Wenger needs to change his ways and quick
If any Manchester United or Chelsea fan ever had any worries about Arsenal being a threat in the title race this season, they have now been well and truly quashed under a barrage of counter attacking genius from Wayne Rooney combined with a series of shocking defensive errors from Arsenal.
From the perspective of many football junkies (myself included) the Arsenal versus Manchester United game is one of the most anticipated days of the year. Two truly great clubs run by managers that have a passion for free flowing football and have served as the model of how to be continuously successful during a time where any exiled foreign politician wanted for human rights violations can try their hand in the transfer market.
However as time goes on and as these teams meet more and more often, it is becoming painstakingly obvious that the great rivalry of recent years is dwindling and that Arsenal are falling further behind their rivals. Never has this been more obvious than after their recent 3-1 home defeat at the hands of Sir Alex Ferguson’s men, this truly was men against boys. Every goal scored during the game was an indicator of United’s all round superiority; even Arsenal’s strike was greeted by a sarcastic cheer of pity from their fans who knew only too well that they had been beaten out of sight and didn’t deserve to score.
Nani had an embarrassment of riches in terms of who to pass to for the first goal, before Almunia did the hard work in electing to push it into his own net in a state of sheer panic and confusion. For the second goal Rooney managed to find space in between four Arsenal defenders and the oncoming goalkeeper to slot the ball home. However the gulf in class was emphasized the most when Gael Clichy was made to look like a rabbit stuck in the headlights by the run of Ji Sung Park, who proceeded to smash the ball in the bottom corner to make it 3-0 after just fifty minutes. The same was true of Chelsea’s second goal at Stamford Bridge with Frank Lampard appearing to strike the fear of God into the Arsenal back line before slipping it through to Drogba.
If these performances don’t tell Arsene Wenger that he needs to change his strategy and go out and buy some big name players then nothing ever will. Just a looking at the reinforcements United and Chelsea were able to bring on versus Arsenal tells a story. Berbatov versus Bentdner; a world class striker versus someone whose shirt number is double his career goal tally. Deco versus Aaron Ramsey; a Champions League winner versus a youngster just out of the Championship. If you want further evidence just look at the number of points Arsenal have taken off Chelsea and Manchester United in the past two and a half seasons- eight out of a possible thirty six. Young, quick, technically gifted players such as Alex Song and Denilson will win plenty of games against smaller clubs; this is shown by how far Arsenal managed to finish ahead of fifth placed Everton last season. However when it comes to playing against experienced greats of the modern game, such as Paul Scholes and Didier Drogba, much more is needed. You need character and know-how above anything else.
Arsene Wenger is someone who has done so much for English football that the FA should give him a free passport and beg him to stay, but it is time for him to swallow his pride and spend big. Trying to win titles with young players who have yet to develop is a wonderful concept, but one that is about as reliable as the mission statement of an Iranian nuclear power plant. A look back at some of England’s forgotten young superstars will account for that. Does anyone know where Bruce Dyer (England’s first ever million pound teenager in 1994) is playing these days? Answers on a postcard please.
A look back at previous title winning sides will tell Wenger what he needs to do. Names that spring to mind straight away are: Adams, Henry, Vieria, Anelka, Dixon, Bergkamp, Cole, Seaman, Pires, Petit, Overmars and Kolo Toure. These are players who were all huge contributors to Arsenal’s recent glory years. Some were experienced players like Seaman and Adams who knew what it took to win titles, and others were youngsters who had either come through the academy or were kids nobody had ever heard of with a point to prove after being shipped out for nothing by their previous clubs, like Nicolas Anelka and Ashley Cole. Combining young, hungry talent with older statesmen is a strategy that has delivered huge success time after time again with clubs all over the world, and will undoubtedly work for Arsenal once more if Arsene Wenger can get back to using it.
