Sisyphus rolls the boulder up the hill. As he gets to the top, he is not only forced to watch the object of his toil fall back down the hill, but he must run down and restart. This is the fate of the Arsenal fan this season. Year in and year out, every Gunner must hope for the best and expect the worst. The 2013-14 season has been more of the same, but has arguably been the worst in years.
Just a month ago everything seemed right in the world. The Gunners were the top side in the Premier League and looked poised to win their first trophy in an eternity; it's been 10 years since Arsenal has lifted a Premier League title and nine since it won the FA Cup. Since then the Gunners have failed to win a single trophy.
So what exactly has gone wrong in 2013-14? Why did the Gunners suddenly go from being title contenders to just another mediocre side?
1. Mesut Ozil has not lived up to expectations
You never want to pin a team's failure on one player. However, Mesut Ozil has not been the player Arsenal was hoping for; at least not in the last few months. Ozil's arrival at the Emirates Stadium was met with euphoria and his subsequent play for the opening months of the season lived up to the hype. But since December, Ozil has fallen off a cliff.
He has become invisible and his poor decision-making reached its apex a few weeks ago against Bayern Munich when he missed a penalty, constantly made bad passes and repeatedly missed defensive assignments. You know things are bad when your own teammate Mathieu Flamini is admonishing you on the pitch for a poor defensive effort. Ozil was expected to be a difference maker, but he has unfortunately not lived up to his legend in the most crucial moments of the season.
2. No goalscorer
There was a time earlier this season when it seemed that Olivier Giroud had finally fulfilled the promise of being an adequate replacement for the offensive production of Robin Van Persie. But as with Ozil, Giroud has started his well-known disappearing act. He scored a brace a few weeks ago, but his production over the last six games has been limited to those two goals; he has gone scoreless in the other five matches. More importantly, he has only scored six times and had three assists in the last 18 matches that he played for Arsenal; in 20 games prior to that run he contributed 10 goals and five assists.
Aside from Giroud, the team has no dynamic forward to pick up the goalscoring in his absence. Nicholas Bendtner has rarely played despite scoring two goals in nine games. Yaya Sanogo is relatively inexperienced and has failed to prove himself in his few appearances. Lukas Podolski has barely played due to injury but has scored three goals in 10 Premiere games.
Theo Walcott and Aaron Ramsey were providing a plethora of offense earlier this season, but their injuries have left the team barren from an offensive standpoint. Which brings us to the next point...
3. Arsenal lacks depth
Injuries to Walcott and Ramsey left this team in a far worse situation than one might have expected. The lack of finishing from Giroud has also left the team without a sniper to score crucial goals. And the poor play of Ozil has left Arsenal without a strong creative playmaker. Santi Cazorla is a major offensive star that provides the team with creativity, but unfortunately he cannot play alone. Jack Wilshere has been far from formidable this season. The lone bright spot this season has been Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain. Aside from him and Cazorla, the midfield really has not been something to marvel at in recent weeks; Arsenal simply does not have players to step in and play at the same level as some of its top men.
And this falls on manager Arsenal Wenger. Walcott and Ramsey are notoriously fragile despite being major pieces on the team. Wenger should know this by now and should have backup plans ready to go. His unwillingness to get a striker in either transfer window this year also emphasizes his poor management this season; everyone begged for him to get a striker and he did anything but that.
The defense has been solid, but Arsenal's paltry offencse has left it more exposed of late.
Why do you think Arsenal has fallen apart in recent months?