Will Wenger’s inevitable ban hinder Arsenal title/top four chances?

Arsene Wenger got sent to the stands during the hugely intense ending of the Arsenal Burnley match yesterday, and is likely to be handed an extended ban for refusing to accept the fourth official’s orders.

The Frenchman lost his cool when witnessing referee Jon Moss hand Burnley an injury time penalty on Sunday afternoon, and found himself sent to the stands after complaining to the Anthony Taylor, before refusing to accept his punishment.

Former head referee Keith Hackett has now called for a minimum six-game touchline ban to be enforced to protect the officiating staff and make an example out of him following his retaliation towards Taylor.

But just how much impact would all this have on our title push?

The joking answer would be very little, given the ‘fact’ that he can never see what is happening on the pitch from the touchline anyway. And some could argue that his 70th minute substitutions are predictable, with the likes of Iwobi and Giroud regularly taken off for a like-for-like replacement.

The reality is that Wenger is continually writing down notes on the gameplay, and passing on little pieces of advice to the team throughout the 90 minutes, not to mention he wouldn’t be allowed in the dressing room at half-time either. It’s also a fact that nobody could have predicted his clever decision to bring Oxlade-Chamberlain into a right-back role when chasing a win, a decision that came off.

I cant help but feel the morale of the squad would also be affected by such a change in the day’s preparation, although believe that Steve Bould would do his best to stick to his instructions.

A six-match ban right now would see him miss trips to Chelsea and Liverpool, as well as not being allowed to travel to take on Southampton away in either the FA Cup or the Premier League, which should not be taken lightly.

Could this ban have a huge adverse effect on our campaign as a whole?

Pat J

Tags Arsenal Wenger

15 Comments

  1. Of course the decision by it self will have its own negative impact on the players’ morale. However, I don’t think it will affect the team performance as the tactical approach and players’ changing time is already known for Arsene Wenger. On the contrary, I expect the players to raise their game up and do better in order to overcome the situation’s impact.

  2. I think it will have no effect, Wenger does nothing when sitting there, the only thing that will miss him is his long caterpillar coat and its zip.

    he sets the team, sits on the bench for 45mins, goes to talk to them during the break, gets back to the bench sits there till the 90th min, congratulates them, or dashes straight into the tunnel if its a loss, so basically he does nothing when he’s there

    1. @bran99 you are supposed to moan about how terrible this would be, just to give us an excuse if we lose. Excuses are in the DNA of this club and fans.

      Wenger is a crucial in-game manager, always standing on the side-line barking instructions, motivating his players, making tactical adjustments, a Wenger suspension from this role would be a disaster. If we lose to Chelsea it would be because we miss Wenger’s presence on the side-line and his unique ability to make tactical adjustments based on his opponents.

      1. “Wenger is a crucial in-game manager, always standing on the side-line barking instructions, motivating his players, making tactical adjustments”, I laughed before replying this. which Wenger are you talking about??? I can see you talking about Klopp/Conte there, that’s no Wenger. this type of Wenger is not yet born mate

        1. I know that was just being cynical. I was just wondering why you got so many thumbs down. I agreed with your assessment 100%. Wenger does not manage a lot if at all during games. Missing him won’t be the end of the world. Although clearly, 6 games would be ridiculous.

          As funny as it sounds, I appreciated Wenger’s little push. Was a nice change from the cerebral manager lacking visual passion. It showed me he cares.

  3. Will have no effect. Wenger doesn’t manage during games we all know that. He makes no tactical adjustments or substitutions. I am sure Bould can manage to stick to Wenger’s script.

    This type of punishment would be much harder on managers who manage during games like Pep, Klopp, Mourinho etc.

  4. To me, a six-match ban would be ridiculous. I think this episode is so overblown.

    One or two games ok, 6? That would be disproportionate. Wenger, if anything was protecting his personal space and that was hardly a push.

  5. hahaha!!you call jumping around, gesticulating like a puppet&doing cartwheels when scoring managing from the bench?this has become the new trend for managers in the premier league they feel they have to give the fans a spectacle on the touchlines to make sure they see they”really”care:)pretty soon one the criteria to manage in the epl will be to have trained as a gymnast!!

    1. sitting on the bench looking clueless and folding hands like it’s always cold, zipping his coat for half the match, running to console the 4th official whenever opponents score, is this all managing from the bench? he lists the players and tells them to go play the Arsenal way, that’s all, no tactical changes, favoritism, all this is called managing? the old man is collecting his pension at the moment, no pressure to win anything or be sucked, no at all

    2. @tissiam – you must agree then, that a ban for Wenger will have no impact if managers can’t manage from the side-lines anyways.

  6. It is highly unlikely Wenger’s absence from the bench will have any impact on the players, he basically does his coaching before the match and halftime, he hopes his players follow his instructions whether the opposition made a tactical change or not.

    He is not a Klopp, Conte or Mourinho who coaches from the sideline either so as i said highly unlikely.

    My advise however is stop looking so far ahead, next game is southampton, not chelsea, so lets deal with Southampton and go to the fifth round of the FA cup.

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