Arsenal and Wenger to rely on youth – yet again!

Football FanCast columnist Rob Facey looks ahead to Arsenal’s match against FC Twente and says the best punishment for McCLaren’s dismal failure with England would be to be taught a lesson by Arsenal’s reserves.

Arsene Wenger has piled even more pressure on Twente boss Steve McClaren ahead of the pairs meeting in tonight’s Champions League tie by stating that taking a job in a foreign country is one of the hardest things a manager can do.

The irony, of course, being that when Wenger arrived in England he had to work hard to convince people he was more than a caricature of a French supply teacher.
And boy, did he convince.

He has since gone on to spearhead the revolution that has transformed modern football with his obsession with healthy living and fitness.
"When you go to another country you must convince people you can do the job,'' Wenger said, as reported in The Telegraph.
"When you go to a foreign country it's always expected that you will do better than local people; because if you do the same as local people they don't want you.''

This shouldn’t be a problem for McClaren, who actually managed to achieve less with England than the ‘locals’ could have imagined.
He came from Middlesbrough where he convinced absolutely nobody of his managerial credentials.

He bluffed his way to the UEFA Cup final, mainly by play a 4-0-6 formation for the final 20 minutes of a few matches, a tactic we could all employ after years of practice on Championship Manager.

Wenger however, has problems of his own although they revolve around his team selection rather than his managerial comeback being over before it has started.

"This is the most problematic time I've had at the start of a season,'' Wenger said.
"We have a big squad at home: Toure, Senderos, Nasri, Diaby and Rosicky are all injured. Fabregas will be out for the next two Premier League games.''

Wenger has admitted he does not have many experienced back up players, so selecting youngsters for the first few weeks is likely to be the norm.
"I don't have much choice. It is a young one – or a younger one.
“I don't panic because we worked very hard with the young players to build them up. [Johan] Djourou will play. He has been with us three or four years and if, after that, he can't play one game we've wasted our time.''

So, as the man who convinced us of his genius all of those years ago pits his wits against England’s great pretender, how fitting that Wenger’s reserve team will roll over the side of the man who was expected to succeed with England’s array of superstars.
The knives are understandably out for McClaren, but this could be the best punishment for the man who got a gig at Euro 2008 while the rest of us, including our players, had to suffer at home.

At the same time you have to question how Arsenal will progress with an even ligter squad? with a few day to go to the start of the season Fans must be scratching their heads.

The Skills Programme:

The FA Tesco Skills Programme is a revolutionary approach to youth coaching that is child-centred, focusing on both football skills and children’s learning needs.
The Skills website also contains videos, tips and advice featuring England’s Frank Lampard & Kelly Smith.

www.TheFA.com/Skills