Arsenal: Troy Deeney’s Assessment Revolting, Yet Irrefutable

Arsenal may be sliding from the pedestal they were once on and everyone has an opinion on that, but Troy Deeney’s opinion is particularly pungent.

Everybody has something to say about the current state of Arsenal and just as many people have a plan to solve it. But naturally, the first step is finding the problem. Many point to the soft center of the club, but even that is starting to change. Some point to the lack of desire.

Whatever the case, Watford captain Troy Deeney has his own take on what is wrong with the Gunners as well, and it was his opinion that really stuck with me.

Speaking with BBC, Deeney said that teams do not fear Arsenal anymore.

When I first heard it, I brushed it off and immediately sought to riposte his blow with one of my own. But the only thing I could come up with is that he was just bitter that his son is a Gooner.

That didn’t do enough.

What I eventually had to settle on, and it is horrifying, is that Deeney is right. He may have said some misplaced things about the Gunners in the past, but this one little statement is borderline irrefutable.

And once you start expanding on what he means, it’s unfortunately pretty easy to get a blueprint of his logic.

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Arsenal is not a team that can really hurt you. They aren’t going to take any confidence from you or shatter your self-belief. They aren’t the kind of team, like Liverpool or like Chelsea, who aim not only to win, but to keep scoring and scoring and scoring. The only team that might be scared of the Gunners is West Ham, who we have slaughtered twice.

But other than that, there are some pretty tame wins. Nothing wrong with that, but it isn’t exactly a fearsome opposition.

Then there is that soft center that everyone speaks about. While it is improving, there are still a few steps to go in getting back to where they were in the terrifying Invincible days, when no team around wanted to face the Gunners.

Then their is the matter of what players the North London side actually have a killer instinct and that list is rather lacking. Alexis Sanchez and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain definitely. Probably a few defenders. But most of the club isn’t ripe with players who are going to really rub your face in it.

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Stick with that for too long and you arrive at where we are today, with Deeney-like beliefs that there really isn’t anything to be afraid of.