Yesterday, the Arsenal goalkeeper Petr Cech, who has played under both managers for long periods spoke about the big difference between the philosophies of managing. After saying that Mourinho just wanted to win at any price, he compared that to Arsenal. “The philosophy at Arsenal is completely opposed to this.” he said. “It is not win at all costs but we want to win with a good way of playing. This is beginning to change in our approach.”
I applauded Cech for saying that Wenger’s approach had changed, but the manager says he will never give up his principles and start winning ugly. He was quoted as saying (in Goal) when asked if he would sacrifice his style after losing two games in a row. “Of course you question your decisions, your preparation and everything. We have played three games, there are 35 to go. We have the quality to respond, it’s a good opportunity to show that [Liverpool] was an accident,”
“I never understood what constituted a crisis. It’s important you focus on what’s in front of you, the quality of performance can change from one week to another.
“If you take the history of the game, the biggest winners in the game… if you have to play ugly to convince people to win then it’s the wrong debate.
“The biggest teams in the world have played football. Brazil have won how many World Cups?… Germany, Real Madrid, Barcelona all play football.
“To come out with the conclusion that you have to kick the ball in the stands to win football games, then that’s wrong.
“I believe at some stage you stick to your principles even if it doesn’t go as well as you want it. You don’t question things like that because you lose one game. That’s why people around the team should continue to believe in what we do.
“The best way to win is to perform. We have to convince ourselves to perform.”
So there you have it, Wenger won’t change. You must admit that it does make Arsenal exciting to watch (we have no idea what will happen next lol!), but would you prefer that Arsenal played to win at any cost (like Mourinho) or be pleasing on the eye?
Sam P