18 reasons why Wenger should change or resign by MB
It’s been 18 years of the Wenger Revolution at the Arsenal Football Club. I believe these 18 years has not only revolutionized football at the North London but the entire England. Wenger introduced a new system of football; an aesthetically pleasing style of play that contributed majorly to our dominance from 1998 to 2005.
The highest peak of this style of play was showcased in the 2003/2004 season, which highlighted an outstanding feature of that dominating team known as “The Invincibles” which possessed some quality players available to coach Arsene Wenger. In the core of that defense had players like Toure and Cambell, in the heart of the midfield Vierra and Gilberto and upfront legendary Bergkamp and clinical Henry.
Anyways, that is all history this is 2014 and what has changed since then? A lot actually; football has evolved to become a very quick, physical and highly tactical (both in defense and attack). Teams like Chelsea and Manchester City has adopted Arsenal’s old free flowing football with a similar array of quality players like our “Invincibles”, very strong defenders and yet a fluid attack.
While Arsenal has undergone some changes in bringing world class players to the Emirates over the past 2 seasons, Wenger has failed to achieve results with a similar fluent team as always but a very feeble and injury prone squad that is almost out of the BPL title race, out of Capital One Cup and like every other season since 2005, we will settle for a top 4 spot to qualify for the Champions League (only to drop out early). With all these events at the background and after the funny loss against Manchester United, I have opted to join the ungoing #Wengerout campaign. In this article am going to present you with 18 reasons why Wenger should change or resign as coach.
1. Wenger lacks tactical flexibility
We’ve watched all the games so far this season and we’ve witnessed Wenger on the sidelines with no Plan B playing the same way; slow build ups to attacks from the start of the whistle till the end of the match which worked a few times and failed most times which has resulted in our dropping out of the title race and the Capital One Cup.
2. Late transfer business with target failures
I’m sure we all are tired of Wenger last 5 minutes transfer business. He has formed a habit of losing genuine transfer targets. Some of us are aware of the superstar list of “almost Gooner” players who never made it to the Emirates. What separates an average Manager from a “super” Manager is his ability to pull off great deals in time – meeting specific targets that his team lacks. Wenger has failed in this regard; signing players late and not signing highly needed players. And of course none of us know Arsenal’s deficiencies like Wenger, so the question is why isn’t he doing the right thing by signing the kind of players we really need like 2 solid defensive midfielders and 2 center backs.
3. Transfer business (Conspiracy Theory – “maybe”)
I read a comment on justarsenal.com that really made sense to me; Wenger has reluctantly refused to bring these needed targets in order to avoid this same scenario even if we get these targets due to the fact that he has lost that winning mentality.
4. No spirit in the team
Wenger lacks the modern day manager skill of injecting high confidence into the team. He has settled for mediocrity. The successful managers of the modern era all have a very common trait – they get things done. Even when their sides have their backs stacked against the wall, they find a way to motivate their players and make them perform when it matters most. Jose Mourinho, Sir Alex Ferguson and Pep Guardiola are prime examples of this.
We were once a force to be reckoned with, but are no longer considered a big threat. This is mainly because we have had countless opportunities at glory, but have let it go time and time again. Therefore, no one really expects us to have a major impact, knowing that the Gunners will mess up at some point.
The Arsenal sides of 2007/08, 2009/10 and 2013/14 all had very real chances of winning the Premier League. Last year, we led the table for a total of 128 days throughout the course of the season. But in the end, we finished 4th.
5. Inadequate Medical Expertise
I don’t want to believe that the staggering 900 plus injuries which has been recorded since 2002 has to do with a curse or just bad luck. I believe it has to do with guys like Steve Bould and others in the medical team which are of course supervised by Wenger. I don’t understand why he has not sorted this injury plague out.