Nobody is sure as to why Wenger has refused to go back to the formula that has served him and others so well. Some say it is due to financial constraints put on him after the construction of the Emirates Stadium, some say it’s because behind even the most diplomatic men there is an ego and Wenger has long insisted that he will buy young players and young players only, and some say it’s because he doesn’t want to damage his young players confidence by forcing them out of the team.
Whatever the reasons may be they need to be overcome if Arsenal are to seriously compete for a Premier League title again. Wenger has done so much for English football and is rightly looked upon as a credit to our national game along with every single team he puts out. But as the recent economic downturn has proved, you can have all the credit in the world but it’s all useless if you refuse to put your hand in your pocket when it really matters.
Written By Kieran Lovelock
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absolutely right with rabbit stuck in lights,,,,,,,,,if wenger need to go with young ones then he should also bring someone like dezko ,i mean 23 is still young u cant pick ur whole team from academy,,people always said wenger knows art to polish young talent but i personally think fergie is more effective and practicle,he gives his young player chance to learn from seniors and from his aged young ones too,,in united pressure is not over young ones as it is in arsenal,united with there senior members are able to gv time to young players to learn and come up good,where in arsenal they dont hv time season after season they filling more pressure to perform,rooney is so much effective now because larson berba vannistelroy helped him a lot by passing him there own experience where in arsenal vela is set to learn from persie who is only perfect in hitting the bars time after time,wenger u need some one proved striker like u bought arshavin same way buy derossi and and some like etoo to make arsenal all good,i bet in united denilson ll be playing at reserves because he is not a starting player yet,look at tosic he is certainly a classic talent but with weak physic saf knows that he is not going to make it on epl now so he loaned him to get experience and more he gave him time to put some weight,,arsenal with eduardo and bendtner never going to win anything ,this guys only consider as a backup not a leading man,look at barca who is very similar to arsenal in playing ways but they spend money when ever they need to buy ,they bought worldclass proved players,ibra ,alves,and mix them with academy youth,,even they introduce academy player on right time when they are ready,,guess if boja in arsenal,,i can bet he was playing most of matches from last two years here,,thats all difference,trust ur youth but dont expect them to win trophies straight away,,gv them time and sorround them with great players so that they ll motivated and learned from him,look at denilson against united he was unable to decide to how to defend and mark ,he need some one like viera who can share his experience with him to crack mental block
This is very good…sums it all up nicely
Wenger has to name a side of Arsenal Ladies if we are to have a prayer to beat Liverpool
clearly the reason he dosnt want big name players is ego
He has done so much but he has also broken hearts.
If a coach runs out of ideas,he needs to go.
Wenger is the only human being that fails to understand what we are saying.even rice his assistance understands.
Let wenger go!
Agree, agree, agree!
AW just has to change SOME of his ways though, especially spendings!
Great article. As a lifelong gunners fan I’ve thought this for a long time
Very good analysis. Arsenal have been slipping for a while and Wenger needs to wake up and realise that he needs a Didier Drogba and a John Terry rather than a Bendtner and an Eboue
A well written article. I have always admired the way Wenger’s teams play but they simply aren’t strong enough to beat Chelsea or United or even beat them. Like this guy said Wenger needs to realise this soon before Arsenal fall too far behind and have to spend millions to catch up
It always saddens me to see a team like Arsenal who play such great soccer, get beaten by a physical team like Chelsea who beat them on the counter. But this is the way it has been for four seasons now and Wenger needs to address this soon
The difference between Arsenal and Chelsea yesterday was that they had a keeper and we did not! For as longer as Alumunia remains between the sticks, we will never win any thing, and this has been the case for the last 5 years, since the departure of Jense. Drogba’s goals were stopable, esp the first one. Alumunia waited for the ball on the ground which he would have caught from the air before Drogba. Alumunia out!
it makes me sick when i sea someone who critizise eboue.eboue is one of the view arsenal players who can ran the ball very good and create space like today when he come in he put prassure on chalsea deffence.he is better then wolcot an dinilson.
totally agree