In defence of Wenger´s Arsenal tactics

Don´t blame Wenger by Sam P

I agree that Arsenal were a bit disappointing last night as we slumped to a shock defeat against Swansea City. It brought back memories of the old Arsenal as well, dominating possession but failing to break down a determined and defensively organised team before leaving ourselves exposed to the counter attack.

The result also makes it a lot more likely that the Gunners will finish in our usual fourth place and that would be extremely disappointing after it looked like we had pushed on. So I can understand the frustration many fans are feeling and the subsequent suggestion that it is all Arsene Wenger´s fault and that we will never regain the glory days with the Frenchman in charge.

The fact that Wenger picked the same starting XI for the fifth game in a row was made much of as it was the first time in his reign he had done this. Some will point to the Chelsea game and say that the boss should have learned from this but I would point to the Hull game last week when the same team tore the tigers apart.

For me the fault for last night lies in the poor finishing of the players to some extent but more on the pace, or lack of it, that our passing had in the first half. When you face a well drilled and compact team you have to zip it around to stretch them and make space. But you also have to tire them out by making them chase and chase and then it should be their legs going at the end, not them breaking forward to stun you.

The fact that Arsenal were much better after the break shows that Wenger made this change and he also gave Wilshere and Walcott a decent chance to influence the game which they nearly did so for me he got it right.

Tags Swansea Walcott Wilshere

30 Comments

  1. 2nd palace is no better than 3rd or 4th (except for cl qualifier), it is the title that I want, it has been a decade now…
    Actually this season I gave up the title race early on when we failed to strengthen our team in the last summer (CB+DM+ST all were must) and I’m not convinced we will add the needed quality this window (top DM+ top top ST and maybe GK+CB) …

    1. In a way your right but surely as far as progression and more importantly pride are concerned 2nd would be far more preffarable to 4th also for a club that are looking to compete (or should I say who’s fans are looking for the club to compete) with the worlds footballing super powers, 2nd is a statement of intent and an indication of forward progression. 3rd or 4th is the same old same old. Is it not about time that the board and Wenger woke up to the power that winning or even just competing would bring, the brand would expand the clubs name would engender respect amongst the fickle masses again and this would bring financial muscle and therefore give us the capacity to stay competing for years to come and stick within our financial plan and ethos. This wont happen in the summer because Wenger point blank will not spend the money on the out and out striker we really need you wont see him buying in a diego Costa or a Suarez this summer because Wenger REFUSES TO SPEND ANY MONEY AND I MEAN REAL MONEY.

      1. We will definitely finish 3rd and that is a progress. Win the fa cup and that would be another progress, back to back titles and a showdown with Chelsea. Even if we lose at old fartford and win the remaining 2 games at home to Sunderland and west brim we will finish third and get direct qualification to ucl . I defenitly think we can get away with a draw on Sunday.3rd place won’t be that bad, and about last night shit happens doesn’t it?

        1. Actually if we lose at manure and then get 4 points from our remaining 2 matches vs Sunderland and west brom we will finish third…I really don’t see much difference between third and second…so cheer up guys, we will finish third and win the cup…another trophy coming our way…city will exchange their second place with us for the cup final and give us milner for free.I bet they will. So third and the cup will make us more successful than shitty

    2. Wenger’s tactis can’t be defended.Throwing in a bunch of midfielders and expecting to win the match is not part of modern football.

      1. Sanchez missed a sitter and Theo fked up our best chance,all our shots were in the middle of the goal and that’s why they kept a clean sheet. Nothing special from fabianski to be honest. If we kept giroud in he would have taken the chance that Theo fked up. Wenger made a big mistake, he should have taken Ramsey out instead of og.

  2. Erm no!! No defence! Midfield packed all game so we bring on our target man and second highest goal scorer for another central midfielder.. Stupid, that’s what it is!!

    Doesn’t matter if Wilshere played well, we were still doing the same thing, playi, play, play, play and nothing!!

  3. We don’t even need to defend anything. Our players played well but we were so poor in front of goal yesterday and that’s why we lost, simple. We secured champions league and have 3 games left to play plus FA Cup final so why the hell is everyone crying. Everyone was praising Wenger and the players for months because we simply played great football and because we didn’t win one game everyone’s going insane and the Wenger OUT comments are back. People forget its football and even the best teams can lose on any given day and nothing pisses me off more than that.

    1. But it was an important game donsn’t ANYONE see that ? an important game for all of the aforementioned reasons not some middle of the season menas nothing loss it was an important game!! as they all are at this point when your in the position we are in .

      1. i hear you, it was an important game that we should have for sure but we didn’t. Either linger in the past we can’t change or look ahead. The most important thing now is the FA Cup. We don’t win anything for being second or third. To me as long as we are not 4th i’m happy

        1. Again I partially agree with you we don’t win bugger all for 2nd or 3rd BUT its the statement of intent as Ive said and if we play Villa the way we played Swans last night we will walk away with nothing. Im not lingering in the past mate that’s what it appears almost all AKB’s are doing we NEED to move forward but not be making the same mistakes over and over and over again and THAT is what we are currently doing.

  4. Wenger needs to look at a new goal keeper perhaps Cech, another Centre back, defiantly Hummels , another CDM Morgan Schniederlin and another striker perhaps Christan Benteke but I would bet my house that None of these players will be wearing an Arsenal Shirt next season I bet you!!!

    1. Cech, howedes, pedro, & Cavani (or Dybala if wengers feeling prudent that day;) for me. Also not to be seen within 100 miles of the Emirates.

