of the Champions League spots.

This time it's different; Arsene Wenger has instilled a huge amount of confidence, along with a bit more of that "steeliness" they have been missing away from home in the last few years with the signing of Thomas Vermaelen, and the emergence of Alex Song as the new midfield general.

With the former also amongst the goals this season alongside his defensive partner William Gallas, it seems that Arsenal can't stop scoring. Wenger's men have notched up 55 goals already with 17 different goalscorers in all competitions.

If Fabregas can continue his fine streak then I have no doubts that he can fire the Gunners straight to the top of the Premier League in the next few weeks with a home game against Chelsea and a game in hand to come.

These are exciting times to be an Gooner!

ALWAYS RELY ON MARADONA FOR A LAUGH AT THE WORLD CUP

You can always rely on Maradona for a laugh at a World Cup finals. Whether that laugh is in utter disbelief at his cheek when having scored a goal with his hand, he then decides that he wasn't satisfied enough with cheating, he had to then prove a point by running 60-yards through the England defense to score the "goal of the century". At least this time around the laughter might actually be somewhat jovial.

After Argentina coach Diego Maradona's foul-mouthed outburst last month - I found myself wearing a very smug smile. While he was undoubtedly a brilliant player, one of the best there has ever been - apart from his obvious arrogance - that goal.

The fact that he has single-handedly managed to reduce a team - packed with world class superstars to that which scraped through to World Cup qualification - losing 6-1 to Bolivia along the way - simply makes it even more fun. To say that I revel in the plight of one of the world's greatest ever footballers seems a little harsh, but come on! It's Diego Maradona after all.

One thing amazes me though. I doubt that I am alone in being anything but surprised by the mans utter failings as a manager and after reducing a team ranked number 1 in the world in June 2008 to 6th, and managing his way to a record equaling defeat for his home nation, Julio Grondona must be more than just a manager short of a world class football team if he is to allow Maradona to lead Argentina to next years World Cup. Not that I'm going to lose any sleep if the Argies completely flop like France in 2002.

Talking of France, I wonder if Raymond Domenech has a very large bet with "El Pibe del Oro" to see who can produce the worst team out of the most talent. I'm fairly sure that between the two of them they could easily make Barcelona look like Burton Albion (apologies to Albion fans).

The two managers between them have an unbelievable amount of talent available, namely Messi, Tevez, Aguero, Mascherano, Henry, Anelka and Ribery. I don't know about you, but on Football Manager I did much better with them, surely its easier in real life? On Football Manager, you can't give extremely motivational after-match speeches filled with expletives. I've always thought the game was missing a real cutting edge like that.

On a serious note, Maradona is extremely arrogant, very rude, and an awful manager. Nb: Drugs not mentioned in this article. That aside, I am pleased that he is being allowed to manage at the World Cup, both by FIFA and the Argentina Football Association. It means we will still have someone to laugh at after Germany fluke their way through to another final and England are knocked out on penalties by Portugal after Cristiano Ronaldo dives to win a 95th minute penalty to even the game up despite only 3 minutes time being added on by the fourth official...and breathe.

Picture: One of those faces...

BAFFLED BRUCE DEFENDS BECKHAM DECISION

Sunderland manager Steve Bruce has today defended his decision to name former England captain David Beckham as his man of the match in his country's 3-0 World Cup qualifying victory over Belarus.


Viewers and pundits alike were astonished by his decision to hand the accolade to the LA Galaxy star, who had only played 35 minutes of the match. It seems even Fabio Capello was a little taken aback by the award, likening it to Barack Obama's winning of the Nobel Peace price just months after he was sworn in as US President.

However, former Manchester United captian Bruce, who was working for ITV as a pundit for the game, has claimed he chose the right man and is shocked by the "carry-on" that has followed the game.

He said: "It's incredible. When I was in the stadium, he came on to the pitch and let's be fair, for 50 minutes, it was dull, boring, uninteresting. That's the way I looked at it.

