Arsenal: Unified and united, while good, is not sufficient

Arsene Wenger has described the Arsenal dressing room as unified and united. However, although they are positive traits to have, they are not sufficient to mount a title challenge.

Arsenal have hauled their way back into top five. After a professional and consummate win against Brighton and Hove Albion on Sunday, thanks to a scrappy Nacho Monreal finish and well-worked Alex Iwobi goal, they now sit above Liverpool, level on points with Chelsea, and within touching distance of Spurs.

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After two successive losses to Stoke City and Liverpool earlier in the season, the latter of which was a four-goal dismantling that exposed all of the vulnerabilities that have plagued the Gunners in recent years, the response has been excellent. Four games, three wins, and no goals conceded. That is not to be scoffed at.

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And Arsene Wenger, who, after the Liverpool game, calmly and surgically stated that he and his side would assess their shortcomings and address them, was keen to point out the success that his team has enjoyed after their latest victory. Speaking after the match, Wenger heralded the united manner in which his players have performed:

"“I knew that after the game in Liverpool everybody would write us off and I knew it just depends on us, how much we respond. Nothing is permanent. You’re not bad in a permanent way, if you can do something about it, and you’re not good in a permanent way, if you don’t keep your urgency. We responded in a united way and we have put some wins together and some good performances as well.”"

Wenger has always been a proprietor of the dressing room harmony. No one is bigger than the team; the upsetting of the atmosphere is not tolerated, no matter the quality of the player guilty. But, while having a unified group is important and beneficial, it does not, after all, win titles and trophies. Talent does.

And that is something that, after a summer in which a profit, on transfer fees, at least, was made, Arsenal do not have. They have several adequate players, players who are perfectly fine. But compare their squads to the likes of Manchester City and Chelsea, and they are painfully lacking in a number of areas.

The recruitment of the team, which rests on the shoulders of Wenger, has been poor at the best of times. Key weaknesses have not been addressed, not enough investment has been made, and the investment that has been made has not been done so wisely, with overspending on the likes of Shkodran Mustafi and Granit Xhaka.

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Entering the season, Wenger and the club set their own target. Challenging for the Premier League title was what they set themselves. Having a united and unified dressing room is an aspect of building a club capable of that. But far more is needed, and, currently, Arsenal do not have it.