Arsenal: The many problems of a broken club

Arsenal fell to their lowest point in more than two decades in their Europa League final loss to Chelsea. These are just some of the problems of a broken club.

Wednesday night’s Europa League final loss to Chelsea thrust many aspects of Arsenal football into a harsh and serious light. These are just some of the problems of a broken football club.

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Gone are the days when Patrick Viera and Gilberto Silva dominated the midfield. Arsenal have spent over a decade trying to reintroduce that steel needed in the centre of the park. They were never successful. The signing of Lucas Torriera did offer a glimmer of hope and he did, in spurts, deliver. But it was only in spurts, and his midfield mates, Granit Xhaka chief among them, are nowhere near the standard to form a title-challenging partnership.

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It’s quite evident that most fans have run out of patience with Xhaka. It has been three years of his error-prone, slow build-up, sideways passing game, all underpinned by his defensive inability and painful lack of athleticism. Xhaka brings little to the team and is not the answer moving forward. This midfield has questions to answer, with its biggest solution leaving for free.

Meanwhile, Arsenal have been blessed with two world-class strikers. Alexandre Lacazette and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang have routinely rescued the Gunners, their sevon-goal performance in the Europa League semi-final against Valencia a perfect microcosm for their blisteringly brilliant seasons. But when it came to the crunch, the club cannot seem to profit out of them, and now, with no Champions League football next season, it may prove difficult to keep such high-quality players. The first order of business must be to secure them to new contracts. Arsenal must not repeat their past mistakes. The midfield has questions, the strikeforce has answers, but both could be unsettled this summer.

And then we get to the Mesut Ozil situation. I am an Ozil proprietor. I believe in his abilities. But it would be naive of me to suggest that he is a must-play figure at the club. Ozil was a fantastic player when Arsenal signed him, but he is now turning into a liability, and an expensive one at that.

The Europa League final sums up Ozil’s performances in the last few seasons. When the key attacking cog in the machine is nowhere to be seen, it is a dangerous situation to be in. Reflecting on his performance in the finals, he keeps the ball for too long, and in most cases, loses it too. I don’t mind him losing the ball while he tries to wind up an attack but the fact that he created little meant his presence was detrimental to the team.

When an attack does not go his way, he tends to quit chasing after the ball. He lacks the desire of a Torreira, who was crying on the bench after being substituted. He is not consistent or committed. He misses a strange number of games due to injury or illness. Emery did not play him for most of the away games as he cannot be trusted. And all this for £350,000-a-week. Something is very, very wrong.

And underpinning all of this is the board. The absence of Stan Kroenke at the Europa League final was telling. The absence of his finances is equally as disheartening. Arsenal cannot and will not compete with investment, and under Kroenke, that investment will not come.

The problems run deep. From the make-up of the midfield to the transcendent disinterest of the board and owners. Unai Emery really does have a job on his hands.