A reported 250,000 people lining the streets, flags and banners as far as the eye could see cheering on their team, and a group of players all suffering from severe hangovers. This was the scene through the Borough of Islington yesterday as Arsene Wenger and his team celebrated their FA Cup triumph with an open top bus parade. Extra-time victory over Hull City provided the first silverware for the club in almost nine years - an extraordinary length of time considering the history of success the club has been used to down the years. Now, talk has begun about this being the great turning point for Arsenal, to finally push on from their nine long trophy-less years and use this as a platform to build upon. However surely the fans and the club must realise that despite the great achievement that is winning the FA Cup there is a point to be argued that victory has done nothing more than paper over the cracks.
This is not about making a case to say Arsenal did not deserve to win the FA Cup, they won difficult games against both Merseyside clubs - Liverpool and Everton, on their way to the trophy. But they struggled poorly in the semi-final against Wigan Athletic of the Championship, having to rely on penalties and then gave Hull City a two goal head start in the Final. They failed to beat either of these clubs over ninety minutes and that is disappointing for a club such as Arsenal. If you step back from the emotion of winning the Cup and the relief which Arsenal fans must be feeling, this has still not been a strong season for the club. After failing to come close to winning the title after leading for so much of the season this has highlighted the failings of the team, and their end of season form which seen them go from top of the table to simply fighting to hold on to fourth spot was worrying.
I believe the problem is that fans and pundits now seem to believe this is a 'platform' and that Arsene Wenger is now going to spend big in the summer to build on the success of the FA Cup. Yes he may do just that, but I do not believe that to be the case.
Recent reports have came out from numerous sources within the club claiming a summer transfer pot of over £100million would be available. The immediate expectation is that he will use this to sort out the obvious inefficiencies within the squad - namely another striker to share the burden with Olivier Giroud and a strong central midfield character able to break up the opposition play and get in their faces. But why do fans suddenly think now he will sort these problems out simply because he has won a trophy?
For example, for the past five years or more it has been clear the club lack a battling defense minded midfielder to protect the back four while the attacking players are free to do what they do best - play attractive football and create chances. It has been well publicised that this weakness has existed and yet Arsene Wenger has not addressed it yet up until this point. What is there to seriously suggest he will do so now this summer by spending big on a top quality central midfielder? Yes, he invested heavily last summer in Mesut Ozil and people thought he had finally decided to spend the wealth that has been sitting idle at the club, but then baffled everyone by doing nothing to bolster the squad in January when they were still in strong contention to win the league. Bringing in an injured Kim Kallstrom on loan did little to excite the fans. Has Arsene really decided to adapt his transfer policy and spend big, or did the pressure built upon him after the opening day defeat to Aston Villa force his hand into needing to make a big name signing before the transfer window closed? I suppose only Arsene can truly answer that question.
Essentially though, the point which I am trying to make is that this may just be another false dawn for Arsenal. It seems like every summer for the past five or six years we have been saying this is the time when Arsenal can push on and it never materialises. Yes they have done tremendously well to win the FA Cup, and challenged for a long period in the title race. But that is no reason to assume the club will now spend big in the summer for a new striker, central midfielder or a top class right back to replace Bacary Sagna who has all but confirmed he wishes to leave now when his contract expires.
Of course Arsene could prove me entirely wrong and go on a vast spending spree to turn the team back into serious title contenders. This may actually be the time when the club genuinely push on from their success and build a team capable of winning multiple trophies again.
For Arsenal fans though I imagine most are still wearing the rose-tinted glasses and are rightly enjoying their FA Cup win, dreaming of the great success the club can have next season. However with Chelsea, Liverpool, Man City and even Manchester United now with Louis Van Gaal confirmed as manager all aiming to strengthen their squads, doubts will remain over whether Arsene Wenger will really invest enough this summer to push the club on to further triumphs.
