The penny finally drops for Arsene Wenger
Arsene Wenger is a deeply principled man. His stubbornness to concede that his philosophy may not be the only way for the club to achieve success has hindered the club in recent times. With this in mind, it’s particularly interesting to take a closer look at his activity towards the end of the transfer window – there has certainly been a noticeable change in tack after the humiliating 8-2 drubbing at the hands of Man Utd last weekend. A stark wake-up call had been served, to ignore it and carry on would have been nothing short of madness. It’s been a long time coming, but it appears as if the penny has finally dropped for Wenger.
Mikel Arteta, Yossi Benayoun, Per Mertersacker, Park Chu-Young and Andre Santos all arrived on the final day. All of the five new recruits are aged between 26 and 31 years of age. They boast 233 international caps between them and there are two international captains (Benayoun, Park) among them. It’s abundantly clear that adding experienced, wiser heads became the top priority for Wenger in the final few days of the transfer window.
It’s also interesting to see that players like Arteta and Santos have signed long-term deals, despite being 28 and 29 years of age respectively. Wenger is famed for offering only one or two-year deal extensions for players approaching the twilights of their careers. Players such as William Gallas and Robert Pires have suffered at the hands of Wenger’s strict approach in not offering long-term deals to more seasoned performers in the past and it seems again as if there has been a shift.
The transfer of Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain just served to underline that there was sufficient funds in the bank to move for the right players. Paying £15m+ for a relatively unproven youngster appeared to be a kick in the teeth for some fans when they were seen to be bargaining over a million here and there for more established players throughout the summer.
But are they the ‘right’ players?
Mertersacker is certainly a handful in the air at 6ft 6in tall and he’s been added to try and rid the side of their ineptitude at defending corners and set pieces effectively. However, the side may have to play a deeper line to compensate for his almost chronic lack of pace. Nonetheless, the Bundesliga’s almost break-neck speed of play is extremely similar to that of the Premier League and he should adjust fairly quickly.
The Arteta and Benayoun deals came out of the blue. They obviously needed to replace the creativity in midfield of both Nasri and Fabregas and Arteta in particular looks a great purchase. For a long time now I’ve regarded him as the best player outside of the established top four and it will be interesting how he handles the step up.
South Korean forward Park Chu-Young comes in for a fee around the £2m mark and with a one in three goals to game record throughout his career and significant international experience behind him, he should prove a solid squad player. Although his purchase does put the ineffective Marouane Chamakh’s future at the club in serious doubt.
The signing of Andre Santos just further makes a mockery of Wenger’s earlier baffling claim that the club were well stocked at left back because they had Vermaelen, Traore and injury-plagued Kieran Gibbs to call upon. Santos has fallen in and out of the international picture over the past few years with Brazil and he may lack consistency, but in the true model of a modern Arsenal full back, he’ll add pace and width down the flanks, even if his defensive attributes are under question.
Most fans were apoplectic with rage after the truly shocking nature of the Man Utd result. The side lacked leadership, direction and most importantly, in what is a serious indictment on their manager’s lack of preparation and foresight – a coherent plan. A reaction was called for. Wenger would finally have to dig into those deep pockets and actually spend a few quid.
To be fair to Wenger, he has acted, but not in the manner that we’ve become accustomed to. Most people were expecting expensive moves for young players with potential such as Eden Hazard, Yann M’Vila or Marvin Martin. Were these players simply out of reach or had Wenger left it too late?
It’s difficult to drive a hard bargain when everyone knows you’re desperate for a certain type of player. Wenger must have been aware all summer of the probability of Fabregas and Nasri departing and from the board downwards it shows a serious lack of long-term planning. Would Ferguson or Dalglish have ever left themselves in such a weak position? Unlikely to say the least.
The players signed may not be the big-name signings that the terraces were crying out for but they are all steady, experienced pros. It is these sort of players more than anything else that Arsenal have missed over the past season or so.
Wenger’s near constant obsession of planning for the future has finally given way to a more pragmatic and realistic approach and although the moves may smell of a whiff of desperation, they should go some way to steadying a ship that had become in serious danger if sinking, with it’s beleaguered skipper firmly at the wheel.
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we are a great club great manager and great players the only way to be successful in anything in life is to be positive this negitive RUBBISH HAS TO STOP
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Kevvy Reply:
September 3rd, 2011 at 1:38 pm
Agree we all need to get behind the team, but Wenger allowed things to go too far. Getting drubbed by Man Utd might be a blessing in disguise if it has finally brought him to his senses.
Now we just need to get rid of the lazy useless spongers (we all know who they are) and get one or two top class players in the January window. I believe we should have a bit of left over cash to spend!
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What Wenger did this time is something we do not understand at all. I think there is something fishing within the club and the majority of us does not know about it. We can complain about it, but the Arsenal board does not care where the money is coming from. They should be responsible when running a club like Arsenal. The I dont care attitude of the board will couse the collpse of the club. Hill Wood and his board does not have a vision at all.
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i feel these transfers that they bought in where desperate, the club lives in a world of its own with greedy people interested in lining their own pockets and not the success of the team, this was proven in the transfer panic buys, yes agree we must support the team, we will be fighting relegation, that is a obvious sign, and i truly believe wenger needs to go and if people say who do we replace him with look at moyes at everton never had money to spend but always managed to get his team in top half of table, wenger has spent and most of his purchases have been poor, even in this transfer round, many supporters think they are in a candy store but you have to sit back and think, none of these players even compare to nasri,fab or clichy, our team is weak, we need usamonov and dein running this club kroenke and gazidis have shown they do not have a clue about football, they are just interested in lining their own pockets and ripping off the fans they knew fab and nasri and clichy where leaving well before we did they did nothing wenger with his spouting off and broken promises, clearly show this club is in need of change quickly these people have taken our beloved arsenal to the lowest pits, and they do not give a toss, again obvious by transfer policy in what they believe world class players should be on a minimum wage, instead they bring in what they call future quality in kids and so far it has not worked only fabregas because he was exceptional is the only one to succeed in wengers philosophy that clearly smells just has much as the bull shit that we have all been told from this club
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You don’t what you are talking about mate !!!!!!
The Arsenal board, more than any other, have positioned the club to benefit from the new rules Ueffa are bringing in. If anything they have been TOO prudent !!!!!! Their attitude has been TOO conservative!!!! They have been unwilling to take risks that could cause the collapse of the club.
The common take on the situation is that the board have made funds available to Wenger, he has decided not to spend them. Why pay for a manager if you are not going to let him manage ?????
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Wenger should ve read the handwriting on the wall. I hope this teaches him a lesson, he must remain focused, the league is still young but won’t in a short time to come. I remain a die hard gunner.
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