While John Terry's activities off the pitch may leave a lot to be desired, his magnificent display for Chelsea at the weekend hinted at the major flaw in Arsene Wenger's Arsenal team.
Terry's determination to win this year's league title, combined with the professionalism he showed to put his off-field problems to one side, proved just how crucial his character is to the Blues' push for silverware.
He may not be England's captain, but he is a true leader and Arsenal are craving somebody with his quality and attitude.
While the Premier League is now a global business, it is a lack of home-grown talent that has cost the Gunners a shot at this year's title.
Forget about injuries to key players such as Robin van Persie, ignore their lack of a killer instinct in front of goal. But note that Theo Walcott was the only Brit to don a red shirt on their trip to Stamford Bridge.
If Arsenal are to claw back their credentials in this country's top division they need to make the signing of players with Premier League background their priority this summer.
Terry weighed in with assists for both Didier Drogba goals as defeat in West London on Sunday resulted in Wenger's men extending their record to nine straight defeats against the country's top two sides, Chelsea and Manchester United.
Elsewhere, Ashley Cole and Frank Lampard produced the kind of performances that have elevated them among the world's elite.
All three players have also won the league. A prize which means everything to them. Likewise, Manchester United have the heartbeat of Rio Ferdinand, Michael Carrick and Wayne Rooney, while Arsenal do not have that consistent dimension within their current squad.
When they last won the league in 2004, Wenger had three key English figures central to his plans: Cole, Sol Campbell and Ray Parlour.
The trio effectively filled the same roles as Chelsea's British boys did on Sunday, while current statistics show that only five per cent of the Gunners' goals this season have been scored by an Englishman.
It is another damning factor that has hindered their attempt to regain supremacy, given that Sir Alex Ferguson has seen 28 per cent of his side's 61 goals scored by English players, while Carlo Ancelotti's Blues have found the net 54 per cent of the time with players produced on these shores.
Wenger failed to sign Chris Smalling from Fulham in January, but at least it seems to suggest that he is attempting to rectify this predicament he finds himself in.
When a side moves into contention to win the league, it is all well and good to discuss the required combination of youth and experience, but you should never forget your roots.
During a time when fans are finding it increasingly difficult to empathise with their clubs, the British backbone is one aspect that seems ever more crucial.
Arsene Wenger Needs to Add a British Backbone to his Arsenal Plans
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08/2/2010 5:51 AM GMT By Dean Jones
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- Dean Jones
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You don't need to be English (or British... as you keep flipping between the two during the article, both having different meanings) to be home grown or have Premier League experience... what a ridiculous article.
Arsenal lost because they were not good enough, whether or not they had a team full of English players or not would not have mattered yesterday.
The team has a lot of promising British players coming through the ranks; the likes of Keiron Gibbs, Aaron Ramsey, Jay Simpson and Sanchez Watt being the most notable. The problem with yesterday could very well be down to the amount of time spent in the Premier League by some of the squad. Although 4 of the back 5 have been there for some time as regulars in the PL the midfield only really featured one (Fabregas) and the attacking 3 lacked any with substantial experience.
I agree Premier League experience would be vital to the squad but to say that Arsenal need British players to win is ridiculous, they just need a bit more League experienced players that are better skill wise than what we have already.
This is why everyone hates parasidic journalists like you, so many flaws in your argument,so little time. So we lost the match due to the lack of the " Good old fashioned english grit and character"? No "grit" is not an extension of personally that an englishman is born with nor is determination or any other mythological trait that you insecure journalists try to convince yor selves of. Once again, Arsenal do not lack English grit or English leadership, we just lack grit and leadership.And when it comes down to loyalty, sure therees always the Adebayor ect., but i know for an absolute fact that the likes of Eduardo, Van Persie and Clichy have more loyalty than Rooney, Cole and Terry. Van Persie is an arsenal fan, Rooney actually grew up literally hating Manchester United, maybe we can call that "English principles" or English greed, hey i'm sure if we repeat it enough maybe one day some GCSE journalist on a no mark website will blindly spew it out because he cant think for himself.......( I almost didn't write this but after another readthrough : I realy hope you dont get paid for this, your stealing a living if this is the best you've got, now sit in the corner and think of what you've done like the good lapdog you are....)
