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HOW DOES ONE VALUE FOOTBALL CLUBS VERSUS PLAYERS?

Don McMahon

I am beginning to think that partisan insanity and owners’ fiscal irresponsibility have become a fashionable, Football-wide tradition where master negotiators like Wenger are ridiculed and mocked for their parsimony and astute bargaining by all and sundry.

Behind this obvious stupidity and road to perdition lies an even more profound malaise: the lack of balance and sense of proportion on display by Club supporters and administrators alike.

Fickle AFC fanboys (c0mmonly known as the Anti-Arsenal Arsenal) are baying, once again for Wenger’s head and the BoD to be drawn and quartered for their apparent ¨unwillingness¨ to spend in the last transfer window. These lesser lights fail to see that, despite losing Song and RVP, we have actually strengthened the squad from last year.

The front line has two new talents in Podolski and Giroud, along with the existing stalwarts of Walcott, Chamakh, and Gervinho and are now much stronger, despite the loss of RVP.

The midfield is vastly improved with Arshavin, Cazorla, Rosicky, Ramsey, Wilshere, Coquelin, Oxlade-Chamberlain and Frimpong offering us both skill and depth.

Finally, we have the defence with Sagna, Jenkinson, Santos, Mertesacker, Vermaelen, Gibbs and Koscielny providing us, so far, with an almost watertight back 4.  OK, after losing to the Chavs in front of our fans..we are less than watertight, but we are a cohesive attacking and defending machine with two more convincing wins since then.

That leads me to the crux of my question. There is so much emphasis on individual players coming and going or being classed as deadwood or worse, ¨flops¨ by the media,  and anti-Wenger lodge members and the AAA, that we overlook a crucial point by focussing so narrowly on individual players. That is; the value of individual ¨stars¨versus the combined value of the team as a whole.

Was RVP more valuable than all his other team-mates last season? Did he rate higher than 10 other players because he scored 30 goals for us? Are we doomed to despair, disaster and destruction because one or two so-called crucial players have left us once again? Did losing Cesc, Nasri, Adebayor, Henry, Clichy and now RVP and Song doom us to mid-table ignominy? Well, despite the rantings of our mob that claims doom is nigh….we always seem to do as well as or better than predicted. Why is that?

Here are my reasons for stating that we’ll be better than expected and predicted by the doom sayers, once again this season:

a) The Arsenal, as a collective of very good and motivated players, is over the long-term, better than a collection of superstars who are mercenaries, any day of the week.

b) The entire chemistry of the team changes dramatically when key players like RVP, Song, Cesc, Nasri and Clichy move on but not necessarily for the worse. We have a new style and more options with our current squad and are less a ¨one-man¨team as the doubters and media hacks like to occasionally try to remind us.

c) The ¨absence¨ of our ¨stars¨ allow those who were in their shadows for so long or who have come in as unknowns to shine themselves as we have now seen with Diaby, Cazorla, Podolski, and Jenkinson, Gibbs, Gervinho in the past.

d) We become more unpredictable as we get in new blood….most EPL teams are trying to decipher a new Arsenal which no longer relies solely on a tippy-tappy, pass the ball into the net style of play. we can score from 30 yards out just as easily as we can off the boot of Giroud from 3 yards out.

e) With the additional depth, Wenger has a constant ¨dilemma¨ that every manager would love to have. Who does he start in almost every position for each game? Only City, Chelsea and United share this dilemma and that may not remain for long once FFP regulations enter into full force.

f) The young players coming through or in the wings are provided more opportunities to show their stuff once we lose some of our regulars to injury or transfers. Coquelin, Miguel, Frimpong, Mannone, Gnarby, and Jenkinson are just a few of the many talented understudies who are adding strength and energy to our dynamism.

g) Sometimes losing a few ¨stars¨ can change the mood in the team for the better. While we have heard repeatedly that Song had some problems with attitude, we may also question what influence Nasri, Adebayor and RVP’s machinations had on the team’s confidence and unity. Arsenal don’t seem to be overly suffering from the loss of such stars and in fact have solidified areas that were issues in past seasons with such stars in the team.

So, in answer to my initial question, the response is simple and self-evident; No one individual is bigger than the Club and no one loss is a harbinger of anything other than what the team as a whole allows to happen. AFC have decided, as a team, to forget the past and drive forward together…..will Walcott join them or fall by the wayside….Wenger has made it crystal clear that he must lead,follow or get out of the way……that is the Arsenal way!