There has been much speculation as to how and why Arsenal have failed to maintain their shared dominance with Manchester United into the second decade of this millennium. The weight of the cost of the new stadium has often been proffered as an excuse, and indeed it makes fiscal and economical sense that such things should be taken care of first. Arsene Wenger's stubbornness to pay what he considers exorbitant transfer fees irrespective of money available to him, is another reason, and again has its own merits, based upon principles which I absolutely agree with.
However, there has been one other change which has gone almost unnoticed. Back in 2005, the team which beat Manchester United in the FA Cup Final consisted of Lehmann (German), Cole (English), Toure (Ivory Coast), Senderos (Swiss), Lauren (Cameroon), Vieira (French), Fabregas (Spanish), Gilberto (Brazilian), Pires (French), Reyes (Spanish) and Bergkamp (Dutch). The squad was jam packed full of international players of exceptional quality.
Wenger himself went through a stage of being vilified in the press for his passion for foreign squad members, not least of which was an incident where the tabloids had a field day as Arsene named a team in that same year consisting of not one Englishman in the 16 man squad against Crystal Palace. That was also the last year which Arsenal managed to finish higher than 3rd in the league.
Coincidence? I don't think so.
Wenger, it appears, has allowed himself to either consciously or unconsciously buy in to the idea that it is the club's responsibility to aid the national team of the country his club plays in, and has subsequently spent time and effort nurturing a central focus of players who are British. Doubtless part of this is now due to the "home grown" ruling but in a season where 5 Arsenal players recently played for England against Estonia, and England frankly look about as likely to win an International Trophy as Scotland do, this represents a step backwards in the class of player now playing for the Gunners than that which they are used to.
For England fans of course, the idea of a core of players playing together regularly has to be a positive, as they develop understandings and friendships so their games should become tuned to how their team-mates operate, but for Arsenal, for whom Arsene Wenger is custodian, there is no place for sentiment, or positive discrimination. It is simply not Wenger's job to do anything other than what is best for Arsenal F.C.
After nearly a quarter of the season gone Arsenal have picked up the equivalent of 1 point less per game than Chelsea, which if the trend continues would leave them 38 points behind their local rivals come the end of the season. It's simply not good enough for a team of Arsenal's history and magnitude to give Chelsea, or any other team, a 3 game cushion after only 9 games, so Arsene and the powers that be at The Emirates need to take a look at the correlation between the decline in results and increase in inferior squad members, and start obtaining players based on skill, irrespective of their nationality.
Given England currently sit 20th in the FIFA world rankings, I can think of 19 other places as likelier starting points than back home in the UK.
Source: DSG
