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Arsenal’s lack of English talent hurts club leadership

By Rucker Haringey

LONDON, ENGLAND - FEBRUARY 23: A dejected Alexis Sanchez of Arsenal reacts during the UEFA Champions League round of 16, first leg match between Arsenal FC and FC Barcelona at the Emirates Stadium on February 23, 2016 in London, United Kingdom. (Photo by Shaun Botterill/Getty Images)
LONDON, ENGLAND - FEBRUARY 23: A dejected Alexis Sanchez of Arsenal reacts during the UEFA Champions League round of 16, first leg match between Arsenal FC and FC Barcelona at the Emirates Stadium on February 23, 2016 in London, United Kingdom. (Photo by Shaun Botterill/Getty Images) /
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Perhaps Arsenal would have a bit more toughness in their quest for a Premier League title if they had a bit more English talent in their squad

Arsenal have been accused of suffering from a lack of leadership by a variety of sources in the aftermath of their 3-2 defeat to Manchester United this past weekend. The club’s lack of influential English talent contributes greatly to the leadership vacuum at the Emirates.

It’s pretty obvious that something is flawed within the culture of Arsenal. They are a club with world-class talent all over the pitch and resources to acquire more when necessary. There’s no reason in the world they shouldn’t be competing for a Premier League title on a regular basis as a result.

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This year, in particular, has provided them with a golden opportunity to capture the elusive Premier League crown. Chelsea is as big a mess as they’ve been in several years due to Jose Mourinho’s horrific man management. Manchester United continues to suffer in the post Alex Ferguson era and Manchester City currently employs a lame duck manager in Manuel Pellegrini. The door is wide open for Arsene Wenger to walk through and grab the title. Yet Arsenal finds themselves in third place, 5 points behind league leading Leicester City.

The season isn’t over for the Gunners, but their desperation is growing with each passing week. Their loss to United raised the pressure at the Emirates significantly. Their odds at winning the Premier League title have begun to tilt away from their favor.

The increasing likelihood that Wenger won’t end the club’s title drought has Arsenal fans looking for answers. Their inability to get over the hump doesn’t come down to any one thing. It’s much more likely a combination of several contributing factors. One key fact that is being overlooked at the current time, is the lack of English talent at the club.

Now let’s be clear about something here, having great English talent is certainly not a requirement to win the Premier League. Most fans agree they would prefer their clubs to have home-grown players, but those same people are happy to see foreign imports if they are more talented than the domestic options. Fans care about winning much more than the birthplace of their favorite stars.

Recently, it’s been proven beyond a shadow of a doubt that you can build a title winning squad from abroad. Just look back at Chelsea or Manchester City’s silverware winning squads of the last two years. They have some English talent sprinkled about the squad, but their main cogs came from outside Great Britain.

Those championship squads overcame their lack of domestic talent by having strong leaders in the squad. For City, it was men like Vincent Kompany or Yaya Toure. For Chelsea, it took the form of Diego Costa, Didier Drogba, and yes, Englishman John Terry. Their strong locker room personalities lessened the importance of having English talent on the roster.

It’s only logical to assume that English players care more about winning the English Premier League than stars from other nations. Yes, professional footballers are usually ultra-competitive people and I’m sure that all of them want to win their respective leagues very badly. We are talking about margins here though. Winning the best league on your home soil has to mean just a little bit more for players.

In the absence of strong leaders, that extra motivation from English talent can help bring a team together. I believe it’s pretty obvious that Arsenal is a team that isn’t blessed with natural leaders in its ranks. It’s best players, Mesut Ozil and Alexis Sanchez, have thrived as complimentary players at other clubs. Neither man has the emotional makeup to will their squad to victory.

That leadership vacuum could easily be filled with a few home-grown players playing key roles. Their desperation and obvious motivation to win their home league would do wonder for the Gunners. Unfortunately for fans of Arsenal, they have precious little English talent on the squad to help fill their leadership void.

Wenger has played a grand total of five English players in Premier League matches this season. That number isn’t great, but the lack of high performacne among his British contingent is even more damning. Only one of Arsenal’s top 16 rated players per Whoscored.com are English. That one, Danny Welbeck, has only played two matches due to injury.

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You don’t absolutely have to be a great player to be a leader, but it sure helps. You do, however, have to be at least an average contributor. Arsenal’s English contingent has fallen well below that standard. The other four English players who have made an appearance for Arsenal have arguably been the team’s biggest disappointments.

Theo Walcott, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Calum Chambers and Kieran Gibbs have been four of Arsenal’s seven worst rated players on the season. That’s abysmal from a quartet that all entered the season expecting to play a significant role for Wenger. They haven’t just been average, they’ve been poor. Despite numerous opportunities to prove their worth, they’ve let their teammates down time and time again.

That’s cost them the chance to step up into the Arsenal leadership void. If even two of those men could find a regular place in the team and perform at an above average level, they’d have the necessary leverage to lead the team. Even without world-class talent, they could be the heartbeat of a squad pushing for a Premier League title. Instead of being located in the club’s heart, all four find themselves somewhere significantly lower in the club’s anatomy.

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Arsenal doesn’t need English talent to win the Premier League, but they do need some additional leadership. The talent required for English players to lead in the English Premier League is significantly lower than that of foreign players. Unfortunately, Arsenal doesn’t possess leaders from any country. That leadership void could cost them a Premier League title.

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