5 Problems That Are Blighting Arsenal's Season

4. Players Forced Out Of Position

Not entirely unrelated to the previous point, another major issue that has been damaging Arsenal's progress this season is the worrying trend of playing players outside of their best positions. It is understandable that Arsene Wenger likes to experiment with his deployment of players given that he was responsible for taking Thierry Henry from the wing and turning him into one of the game's greatest strikers, but this isn't about Thierry Henry here. Henry's ability was clear; he had an eye for goal that made the transition an obvious one for him. The experiments that Wenger persists this season make far less sense when looking at the attributes of the players involved. Even after it proved fruitless for the majority of last season, Wenger has still insisted on deploying Mesut Ozil in wide roles when he has neither the pace nor determination to do so effectively. Ozil is a leisurely player who, though immensely talented, cannot influence a game from a wide position. Whether the German World Cup winner has the pace or determination to work effectively in the Premier League at all is still a point of contention, but Wenger is certainly not helping his case by forcing him wide week after week. Another player who has suffered through bad managerial judgement this year is last season's hero Aaron Ramsey. In a central role last season he was able to act as a complete midfielder; pouring forward to attack and contribute goals as well as filing in and aiding the back four when needed. Last year his defensive work for the team went largely unnoticed but this season it is being missed as Ramsey is forced further and further in search of the goals that Arsenal no longer have to rely solely on him for. Though boisterous and aggressive, Mathieu Flamini has none of the intelligence required to support a back four in the Premier League. Ramsey is a much smarter footballer, but the Gunners are missing this by throwing him forward too regularly.