Arsenal's downfall

The weeks leading up to the start of the 07-08 EPL season saw almost every football pundit repeatedly stating that Arsenal's squad was far too young and far too inexperienced to pose a threat to either Manchester United or Chelsea. The youngsters then went on to prove their detractors wrong, and how! They played a brand of beautiful intricate football which was a throwback to the Thierry Henry-Robert Pires-Patrick Viera days. The team led the table for half the season, and with United not exactly firing on all cylinders, one would have expected Arsenal to command an unassailable lead by this point of time.

But it did not happen. They started dropping points in random matches (Birmingham?) where they shouldn't have. And thus began their downward spiral which has culminated in their exit from the uEfA Champions League. Truth be told, the Premier League title is beyond their reach now anyway.

Why has this happened? There could be a slew of reasons for this: inexperience, lack of transfer signings, the Eduardo injury, etc. But the most important reason according to me is the fact that the squad essentially has no leaders. Sure, Gallas may be the captain, but surely isn't captain material. Gilberto Silva would have fitted the role of the skipper perfectly, but he unfortunately had to be benched in place of much better midfielders like Flamini. At times like these, it is the job of the captain to raise the spirits of his team-mates, but I just cannot see Gallas doing that, OR being capable of doing it. His child-like behavior in the Birmingham match is proof of this.