The season’s practically over and these are my thoughts on the good, the bad, and the unacceptable about The Arsenal.

My sense is that Wenger’s accumulated goodwill is at levels that will not endure another season like this one. 5 seasons of development is ample and it is time the results start justifying the investment.

I rate our goalkeeper situation and the alarming inconsistency of this squad as being unacceptable.

Manuel Almunia, admittedly, has had his moments but I don’t believe he will ever be the worthy goalkeeper of a side aspiring for honours. He simply doesn’t have what it takes in my view. Stand-in? yes; First-choice? No. He doesn’t, and can’t, command the defence adequately to do the job at this level.

I don’t think we have time or money left to invest in Lukasz Fabianski’s development either. On balance, he simply hasn’t acquitted himself well enough when given the chance, to justify further investment.

He’s young yet, and I think we’d do well to let him find his feet at a lower level. If he does make it to the top eventually, fair play to him. I wish him well, but not at the Arsenal as things stand.

I’m also sceptical about the competence of our goalkeeping coaches. Since David Seaman we haven’t been able to spot, recruit, and develop a top class goalkeeper barring, in flashes, Jens Lehman.

Fabianski, it is claimed, was among the most sought after young goalkeepers in Europe when we signed him. Is his present predicament, therefore, simply a case of the individual losing it? or is it a consequence of inadequate coaching that shoots both the young player and the club in the foot?

The inconsistencies are another big worry. It bothers me that this team alternates between repeatedly snatching late winners under pressure to remain in the title race, and turning up like stale soda water, as they did against Spurs and Wigan, in the face of opportunities to enhance their chase.

The performances against the latter teams were a disgrace. All teams have an off day at the office; Championship sides, though, don’t have them when a title is up for grabs. The team let Wenger, the fans, and themselves down criminally.

It is less that the title eludes us yet again, but the manner in which we let it slip that hurts. It should never happen again. Our lack of defensive nous and our epidemic injury woes are the bad aspects of our situation.

If we do wish to emulate Barcelona we must first learn to play well off the ball, regaining possession with minimum delay regardless of where on the pitch we lose it. The idea was best expressed by, I think, Neeskens who defined total football as “attacking from the back and defending from the front”.

That, I’m afraid, doesn’t come naturally to players, or indeed teams, and requires relentless and meticulous training to manifest. It is my view that Wenger relies on recruiting players with flair and intelligence and letting them sort situations out for themselves on the field.

This team, barring that run to the Champions league final in 2006, has never shown consistent and sufficient defensive nous. I cannot claim. either, that there have been encouraging improvements in the interim. Season after season the same lament, “Naive defending”, does the rounds. Sadly, after a couple of seasons, it isn’t naive anymore; just incompetent.

Whether it involves hiring a specialist defence coach, or simply revamping our training to better address this persistent deficiency, this is a problem that needs to be urgently remedied.

All the above, of course, don’t count for much if we continue to suffer injuries at the rates we’ve recently endured. While Robin Van Persie, Johan Djourou and Tomas Rosicky have been the sad poster children of the chronically injured bridage, we also seem to lose key players, repeatedly, for short stretches of the season.

I cannot remember when our first choice selection uninterruptedly played a significant stretch of the season together. This invariably leads to inconsistency with some player or the other inevitably taking time to find his feet and hampering the squad’s performance levels. Eduardo, this season, comes to mind.

Yes, the Crozilian was a victim of assault, but the logic holds for injuries generally.
What the reasons are for this isn’t yet clear, club releases notwithstanding.

Without progress on this front, developments and improvements elsewhere will count for nothing. We simply cannot afford to have key players on the sidelines for prolonged, or repeated stretches; neither can we afford to have younger players like Djourou, on the treatment table when they should be gaining experience on loan.

Lest you conclude I’m a hopeless pessimist, here’s what I find heartening about our present situation.

A core of talented and feisty players and financial stability that’ll inure us to the financial troubles that seem certain to dog the world over the next couple of years.

In Fabregas, Vermaelen, Nasri and, injuries permitting, Van Persie, we have a core that rivals any in world football for skill and feistiness. In Sagna, Clichy, Song, Denilson and Eboue we have a supporting cast that unfussily sets the stage for the stars to display their wares.

I don’t need to remind you of the pack of promising youngsters waiting on the wings either. With judicious additions, and better coaching, therefore, I think we are very well positioned to turn out a team that belongs with the very best, and is likely to stay that way for a long time to come.

Other points to consider are: Diaby is hellishly inconsistent; the goalkeepers I’ve already dealt with; Rosicky and Eduardo have yet to find their feet after long lay-offs; Gallas’ plans aren’t clear yet; Arshavin is skilled but does he buy into the project? Sol is on his last legs; Silvestre earns a good pension; Walcott, Vela and Bendtner remain promising but not finished articles.

Key purchases, and revamped coaching, I reiterate, are the key factors. Wenger suggested this season would be the test; I think the next one will. Important things have been cruelly brought to our attention this season, and Wenger is too intelligent to not have taken note.

I believe he will react to the crushing disappointments of the season decisively, especially given he regarded this season as the test.

I end on the high note of our finances. The rumblings in the “Club Med”, and the unwillingness of the candidates campaigning for the English Prime Ministership to detail their plans to reign in the unsustainable fiscal situation locally, should have alerted our readers to the perilous state of the world’s financial system.

I do think Greece marks only the prelude in what is going to be a serious and painful rebalancing of the world’s financial infrastructure. Finding credit on flimsy terms is going to become impossible as banks are already faced with potentially fatal losses.

Credit availability and terms for our more leveraged brethren in football are going to be punishing over the next 2 years, and I will not be surprised to see more teams do a ’Portsmouth’. Football, like much of the global economy, went into a manic phase gorging on easy money and blind optimism. Such lunacies don’t last too long as recent newspaper reports make clear, and Arsenal is best positioned to withstand the inevitable corrections.

Greece, and Portsmouth, I repeat, are just preludes. The European banking system, and therefore access to credit are deeply imperilled. A cleaning of the Augean stables will be forced on entire economies in due course.

Roman Abramovich’s excesses marked a decisive wrenching of football from financial reality, and Arsene Wenger deserves enormous respect for keeping us competitive, without breaking the bank, in the face of such excess.

Having a squad of relatively young players is a benefit too. Unlike Chelsea, we won’t be forced to sell aging high wage players at low prices, or invest heavily to replenish our squad; A few key signings should see us through.

We will, I think, have our payback in the next 24 months, going about our task without worrying about debts, wages, bankruptcies etc.

Before I end though, football fans, regardless of persuasion, must delight at Fulham qualifying for the finals of the Europa League.
Roy Hodgson’s dignified personal conduct, and the organization and endeavour he has instilled in his team make excellent examples for the game. Here’s to more of his ilk. Well done Sir.

There you have it then. My reflections as this season draws to a close. Do share your views in the comments too.