Arsenal: Wenger Must Learn How To Protect Leads

Arsenal have long been guilty of dropping points from winning positions in the past. For success next season, this must change.

It has been one of our longest-running flaws. Lacking determination, or a winning mentality or mental fortitude or whatever on earth it is; Arsenal just cannot hold a lead. It has led to some spectacular capitulations in the past, be it the debacle at Swansea last year, or my personal (least) favourite: dropping a three goal lead at Anderlecht in 14-15. It confounds Arsenal fans and delights those of other teams.

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Last year, we finished a whole ten points below Leicester. During the January-March period, while Arsenal were dropping points left, right and centre, Leicester ground out a series of 1-0 wins. Alex Ferguson described that as the hallmark of title-winning teams, but with Arsenal, a single-goal advantage is never enough.

I checked our results list from last season, and totaled 16 points dropped from games in which we held a lead at one point. 16 points! Let that sink in for a moment. We could have won the league by six points had we preserved every lead.

Now, of course, that’s unreasonable to expect from any team, but surely we can expect some improvement. I don’t suggest absolute bus-parking as a workable solution, but, given the pieces we have in place, we should get a bit better at what is a crucial element to winning the league.

Cast your minds back to the 3-3 draw against Liverpool in January. We had a single-goal lead, but were being put under immense pressure, eventually conceding an injury-time equalizer. To shore up the defence, instead of bringing on the strong and aerially-dominant Gabriel, Wenger brought on Mikel Arteta, for a purpose I still don’t understand six months later. These bizarre substitutions must come to an end.

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Fortunately, I find the current squad to be brimming with options that can help shore up the defense in the closing stages. Wenger’s preferred first-sub last year was bringing on Gibbs in place of a winger, around the 70 minute mark. That’s fine, and can stay the same.

However, I find that the lead is protected or squandered in the middle of the park, which is the area that encourages me the most. While shiny new Granit Xhaka will be the primary defensive midfielder for most of the game, his partner will probably be either Ramsey or Cazorla, neither of whom are  particularly strong defensively. The good thing though, is that we now have options from the bench.

The options of which I speak are Francis Coquelin and Mohammed Elneny. Coquelin is the most defensive of all the midfielders, and is ideally suited to making crunching tackles and strong interceptions. He can prevent the opposition from applying too much pressure, and will weaken their attack. Meanwhile, Elneny is brilliant at retaining and recycling possession. He would ensure that Arsenal control the ball without getting overly adventurous, and help the game peter out without event.

Next, Arsenal do have three capable centre-halves with contrasting attributes. Between Gabriel, Mertesacker and Koscielny, Arsenal might just be able to prevent the likes of Christian Benteke giving knockdowns in the box.

Also, since the likes of Arteta and Flamini, who might earlier have been considered ‘viable defensive’ options are no longer at the club, we might start to use truly viable defensive options, such as those I have mentioned earlier.

Thus, if Wenger wisens up somewhat with his substitutions, I do believe that Arsenal can improve on what  has been our Achilles’ Heel for far too  long. This may just be the year that we have the squad depth to really do it.

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So, Arsenal fans, are substitutions really the key to fixing this problem, or do the solutions lie elsewhere? Have your say in the comments  below.