6. Defensive organization
Looking at our defense structure so far this season has been terrible, we gave free kicks easily, conceded goals in silly scenarios, and defending set-pieces and dead ball situations very poorly. Last season Arsenal came close to becoming the best defense in the entire league with good defensive stats, but this good news was smashed by the conceding 22 horrible goals against the teams in the top five, 20 of those on away games to those same top teams (Chelsea, City, Liverpool, and Everton). We can never challenge for any major trophy if we lack good defense organization that is what separates champions from average teams.
7. His sphere of influence is way too huge
Wenger’s contribution to clubs current financial state cannot be over emphasized he is the leading factor to the clubs financial growth from building the Emirates Stadium to consecutively maintaining a spot at the Uefa Champions League, but this has played a huge toll on the clubs reluctance to try other managerial options. Their trust in him has made it impossible for him to be replaced, in knowledge of this he is aware that no matter what happens his job is safe.
8. Outdated tactics and training methods
A one-time revolutionary in training method by changing player diets and introducing shorter training sessions is now struggling to catch-up due to the intensity of these short training sessions; this has caused many muscle and bone related injuries on Arsenal players over the years.
9. Refusal to acknowledge any problems
After losing a game to Title rival all you hear from Wenger is “We can take a lot of positives from this game” but there’s never a negative. He never criticizes his players for specific errors, this is very wrong you need to give corrections to avoid future errors.
10. His record against title challengers is poor
Over the last 5 seasons Arsenal has played 42 games against title contenders (Manchester United, Liverpool, Chelsea and Manchester City), we’ve won 10 games, lost 18, drew 14. In those 42 games we scored 46 and conceded 70 goals. Now how poor is that for a so called “Title contender”, no wonder we always end up with the “Wenger” Trophy (Top 4 finish),
11. No success on the European stage
I don’t know about you, but I’m sick and tired of been second best on the Champions league stage blaming controversial officiating decision for major losses. Incredibly, Arsenal has won just eight knockout ties under Wenger. Three of these arrived en route to the 2006 final and a further two during their run to the semi-finals three seasons later. That aside, over a 14-year period – during which Arsenal were often handed kind group draws against moderate opposition due to a favourable seedings process – we have successfully negotiated their way through just three knockout rounds.
12. Arsene’s ‘little Barcelona’ Project Failure
Wenger needs a change in style of play; he needs to diversify his tactics in other for the team to cop in games when our attack lacks penetration in the oppositions defense. Unlike Barcelona, we don’t have a Messi , Iniesta, Xavi or even Busquet to play ‘tiki taka”, build on fast attacks from the midfield to penetrate the opponents defense and produce a magical moment week in week. So I suggest Wenger diversify and try other style of play that could make us win games without necessarily possessing higher percentage of the ball.
13. Wenger thinks everyone is Thierry Henry
Wenger is so fond of signing wingers or attacking midfielders and trying to build them to be goalscorers- just as he succeeded with legendary Thiery Henry. This to me is not realistic, he should allow players like Ozil play their preferred position for better results.
14. Excuses, Excuses, Excuses,
If it’s not the injury list or referee decisions then it’s the physical nature of opponents. But aren’t you tired of losing key games with such excuses.
15. Does not listen to fans
Every good club Manager is suppose to serve as the bridge between fans and the club board, but Wenger has turned deaf ears to the yearnings of fans.
16. ‘Next season – there’s always next season’
Aren’t you tired of hearing “we are building the team for the future” and the result of this statement is failure with the almost-got-there syndrome.
17. He belongs to the Upper Chamber
Wenger’s contribution and experience within the last 18 years is very huge, it almost seems like the club revolves around him with his expertise in financial management. I believe he definitely has a role to play in the club within the next 5 years. He looks more like an executive than a coach with thick sweaters and blankets on the side lines (which looks very odd for a coach)
18. It’s Time For Change
The biggest point I’m trying to make here is this, we need change. We need something different, is that an odd request?
Luckily for Wenger my opinion might just end as an article and nothing more. So there is an 80% chances things will still stay the way they are. But for better or worse, I remain a Gooner.
Michael ‘Simba’ Brown