Thomas Vermaelen’s poor form is symptomatic of Arsenal’s struggles of late.
When Robin van Persie quit Arsenal in the summer, it left Arsene Wenger needing to find a new captain. With previous skippers Fabregas, Gallas, and Vieira all walking out on them in recent years they needed somebody who wanted to be at the Gunners for the long haul.
The perfect choice was Thomas Vermaelen, the Belgian who has said he wants to stay at Arsenal ‘for life’. The defender ticks all the boxes, vocal, high levels of performances, and has leadership skills.
Except the ‘high levels of performances’ have dropped off of late, with the defender putting in a desperately poor showing at Old Trafford, assisting his former teammate for United’s opener, and letting United in for a great chance which Antonio Valencia really should have scored.
After an excellent opening three league games, which saw Arsenal keep three clean sheets in succession, Vermaelen was hailed along with the rest of the defence for their new found resilience. It seems a long time ago now.
It wasn’t just Saturday where Vermaelen was poor, his performances have been slowly deteriorating in recent matches, with the game at Old Trafford the worst of the lot.
While Andre Santos copped most of the flak, fans could at least take solace in the fact Kieran Gibbs will return. What is wrong with Vermaelen is a far more concerning issue.
The issue is undoubtedly a matter of poor form, rather than anything more underlying. Even so it creates a dilemma as to what his manager does in the meantime.
Arsenal have two other very good centre-backs, Per Mertesacker and Laurent Koscielny. The Frenchman has been reduced to third choice this season thanks to Mertesacker’s good form, with Vermaelen an automatic choice when fit.
On form it is time to drop Vermaelen and allow Mertesacker and Koscielny to have a go. Yet the problem is, Wenger can’t. Well he can, but he is unlikely to, having made the Belgian captain. A quick solution is to play Vermaelen at left-back rather than Santos, but with Gibbs due back soon it is no long-term option.
It is a real problem when your captain’s form drops off, managers have to be bold. We have seen Paul Lambert strip Darren Bent of the captaincy at Aston Villa and hand it to Ron Vlaar. It’s unlikely Wenger would take such similar action, but it is a hole of his own making.
or a perhaps equally logical choice of captain was staring him in the face in central midfield; Mikel Arteta. The Spaniard is an automatic choice in central midfield, integral to the Gunners at present. More experienced in the Premier League, he has been excellent this season, even if he along with the rest of the side was ineffective at Old Trafford at the weekend.
Form can go up and down, and who knows in a few months time we could be looking at an Arsenal midfield three of Cazorla, Wilshere and Diaby with Arteta on the bench, and Vermaelen in superb form at the back.
Football can turn quickly, and even if at this stage it looks like Wenger picked the wrong horse for the captaincy, Arsenal should be ok, so long as he is not afraid to drop Vermaelen if his form gets much worse.
Should Vermaelen be dropped? Would Arteta be a better captain?
image: © Ronnie Macdonald
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