09-10 season.

Yes with still a game left, we can fairly say the season is already over for us. Suddenly there is even a lurking doubt if we will even finish 3rd what with Spurs just 2 points behind us. What went wrong this season is fairly well known but the big question was did we not see this coming?

This season can be fairly put in 2 divisions, good against mid table teams but poor against the top ones. We have lost 9 games this season, conceded more than 40 goals which is the most we have conceded after 02-03 season. Does this not reflect our defensive frailties? A terrific signing in Thomas Vermaelen, did for the initial part suggest that we have a good pairing to cope us with the requirement but unfortunately we had no back up whenever either he or Gallas were injured. The singing of Sol campbell was more so a gamble which paid of but it was never going to be a permanent one. Almunia, Fabianski have turned out to be the jokes of the season for they lack the sheer basics a goal keeper needs- coming out for crosses. The transition of the likes of Diaby, Denilson, Walcott, Vela and Eduardo continues to progress at a snail's pace with no end result in sight. RVP can never finish a full season without getting injured and Arshavin who promised so much, has left a lot to be desired especially in terms of his attitude. With only fabregas, Clichy, Sagna, Sol performing on a consistent basis, Arsenal could never have achieved the expected results. The main reason we lost out this season is also the fact that most players hardly looked interested in playing. Bendtner misses 7-8 chances in a game and then laughs when he gets substituted. Arshavin says we cant win the title as early as in december, even if it may have been true, we cant play with that kind of an attitude. Diaby played as if he is still on the training ground. Rozza is forever injured and Nasri only played well in patches. Even with all this, we were still in the reckoning till the last few games, mainly because we managed to scrape through results and our main opponents kept dropping points. This was a season for us to win, we left it slip yet again. Who should we blame? Wenger for not signing adequate replacements in jan? Players who just dint turn up when it was required the most? Last season we were only fighting for the 4th place and were out of the title race very early. This time around, we could have easily won and that is what hurts the most. What should we do to arrest this slide? This season will be best remembered as the season of so near yet so far.