You hear the word 'platform' all the time in football.
We are constantly told that this victory could be a platform for
the remainder of the season, or that a clean sheet is a
platform to build on.
Yet when Arsenal's players talked in such terms after May's
FA Cup final victory over Hull City, who they meet again on
Saturday, it was difficult not to take them seriously. After all,
they had just ended a nine-year trophy drought and with the
coffers swelling with cash to be lavished on new signings it
seemed the sky was the limit.
“This is a platform for us,” said Jack Wilshere at the time.
“We failed in the cup final against Birmingham a few years
ago. No disrespect to the Carling Cup but the FA Cup means
more to us as players.
“The last time I won a cup it was the FA Youth Cup but this is
a bit different. It's the first one for many of us and hopefully
it's a platform.”
That theme continued into pre-season, with captain Mikel
Arteta stating in July that more was expected this season.
“Hopefully it's the platform we can build on, because I think
this club has to be aiming for much bigger trophies and be
much more consistent. And hopefully that's the road we
take.”
Yet as Arsenal prepare to face Hull again, many are
wondering just how much has changed.
There have certainly been improvements, with the team
undoubtedly stronger than last season.
Alexis Sanchez is a superb addition, while the €20 million
signing of Danny Welbeck made perfect sense. Mathieu
Debuchy, before his ankle injury, was proving that he was a
more than capable replacement for Bacary Sagna while David
Ospina will provide Wojciech Szczesny with competition.
The revelation has been Calum Chambers, a player who
insiders at Arsenal have admitted is better than they realised
when they paid Southampton €20m for him.
Arsene Wenger has also got tough on his players, unleashing
a verbal volley at three of them - including Alexis - for their
part in Chelsea's first goal a fortnight ago. The Frenchman
has tweaked his gameplan for the big matches and felt he had
been let down by individuals.
NO MORE MR NICE GUY
How Wenger is getting tough to fuel Arsenal's title charge
It is part of a wider revolution in the manager's thinking, but
as Sir Chips Keswick made extremely clear, he has the full
backing of the board to do whatever he likes anyway: "If he
has a plan, we back it," he said. "If he doesn't, we keep
quiet."
The concern, then, is that not enough has changed. A high-
class defensive midfielder should have been purchased, while
going into the season with just six senior defenders always
looked an extremely risky strategy.
Then there are the injuries. Twice after the draw with
Tottenham Wenger said 'I don't understand' - or words to
that effect - why Aaron Ramsey and Arteta had suffered
injuries in that game.
Both were well-rested, neither was in the 'red zone' that they
would have been at the end of last season, yet both suffered
muscular injuries.
Next up was Mesut Ozil. The German's position in the team
was coming under intense scrutiny due to Wenger's
reluctance to play him in his preferred No.10 position – he
was outstanding when selected there against Aston Villa but
the manager wants him to build up his fitness on the wing –
but for the next three months he will be sidelined with a knee
injury.
Arsenal's record signing completed the 90 minutes in the
defeat at Chelsea and left for international duty, where the
injury was scanned and a diagnosis given by the German
national team via Twitter, which does not reflect well on
Arsenal.
Ozil's injury will at least save Wenger more headlines and
questions over whether he should drop the German or switch
him to a more central position, with the likelihood being that
Jack Wilshere - one of the biggest positives of the campaign
to date - will be given extra responsibility.
But the fact that Arsenal are once again suffering an injury
crisis – physioroom.com states their playing staff have
suffered an incredible 28 separate injuries since that FA Cup
victory – is cause for grave concern. Wenger has promised a
thorough investigation into the causes, and Shad Forsythe
was brought in over the summer, but no other club suffers as
Arsenal do in this regard.
Already this season Arsenal have used 21 players in the
Premier League alone, just one fewer than the Invincibles of
2003-04 required over the entire season – a statistic that will
worry Wenger.
Other old failings were visible in the defeats to Borussia
Dortmund and Chelsea, too. Arteta and then Flamini were
over-run, with Nemanja Matic in the latter game providing an
exemplary example of how the holding midfield role should be
played.
It is perhaps unfair to compare the duo to Patrick Vieira and
Gilberto, but their stats during the Invincible season make for
interesting reading. In the 03-04 season they made nine
tackles a game between them. So far this season Arteta and
Flamini make 4.5.
They also created 1.49 chances per game between them,
while Arteta and Flamini average 0.9.
Arteta and Flamini have higher pass completion percentages
– 94% compared to 82.5% - but there is always the feeling
that they are guilty of 'sterile possession', with Jose Mourinho
intimating in the past he was happy to allow Arteta to have
the ball as he was unable to kill Chelsea with his range of
passing.
Questions are also being asked over whether Szczesny has
progressed as might have been expected – his save
percentage of 62.5 is the lowest in a single season so far in
his career – but it is hoped Ospina's arrival will bring the
best out of him.
That there is no top-class competition for Per Mertesacker
and Laurent Koscielny must also be queried, particularly
when Chelsea and Manchester City added Kurt Zouma and
Eliaquim Mangala to their ranks this summer.
And there's the rub: while Arsenal have improved Chelsea and
City have done so to an even greater degree.
The season could well be defined by Chelsea's purchase of a
player Arsenal wanted in Diego Costa and one they turned
down in Cesc Fabregas.
Former Arsenal hero Fabregas has racked up as many assists
as Wenger's whole team, while Costa has been ruthless in
front of goal, converting 47% of his chances. The Gunners'
conversion rate this season is 15% - down 2% on last season.
The ruthlessness that saw Mourinho purchase Willian from
under Tottenham's noses last summer does not appear to be
in Wenger's make-up. In signing Fabregas he would also
have been striking Chelsea a significant blow, but he
continued to put his faith in Ozil.
The AGM threw up more questions about Stan Kroenke's
ownership of the club and whether he intends to run it for
personal profit, but there is around €75m that could have
been spent on players.
And as Arsenal have scored fewer goals and had fewer shots
in their first seven games of this season compared to the final
seven of 2013-14, it is clear this side is not operating at full
capacity quite yet.
When they do it may well be enough to haul them past a
Manchester United side rebuilding under Louis van Gaal, a
Liverpool team coping with the loss of Luis Suarez, an
Everton side that are struggling to hit the heights of last
season and a Tottenham team that are frustratingly
inconsistent.

I guess u didn't read all these before pasting. Boring story of a boring team, no disrespect.