The recently ended English Premier League season was for many Arsenal fans one of the worst seasons in recent memory. The source of the angst has a lot to do with the manner in which the season ended. A few months ago we were all believers. A few months ago we excitedly sketched out scenarios about how we would win a quadruple.

Those were indeed the heady days, the days when Arsenal replica jerseys were visible in major cities all over the world. Our beloved team had finally beaten Chelsea despite the presence of that old nemesis Didier Drogba for the first time in ages. Arsenal duly proceeded to beat Barcelona in the Champion’s League at the Emirates. Even the doubters began to believe.

This team it seemed was on the cusp of greatness. It seemed only a matter of time before four trophies found a new home in the Emirates trophy cupboard. We rubbed our hands with anticipation at the expected domino of success. We would first comfortably win the Carling Cup now that providence had helped our cause by ensuring that Manchester United was eliminated from the competition.

With the trophy-less monkey well and truly off our backs we would then proceed to avenge last season’s drubbing at the hands of Barcelona at the Nou Camp by knocking out the Catalans in their home patch. A few days later with this run of victories we would crush a poor Manchester United side at Old Trafford in the FA cup. A revitalized Arsenal would then go on to win the FA cup, the Champion’s League and the English Premier League.

Alas, what we got instead was a domino of failure that we Arsenal fans only know too well. Defeat in the Carling Cup gave way to defeat in the Champion’s League and the FA cup in quick succession. Almost inevitably, and in typical fashion we capitulated in the English Premier League title race. At one point, we fantasized about a quadruple in terms of trophies little did we know that the only connection we had with number four would be in terms of our final position in the league standing!

The question therefore is what caused this sad state of affairs? What factor caused the domino like collapse of our season? The correct diagnosis of the problem is important because it is necessary for a solution.

The conventional wisdom is that Arsenal’s season effectively ended when the team lost to Birmingham in the Carling Cup final in late February. The argument goes that the manner of the defeat led to a collapse in the team’s morale which in turn led to a collapse in form.

This view has recently been endorsed by Arsene Wenger himself. If one was to take this explanation to heart then the answer is simple, get a few more experienced players as well as players who can lead. A sports psychologist would not hurt. The question though, is whether this argument in itself is salient in terms of explaining the team’s abject collapse after the Carling cup final defeat.

In my view, although the issue of the team’s mental fragility is not without substance there is a far more powerful alternative explanation for the team’s implosion later on in the season. I submit that the day the first domino card was tripped was not the day we lost to Birmingham in the Carling Cup final but a few days earlier when Arsenal beat Stoke in a rearranged midweek premier league fixture.

In the game against Stoke, Arsenal had won a pyrrhic victory that would subsequently undermine Arsenal’s entire season. Arsenal won the game 1-0 but in the process the team lost to injury two very important players captain Cesc Fabregas and Theo Walcott. This meant that Arsenal faced Birmingham a few days in the Carling Cup final without two players who had been crucial in some of the season’s most defining moments in particular, the defeat of Chelsea at the Emirates. I remain convinced that had a fully fit Fabregas and Walcott featured in the Carling Cup final, Arsenal would have triumphed.

The injury to the two players also came into play in the Champion’s league game away to Barcelona and in the FA cup tie with Manchester United a few days later. In the case of the Champion’s League game, Fabregas who was not fully fit and played arguably one of his worst games for the team in the process contributing to Barcelona’s opener.

Walcott did not feature and one can only wonder what his impact would have been if he had been introduced late on into the game. In the FA cup tie at Old Trafford, Arsenal once again missed both Fabregas and Walcott. The two players would go on to miss several other crucial matches for the team. In the case of Fabregas he only played at his exalted level in one subsequent game in the season away to Blackpool.

One can only wonder what would have happened if the two players were fully fit for the above listed games. Would Arsenal have collapsed the way they did?

The alternative explanation that I have advanced is important not because it differs fundamentally with the prevalent explanation, indeed their might be a relationship between the two arguments. The importance of the alternative explanation is in terms of its implications. If the absence of Fabregas’ creativity and Walcott’s wing play and goal threat could lead to the team’s implosion at an important juncture in the season then surely the answer is to get more depth into the team especially in the positions that the two players feature in.

Lest we forget that Arsenal collapsed in similar fashion a few seasons back. In the 2007-2008 season, the team spectacularly collapsed after a draw with Birmingham at St. Andrews in a game in which Eduardo suffered a horrible injury. Again the mental strength argument was advanced to explain the implosion even though Wenger later admitted that he had made a mistake in failing to sign cover for Eduardo in the January transfer window.

In the final analysis, I am not in any way suggesting that the team does not suffer from some mental fragility issues. I however have issues with the simplistic assertion made by some that a few experienced players and a sports psychologist would solve our problems. Is it any wonder that Wenger with his well known proclivity in making excuses as well as aversion to costly solutions would endorse the prevailing explanation?

What Arsenal lacks is strength in depth in certain positions. Had Arsenal possessed quality cover for Cesc and Theo would they have collapsed the way they did? Somehow I do not think so. I believe that the way forward involves signing capable world class cover for many of our first team players. The notion that Scott Parker (who I rate) and some sports psychologist would with a wand drive way the ghost of mental fragility and drive us to titles is in my view misguided.

Over the last few seasons, Arsenal has always tended to collapse towards the end of the season. Such a collapse has inevitably followed the exit of the team from domestic or continental cups. Pundits have always argued that this collapse is the result of the mental fragility of Arsenal ‘young’ players.

But seriously how reasonable is the argument when during the same period the team has also had mature players such as Gilberto Silva, Gallas, Kolo Toure and Silvestre? Seriously how can mental strength be a reasonable explanation when the playing personal has changed over time?

If Arsenal tends to get into a rut towards the end of every season then the solution to me is a prosaic one. Arsenal should sign better players as cover for its most important players. What if when Theo got injured playing against Stoke we had Elia of Hamburg or De Maria of Real Madrid or Ashley Young of Aston Villa coming in for Theo? What if when we lost Cesc to injury we had the creativity of a world class attacking midfielder to call upon?

The rut that our beloved team always seems to get in towards the end of the season may have a small mental component to it. However, I submit that the biggest problem with Arsenal is not in the mind but in terms of personnel.

There is a reason why great sides a la Barcelona, Real Madrid and I dare say Manchester United do not have the kind of ridiculous collapse that we had towards the end of the season when quite frankly our form resembled that of teams that were later relegated. It’s called quality cover.

Manchester United can summon Valencia for Nani. Real can summon Kaka for Ozil. Barcelona can summon Afellay for Pedro. Who can we summon for Theo’s pace, wing-play and goal threat? Who can we summon to replace Cesc’s creativity at the centre? Sometimes the best way to end a rut is to get quality players on the pitch and unfortunately Arsenal does not have enough players of that caliber.

Ladies and Gentlemen that is the nature of the problem not some simplistic argument about mental strength. Mourinho said it best, the excuse that this Arsenal team is young no longer holds any water. The notion that we lack mental strength is but a convenient excuse to explain obvious limitations in our playing personnel. The solution is a simple one, sign quality players as cover for our first team players. That measure alone will address the periodic end of season collapse.