      1. If we couldn’t get Demba Ba on loan there is no way in hell we’ll get Cech. Plus after seeing the way we play we can’t be throwing out names at random. Howedes is a good defender, Pedro will get molested in the EPL, Cavani has been poor in a much easier League and Dybala would be a great buy but one good season doesn’t make him world class.

        1. No one good season doesn’t make him worl class (Dybala) but you can bet your house on it that if ski or man Sh!tty or someone else buys him up YOU KNOW he wil be world class. Same old Wnger same old Arsenal scared of spending too much on a flop, but he not dome that with a number over the years I mean how many sanogo’s have we had and why keep Diaby on wages that have added up to millions when it was clear years ago that he was never ever going to stay fit!! for me Benteke is a cracking potential as he knows the prem league but also Laccazetta isa also a possibility.

        2. If Mourinho is willing to sell, we can get him. Which I think he is.

          Pedro would more than hold his own and Dybala although not a proven goal scorer as such (25+ goals each season/over a few seasons), he has sooooo much potential and skill it’s worth a gamble.
          Cavani scored 16 league goals last season (25 in all competitions) and has 16 again in the current campaign with two games remaining (28 in all competitions). Those are good tallies for a winger. Apart from Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo and Neymar, nobody who plays out wide has done so well.
          ***Cavani was played for much of it out of his preferred role (CF) and as a winger.

          1. Re: Where Cech can go – a lot of the press are saying the decision is Abramovich’s – obviously don’t know if that is true. Also don’t know whether that is better or worse but I imagine RA is a lot less insecure and paranoid than Jose.

  5. Every time we lose we cant criticise d tactics. Sometimes d opponent comes out with a better game plan. Dat said, we shud hav still won d game and according to me d real chance of winning it was in d first 20 minutes of d 2nd half wen Swansea came out attacking and dat left us wid more space to attack. We failed to take dat oppurtunity.
    And y are we not going for Charlie Austin? I know it wud make more sense to sign some1 better den giroud but even though he’s not better, he still is a very diff. Player to giroud. If giroud is not in form we hav to depend on misfiring welbeck or Walcott. Austin is definitely better den welbeck. Now don’t tell me welbeck is faster!! Also Austin wud come at arsenal at d back of a stellar season for him. He wud definitely improve himself and d team. Less money more quality. Do it arsene.

    1. Austin would be a great buy, he is on the same level as og and will challenge him. Get Austin now…..

  6. Whose watching Bayern try to do the impossible tonight.

    I will and during the game I will be trying to telepathically communicate with Messi to convince Him to sign for us in the summer. I will also be trying to convince Theo to be content with his current package via Twitter. Wish me luck with Theo!

  7. I am sorry, but no. Wenger must take the blame, because when the same problems occur season, after season, any rational person has to ask why? Is it the players? Yes, players have bad games here and there, but I refuse to blame them any more. Players have come and gone year after, year at Arsenal, the one constant thing has been the manager. The players are under his orders…or lack of them!

    I felt Wenger’s performance last night was diabolical! Although not as bad as the away game against Swansea.

    First half – Obviously Wenger didn’t expect them to be so defensive, but he had a good 45 mins to look at their tactics, so at half time one would think he should be talking about changing our tactics, as plan A wasn’t working at all. In terms of subs in the second half, well Ramsey had a poor first half, and Giroud was non existent (but he couldn’t be subbed, will explain in a minute)

    Second half – This is where Wenger should be earning his money, but no, it’s classic Wenger! He changed nothing…let’s just carrying doing the same thing until it works, even though Swansea didn’t even need a keeper in the first half. So that was awful management, no plan B as always. Then Wenger decided to go gung-ho when he took off Coquelin, which again, was crazy! If we drew that game, second place would still be in our hands, and we would have been an extra point ahead of ManU. Then amazingly, Wenger took Giroud off! So we then had NO out-an-out striker on the pitch, despite going all out attack. Like I said before, Giroud had been poor, but we still needed him because of how deep Swansea were, we just needed to use plan B. Walcott’s pace was pointless in that situation, and he’s never going to win header in a million years, and headers was what was needed at that point…plan B! We should have started using Giroud’s strengths of heading, and flick ons, because plan A was going no where. We badly needed lots of crosses, early crosses and long balls for flick ons, but instead let’s bring on two more small weak players in Wilshere and Walcott, and let’s carry on with the stupid one-twos in congested areas.

    Like a lot of fans have already said, it’s the same old story every season. It’s not bad luck, there’s an obvious reason as to why these things keep on happening.

  8. Arsene Wenger is a dumb manager and who in the world would sub a proper CDM for a attacking midfielder and an uninterested stadium and people who disagree with chelsea’s methods are idiots, did they sub Matic ever for an attacking player, NEVER@!!!!!!

  9. You can’t keep playing an average midfielder on the wing and keep expecting to win all the games. The loss had to come someday. Its manager’s job to spot these things before they happen.
    Its so obvious to every1 but wenger.
    Enough is enough
    Wenger HAS to leave at the end of the season.

  10. I’m just for the end of next season to see what our board is gonna do. Are they gonna renew or will sanity finally prevail and let Le Prof move on, that’s all I’m looking forward to since the last time they renewed his contract.

  11. YEAH a loss and we find comments about tactics,plan B,plan BA, and add an abuse. BUT these ”supercoaches” never explained what those jagons mean to prove their points. i think le prof cannot be absolved from blame. how could defender continue to sleep off at this level at a big club? they are half of the field away from the ball and suddenly they concede,it says a lot what correction and discipline le prof and Bould bring into the team.

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