Is a lack of leadership costing Arsene Wenger’s current Arsenal side?

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During Arsenal’s 2-2 draw with Manchester City at the start of April, Laurent Koscielny, who was captaining the side, was forced off at half-time with an injury. Arsene Wenger then admitted to not knowing who the captain was in the second half. This is hugely concerning for the Emirates faithful for a number of reasons.

Why didn’t Laurent Koscielny, as captain, take responsibility to hand the armband to someone else? Why didn’t Wenger, as the manager, ensure that there was a protocol if Koscielny was injured? Why didn’t Theo Walcott, as the most senior player in the side, step up and say, “give me the armband”? It’s chaotic, and it shows that the Gunners are lacking leadership through these tough times.

Interestingly, a few days after the Man City game, Arsenal hosted West Ham, and Theo Walcott was selected as captain. Walcott, as good as he can be, does not strike anyone as a leader. Does he play like a leader? Not really. Does he organise the team? No. Is he the most passionate of the players on the pitch? Definitely not.

By no means should Alexis Sanchez be given the armband because of the way he plays, at times he seems to be playing for himself, rather than the team, and certainly lacks a positive attitude that a captain requires.

Yes, maybe Walcott should have been given the armband when Koscielny went off, but the player who deserves to wear the armband in the absence of club captain Per Mertesacker and vice-captain Laurent Koscielny, is Nacho Monreal.

Now, of course, this is up for debate, but he has been consistent since he arrived at the Emirates and has held off competition from a high-quality left back in Kieran Gibbs.

Furthermore, the Spaniard plays with passion, he organises the team and it’s obvious that he really does care. Against Manchester City, he was the only Arsenal player who played well for 90 minutes, among a team who seemed to be largely happy with a draw.

There is no Patrick Viera in this side. Even though Mertesacker and Koscielny have proven to be decent leaders at times, Arsenal do not have enough of them. You need more than two leaders at your club, particularly when one of them is struggling to get in the squad, let alone the starting 11, and the other is very injury prone.

If Wenger is to stay on past this year, then he needs to make it an absolute priority to reinstate some leadership in his dressing room through new signings. Wenger inevitably missed a trick in not signing Arturo Vidal, who would have been a similar price to the largely disappointing Granit Xhaka. Vidal’s passion for the game is unquestionable, and he certainly would not have allowed Arsenal to crumble in the manner in which they did against Bayern Munich, twice losing 5-1.

The Gunners’ season was in freefall, and while they may have got back on track against West Ham, there is still a long way to go to prevent this season from being a failure. Anything below the top four would be a disaster, and the FA Cup has never looked as difficult to win as it does this season.

Have Arsenal got the leadership qualities throughout the side to see them into a cup final and back into the top four? Only time will tell but things don’t look good for the North London side at the minute, and it may prove difficult to keep the likes of Alexis Sanchez interested beyond this season.

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