"David Beckham comes on to the scene, the whole stadium in unison rises to him and I thought, 'Blooming heck! Wow! Fantastic! Now Dave, what have you got?'.

"For me, for the 35, 40 minutes, he lit up Wembley, the way his attitude was, and I suppose that's why Mr Capello keeps picking him to go into the squad, to do something like that for him.

"Maybe he can't do it for 90 minutes. However, for me, he had an impact. That's the way I saw it, that's the way I called it."

Nothing to do with the United connection then Steve? It would seem that two goals is no longer enough to get you the man of the match award. Peter Crouch will have to buy his own bubbly this weekend.

SUPER SUMMER SIGNINGS

It would appear that Arsene Wenger has done it again. Recently named Arsenal.com player of the month for the second time in a row - Thomas Vermaelen is quickly proving himself a world class player and almost undoubtedly the signing of the summer.

You can throw the who's who of footballing talent into the mix and suggest that the signing of the summer is Cristiano Ronaldo, or Kaka or Xabi Alonso. At £80million, £55million, and £30million respectively it is hard to see how an overall bargain has been achieved there. At a mere £10million and a goal return of 5 from defence already this season, Vermaelen has shown that the megabucks are not always needed.

Elsewhere in the Premier League, Darren Bent, who i believe has always been a quality player, is proving a snip at £16.5million. With a return of 7 goals in the league already this season, Bent is starting to show some of the form he once had with Charlton. At Tottenham, he had found his chances in the first team extremely limited, largely spent warming the bench for Robbie Keane or Dimitar Berbatov.

Steve Bruce has done some excellent summer business at the Stadium of Light, not only has he secured a guaranteed goal scorer and almost perfect strike partner for Kenwyne Jones, he has also grabbed one of the most promising English central midfielders in the country in Lee Cattermole, and Lorik Cana, one of the most solid midfield rocks in the French league last season for a combined £11million. With finds such as Wilson Palacios (albeit with a little help from Arsene Wenger), Maynor Figueroa and Hugo Rodallega, Bruce has already built a reputation for finding hidden gems.

Players like Sebastien Bassong and Alberto Aquilani may prove in time to be huge signings for Tottenham and Liverpool respectively provided they can stay injury free, but until now Thomas Vermaelen has certainly been this summer's "Super Signing".

EXPERIMENTATION TIME FOR PROFESSOR CAPELLO

The luxury of qualifying early for South Africa next summer gives Fabio Capello a chance to experiment and sift out some of the squad's aging deadwood. The next qualifier against Belarus will give younger players the opportunity to experience the competitive edge which a friendly can't provide.

With up and coming players like Ashley Young and Gabriel Agbonlahor of Aston Villa and Jack Wilshere and Kieron Gibbs of Arsenal, Capello can now experiment with different strike partnerships, which up until now have failed to shine.

Against Ukraine, players like Rio Ferdinand and Emile Heskey once again showed that they have perhaps been handed one too many opportunities to prove their worth. Now it is time to try something new. Heskey looked hopeless on the ball, hardly winning anything in the air, and running into trouble on the ground. Even against Croatia, he made a strong case against himself, missing two clear cut openings. The huge problem with Emile Heskey that many people have is his lack of goals. The last two games have only moved to strengthen that view.

Rio Ferdinand, this season, has almost looked like fish out of water. Early signs were there to be seen - agaisnt Manchester City - giving the ball away, and failing to prevent Craig Bellamy from scoring from a tight angle. In Dnipropetrovsk, Ferdinand once again showed that he was not at his best, he almost looked clueless as the ball came over the top. He looked like a Sunday league player caught short because he had stitch from the beer he drank the night before.

If Capello thinks we can win the World Cup with Rio in defence and Heskey up top, he is very much mistaken. Time for a change, only two small changes, but he needs to start the experimentation now...before it's too late.