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| Out of Ideas? Arsene Wenger (goal.com) |
Opinion is divided over Wenger. Some are still of the opinion that he is the right man for the job to take the club back to the top. Others think that his time is up. I am one of the latter group. Allow me to explain.
There is no doubt that Arsene Wenger is a very good manager. That Arsenal football club is where it is on the resources used (fairly low compared to some like Shitey, Poo, Manc-ies & Chavs) in recent years says a lot about the manager. Arsenal has consistently remained in the top four, every year competing for trophies yet always lacking that little bit extra to go the full distance.
In that time, we have seen many young players grow up to become very good players, sadly away from the club. Yes, there have been some poor ones. We have also seen some good buys and some very shocking buys too. Through all this relative success, the one constant has been Arsene Wenger.
At the beginning of the current season, the whole world knew that Cesc Fabregas, a player with 3 years on his contract was leaving for Barcelona. The only person who didn't seem to know this was Arsene Wenger. 5 players were bought in the last two days of the transfer window, buy which time the season was a few weeks in. Several other players were moved on loan deals ( I hope they become permanent!).
Undoubtedly, our squad is better than it was in the previous two seasons. With Mertesacker, Vermaelen, Koscielny, Sagna, Santos, Djourou, Jenkinson & even the fragile Gibbs, we have a decent defence. Squilaci is a waste of squad space.
However, where we have improved defensively, we have failed to improved in attack (both midfield and striking departments). Yossi Benayoun has been brought on loan from Chelsea but continues to warm the bench. Arshavin looks like a man waiting a for a bus. Chamakh looks like an imitation of the player signed from France last season. Theo Walcott has hot the proverbial wall. Our only hope in attack is the erratic Gervinho, the magnificent Van Persie and the promising Oxlade-Chamberlain.
Our midfield lacks creativity. Arteta is average- just look at his career. Rosicky is past his best, has never really hit any highs at Arsenal due to injury. Diaby is a player only on paper- due to injuries. Wilshere, a young player who has yet to play a full season is our only creative hope. Song is the only consistently reliable midfielder we have. Ramsey is not there yet.
Our lack of attacking creativity, defensive discipline, hard work, slowness in attack, poor movement off the ball, failure to dribble or make quick passes between tight opposition lines makes as toothless as an attacking force. We then compensate for this deficiency by pouring everybody forward, leaving only a single defender at the back thus getting hit on counter-attacks.
Our manager is tactically naive. He only know one way to play and that is to pass. When games are tight and we can't pass forward, we make sideways passes. This is because our off the ball movement is poor. I have noted how often an Arsenal player is tightly marked but none of the others run into positions where they can receive the ball i.e make triangles for passes. Instead they'll stand there watching, hoping that the marked player will do something magical and come out on top against 3-4 players.
When Van Persie is tightly marked, we lack players that can make dangerous runs, pull defenders out of position, players who can go past 2-3 players. Only the erratic Gervinho has that ability to create space for himself but his final ball negates his intelligence off the ball.
Yet the same team can, given time and space tear other teams to shreds on the pitch. This highlights the root cause of our failure: Poor coaching. Yes we do lack quality, but our quality is better than most teams. That is why, when we are up for it, we can beat anybody or atleast compete.
Our failure to get the basic things wrong time and time again is a problem of coaching. That a player like Bacary Sagna can run towards Richards only to stop a few yards away from him thus allowing him time and space to shoot is a problem of coaching. Sagna is a damn good defender. Application is his failure.
That Thomas Vermaelen can be caught out of position time and time again is a problem of coaching. Vermaelen is a damn good defender. So too Koscielny, Mertesacker, Santos, Jenkinson and Brittle Gibbs.
I could say the same about several of this Arsenal sides; they are damn good players but they continue not to perform time and time again. And as I aluded to earlier in one of my blogs, we have been chopping and changing our squad trying to find the winning formula but it is not working while Manc-ies United continue to produce winning teams year after year. In their case, their one constant- which is working for them even with a very poor squad- is Sir Alex Ferguson. Our one constant, which is not working, is Arsene Wenger and the coaching staff.
I think that it is time to critically ask the question: Is it not time to try something or someone new?
Wenger is tactically naive. He only plays one way game after game, year after year. He even buys same type of players year after year hoping that something will be different. Yet the results are always the same. This is insanity according to Albert Einstein- doing the same thing yet expecting different results. The manager looks a broken man. He's lost his wit, his swagger, his mocking smile. He now looks a perpetually tired, pained, irritated, bereft of ideas manager.
Wenger can't get anymore out of this group of players and I suspect for a few more squads to come. Put simply, Arsene Wenger to me is a man who has gone as far as he can with this club. We all love him, but perhaps our love for him is what is clouding our eyes to the simple and obvious truth that Arsenal and Arsene Wenger should mutually part. Wenger is at risk of getting a nervous breakdown. The fans are at a risk of forgetting all the good he has done and resort to calling him names- as some have started doing.
We have players like Chamakh who are natural target men yet cannot get a game of football even when we are winning to keep them sharp. Consequently, they can't be relied upon when the going gets tough.
Players like that might just benefit from a change in manager. The whole club needs fresh ideas on the playing field and sadly I doubt we shall get new ideas unless we change manager and coaching staff.
If we don't change coach, as everybody expects, the Board need to change our policy. Either way, the continued decline of Arsenal FC will only lead inevitable change.
Change is coming gooners. The question is which- the manager or transfer policy?
Backwards march the Arsenal!!!
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