We are not missing too much from becoming a great team! 3-4 players and we could be challenging on all fronts! Goal Keeper, Center Back, Right Back, Striker! Sorensen/Shawcross/V.de Wiel/Chamakh. Bring back Lansbury from loan to add depth to the squad and if Cesc does leave for Barca which i think he will, then we need to replace him....Gonalons/Matuidi/Barnetta all good additions. Sorensen, Shawcross & Vermealen could be a fantastic threesome at the back for us with Lukasz, Djourou & Savic backing up.
Ancellotti said after the game. Arsenal may have a lot of possession but it counts for nothing if they dont put the ball in the net/have a shot. They always want that one extra touch, and they all always go up, leaving themselves 100% open at the back, and susceptible to the break.
Yes Vermailen and Co look good scoring goals - but theyre no use when Drogba and Rooney - and any other forward from now on - is 75 yards beyond them, sticking the ball in their net.
No trophies again, but it just serves them right for wrecking English football in the first place though
what a moronic comment! far from wrecking english football arsene wenger has done more than any man alive to drag english football up to the level required to compete on the international stage. ashley cole is maybe the best example - pone of the very few world class players in the England team, along with rooney and on a good day, gera.rd. if english players want to get in the arsenal (or any top 4 team) that's how good they have to be.
anyway i am heartily sick of this facile whingeing about the english game being wrecked by foreigners. what a load of absolute cock! Talented young players can take their opportunity in the lower leagues, in the scotish premiership - or here's an idea - why don't they go abroad and earn their spurs. eduardo wasn't given a chance in Brazil - what did he do? packed his bags and played in Croatia until his talent shone through to the highest level. if a few more young english players showed this kind of heart and determination they and we would be a lot better off for it. your commnt is lazy and complacent, just like the players you think have a god given right to play amongst the WORLD elite, just because they're english.
rick - what a jerk - english game has been served well be wenger. if young english players want a game why not earn their spurs in the lower leagues - the scottish premier league - or guess what? they could go and play abroad like all the johnny foreigners playing in the premier league. geddit? there's probably only three world clas players in the england set-up, one of them is ashley cole, for whom you can thank arsene wenger. rick - you need to stop with these facile, lazy ideas - just like the so called english talent that's being held back - if you want someting get off your *rse and go for it!
As usual Wenger is whinging and giving silly and stupid excuses for Arsenal's inadequecies, innefectiveness and inefficiencies. Feeble strikers who won't shoot the ball into the net even when the clear cut scoring chances are there to be taken, a poor, disorganised defence that totally lacks leadership and presence and a laughable and useless goalkeeper for a team aspiring to win anything. Arsenal's defending problems have been around for nearly five seasons now yet Wenger continues to delude himself and refuses to spend on quality defenders with physical presence. He choses instead to go and buy the re-cycled defenders who have been released by our rivals (Sylvester/Campbell). 5 empty seasons have gone and Wenger still dwells on his misguided belief that he has a team good enough to compete with the rivals and win some silverware!! Well, with these banch of players this will simply NOT HAPPEN unless he listens, faces the realities and match our rivals in buying the required big quality and experienced players. And honestly the fans are geting irritated and really fed up with the Manager who seems to have a lot of time in believing the unbelievable.
This is a crap article and a crap idea. We need some English players. We don't need a couple of tough players with a good mentality we just need English players because they are perfect. I mean look at how well the English talent plays week in week out for Arsenal. Walcott scores like 2 a game! Oh wait... Fabregas needs to go though because he isn't English. English spine my ass.
as far as i'm concerned, chelsea is carried by other hard 'men' like essien, mikel, ballack drogba and anelka. most premier league teams have installed a non-englishman in the most vital positions, e.g. gk, striker, playmaker and dm. foreigners are everybit as hard as or harder than englishmen. this english spine thing is nonsense. england has an english spine and they are still waiting to win a world cup since 1966.