Ever had the feeling you have lived this scenario before, again and again and mind-numbingly again? If the thought went through the minds of Arsenal's players as they woke up this morning after a long and cheerless journey back from Bolton, it would hardly be surprising. There must be something maddeningly familiar about a season of same old, same old.
As Stan Kroenke could confirm, if he has a moment to touch base with his London franchise to find out how their bid for the annual Champions League windfall is rocking along, today is officially Groundhog Day in the US.
The date 2 February is celebrated with particularly enthusiastic crowds gathering in Pennsylvania to see if Punxsutawney Phil, the most famous of all groundhogs, comes out of his burrow to represent good news about when the big freeze is going to give way to a hopeful spring. For those who are interested, according to the Washington Post, this year the forecast from Punxsutawney Phil was chilly.
And so Arsenal's Groundhog blundering in the Premier League returned after the brief fillip of an FA Cup lift. Again at Bolton they bumbled and stumbled in front of goal and let a decent opportunity slip. Although most of the half-hearted January transfer speculation concerned defenders to ease their full-back crisis, the area of the team that clearly requires urgent bolstering, the goalscoring department, was barely discussed. Arsenal made a phone call about Lukas Podolski early on but, receiving little encouragement, elected to forget it and hope for the best.
Bobby Zamora? Pah. Papiss Demba Cissé? Bah. Djibril Cissé? Gah. You can imagine Arsène Wenger turning up his nose at the idea of anyone coming in to assist his attack, and yet it would be fascinating to know exactly where he thinks his team's goals are going to come from in the second half of the season.
Nostalgic though it is to welcome Thierry Henry back on a temporary basis to help out, that move alone was never going to be enough to offer the required support to Robin van Persie. Arsenal's experience at the Reebok outlined exactly why more options are needed. The top scorer saw two classy efforts strike the woodwork but, on an occasion when he could not find the target, his team-mates strained to offer a convincing alternative. Theo Walcott, who wants to be a striker, again fluffed his lines from centre stage. Alex Oxlade‑Chamberlain had another encouraging game but it is early days to expect him to be a reliable scorer. Meanwhile, with Arsenal desperate for a goal, the South Korean striker Park Chu‑young did not come off the bench.
The team's league goal statistics this season are revealing. Miles below Van Persie's collection, Gervinho, who is away with Ivory Coast and will not be back in contention for a few more weeks, has four. Walcott has three. Marouane Chamakh has one. Andrey Arshavin has one. Park zero. The backup from midfield has not been particularly rewarding either. Mikel Arteta has three. Aaron Ramsey, Alex Song and Yossi Benayoun one each.
Perhaps the most damning indictment of the fact Arsenal's problems keep repeating themselves is that the transfer window opened and closed without much expectation of Wenger doing anything particularly constructive. For the manager to ignore the obvious and bring in a promising teenager from Borussia Dortmund, who fits the Arsenal blueprint so well he has already lost a chunk of his burgeoning career to a long-term injury, was almost funny.
As the market proved, there has never been a worse time to sign players, with the economic climate, financial fair play rules on the horizon, squad restrictions and a European Championship looming at the end of the season all contributing. In January players are overpriced, and a little anxious about jeopardising their international aspirations.
But by not even making any attempt to improve the goals-for column, the club leave themselves wide open to criticism about lack of ambition. The blogger Arseblog summed it up well: "You know, people go on about how long it's been since we've won a trophy but I can live without trophies if I feel like the club is doing everything it can to achieve them. If we give it everything and fall short then I don't think too many people would complain. But it doesn't feel like that at the moment."
All is not completely lost, though. Chamakh will soon be returning from the Africa Cup of Nations. It was hoped he would pick up some form on international duty. Instead he just picked up an illness.
Source: Amy Lawrence, The Guardian on 2 Feb 12
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