Wenger must take the blame for Arsenal's slide

If Arsenal do not win any silverware this season, it will be the third straight year the pot has been empty. If they do not win the Premier League, it will be the fourth straight year that they have missed out.

These are dubious distinctions that we usually do not usually associate with an Arsenal team under Arsene Wenger. But that may well be reality come May. And for the third straight year, fans may be left to rue what might have been if we had a deeper squad. At the risk of writing a premature obituary, Arsenal's season appears over, and as a fan my optimism was sapped when Didier Drogba got the better of Kolo Toure on Sunday.

I’m the first to admit that I was lured into a false sense of security and hope for this season when we were top of the table on New Year's Day. This was when I felt that Wenger would strengthen the squad in the January window, considering we were still alive in all four competitions and Toure and Emmanuel Eboue would be leaving for a month to Africa.

We also had several players injured at that stage. It made sense that Wenger would go for some defensive reinforcements. But January came and went and we saw some movement away from the Emirates - youngsters farmed out on loans and Lassana Diarra went to Portsmouth - but none incoming.

Now, the inevitable has happened. Form players from before New Year are exhausted. Emmanuel Adebayor, Cesc Fabregas and Williams Gallas have played almost 90 minutes of every game this season. Now they look jaded and out of gas. 

Injuries have piled up. Eduardo was unfortunate. Tomas Rosicky has been injured for some time and the newly rehabilitated Robin van Persie looks short on match practice. The lesser said about Eboue's attitude the better. But that's not the only thing that has worsened about him since last season.

Wenger’s most uninspiring tactic this season appears to be Eboue's employment on the right wing. Suffice to say he has had a nightmare season. If Diarra was initially brought in to play anywhere across the midfield and defence, why sell him to Portsmouth in January when he could have potentially been a cover for the departing Eboue? The decision looked even more sorry seeing Gilberto's poor runs as cover for Mathieu Flamini.

After all the talk of camaraderie and togetherness that the players were gushing about before the New Year, team spirit now seems to be non-existent.

Starting with the Adebayor-Bendtner scuffle at Tottenham and Gallas's walkabout against Birmingham, this team is nowhere close to the Class of '04. And Wenger's control over this aspect of his players, including the petulance of Eboue as well as his curious handing of the No. 10 jersey and captaincy to relative newcomer Gallas, are all questionable and very confusing to fans who've seen Tony Adams, Patrick Vieira and Thierry Henry at the helm in the past.

The defensive pairing of Gallas and Toure has not set the world alight after two seasons together. Toure's loss of form at a crucial stage has been a big blow to Arsenal. Gallas himself was to blame for not dealing with the ball when Jeremie Aliadiere scored in the game against Middlesbrough.

Gael Clichy and Manuel Almunia have made crucial individual mistakes that have cost us points, which takes the sheen from their otherwise terrific seasons. Such errors are not typical of a title-winning team. Another year finishing third or fourth will put Arsenal in the same realm as Liverpool and Everton - teams that are not really mid-table but are also not good enough to win the league.

Arsenal have improved from last year. And they've equalled or exceeded pre-season expectations. But Arsene Wenger would like us fans to believe otherwise. If we believed him, we would be going for all four trophies from the beginning of the season.

But we've not learned anything from the past two seasons when we ended up with nothing to show for our fancy football, largely due to lack of leadership, match-winners and squad depth. And it looks as though history is about to repeat itself for those same reasons.