7 Years. This season could see the 7th season that Arsenal Football Club have gone without a piece of silverware (excluding the Emirates Cup of course), the question that many Arsenal fans ask is where has it gone wrong?
Every season there is an Arsenal squad that flows with ability, fluent passing and probably plays some of the most fashionable football on English TV.
However, in recent years Arsenal have not had that influential player in the centre of the field, the player who leads from the front that the others follow within the team. During the last 4-5 years Wenger has brought in players with 'potential', you look at the likes of Ramsey, Wilshere and Walcott and ask how long is too long? They cannot be simply labelled as inexperienced they have all had international experience and now should be labelled as leaders.
When you look at the invincible squad of 2003-04, there were leaders throughout the team; Lehmann, Campbell, Vieira and Henry. There was a different mentality with these players compared to the Arsenal of today, they had grit and determination no matter what the scoreline was. I watched the game in Milan last week and never before have I seen an Arsenal teams heads drop as quickly as theirs did.
Patrick Vieira was, In my opinion one of the greatest centre midfielders the premier league has ever seen, he had a back-bone, he was a leader, he wouldn't let players heads drop once they are 1 or 2 goals down.
When you look at the likes of Song, Wilshere and Ramsey you see skilled footballers, but you currently do not see leaders, that is the difference of the team of 2003-04 compared to the team of 2011-12, there is no leader. You can look at the defence, Vermaelen and Mertesacker, but that then comes down to consistency, the 03-04 team went undefeated due to consistency, it wasn't luck.
Any Arsenal fan that I speak to agrees that Arsene Wenger wants to save his money so that he can bring in the next 'future star', but during the time that this has taken place opposition teams such as Chelsea, Manchester United and Tottenham have moved on bought big and can now most importantly, lift silverware.
The effects of the loss of Nasri and Fabregas this season have been clear, Arsenal have struggled to keep the pace with the top 3 in Manchester United, Manchester City and Tottenham. Arsenal panic bought in the final two days of the season once they realised that without Nasri and Fabregas they were in big trouble. In the final two days of the summer transfer window Arsenal bought 4 players, Arteta, Mertesacker, Andre Santos and Park, any football fan would agree that none of these replacements even come close in ability to Nasri and Fabregas.
Now, with Arsenal looking at a 7th season without a trophy and at risk of losing out on a Champions League spot, will they be able to keep hold of their prize possession? Robin Van Persie is one of the hottest centre forwards in world football and a number of European teams will come in this season with bids for him that is not in doubt, the question is can Arsenal afford to lose RVP?
Next season will see the likes of Manchester United, Manchester City, Chelsea and Liverpool all come with stronger squads, the league will be tougher and with the risk of not having Champions League football who would want to go to Arsenal when they could join a team that would have Champions League football?
Will Arsenal spend this summer? The answer is, they have to, they cannot afford another trophy-less season. A decision needs to be made, whether the same excuses can be used, is it the Manager? Is it the players? An overhaul has to take place in order for Arsenal to reach the likes of the 'Invincible' status they once had. How long before change?
