Arsenal: Sol Campbell’s Assessment Rather Disturbing

Arsenal has been in steady recovery from the debt years, but still the results aren’t coming. Is Sol Campbell’s assessment as painfully accurate as it seems?

During the debt years, Arsenal acquired a huge supply of needs. They needed a defensive midfielder, a striker, defensive depth. Pretty much the only thing they didn’t need was undersized, creative midfielders.

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We had that in abundance.

That has been changing lately. With additions like Mesut Ozil, Alexis Sanchez, Granit Xhaka, Petr Cech and Shkodran Mustafi, the Gunners have made some big name signings that can change the entire outlook of a club.

But one thing that you don’t always actively hunt for is leadership. And that is what Sol Campbell has targeted as the missing ingredient in this Arsenal side.

Which is honestly kind of disturbing. To think that Wenger has spent so much money, near £200m on class players and still can’t find on-the-pitch leaders is shocking. Campbell highlighted just how many players were capable of stepping up and saying something if the game was going sour.

His list included Henry, Vieira, Tony Adams, Keown, Seaman and, of course, that doesn’t include the man himself, Sol Campbell, who is capable of the same.

These were all guys who knew what they wanted and had the personality to ensure that they got there.

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Ask to make a similar list of Arsenal and you’d struggle to get two or three. Alexis will yell and spout, as will Shkodran Mustafi and Granit Xhaka. But these are all new faces that may not be as embedded into the culture of the team as much as a leader should be.

Guys like Laurent Koscielny and Olivier Giroud have respect, but they aren’t the outspoken leaders who can step up and take control.

Look at the match against Watford or the horror against Chelsea. Who was stepping up? Who was challenging their team mates to get their stuff together?

There was some yelling back and forth, but in terms of picking up the team, there wasn’t anyone. Not Cech, not Alexis and certainly not Ozil.

These are the veterans of the team, the players that know how to win things and they don’t seem to care all that much when things go wrong. Alexis certainly does, but how much of that is for his own personal gain?

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I have faith that Mustafi and Xhaka are headed down the right path, but Campbell has a point. Looking at the current staff, there isn’t much to talk about.