Why Arsenal can’t Move Forward?….. Wenger. by PA
First off, Arsene Wenger has done some good for the Arsenal. His coming revolutionised every aspect of the club from training regimes and player diets to the pitch. He created a style of play that was a joy to watch, both for fans and neutrals, and that Arsenal is now identified with, and he oversaw our move to a bigger stadium while getting us to the champions league year after year. This is no mean feat.
But I also think he is directly to blame for the decline in the clubs fortunes on the pitch. If we are sincere with ourselves we would realise that for the past three years and more the arsenal has not played with the same kind of fluency that was the hallmark of Arsene’s teams. Our movement off the ball and passing has definitely been below par. The best you can say of Arsenal is that we are a team in stasis. That is enough in my opinion for fans to question him and/or indeed call for his resignation.
More a Manager than a Coach
I am not one of those fans that scream blue murder only after a defeat. Though I celebrated the FA cup victory last season like every other fan, I knew then that it just papered over the gaping cracks in the club, deficiencies a coach would know absolutely needed to be addressed. A lack of speed in the final third, a midfield enforcer and a pacey center back to partner Koscielny, fix these and all being equal we would have a genuine shot at the title.
But true to form Wenger was more concerned with managing resources than fixing the problems of the team. I do not advocate spending money like Manchester city and PSG, but there were decent players available for good value. Just one more player that could play in defensive midfield and center back would have greatly improved the team. If not for providence that Giroud got injured before the close of the transfer window we would not have gone for Welbeck and we would now have a crisis in attack as well as defence.
He also seems incapable of varying his tactics. Substitutions only after 75 minutes, when we are chasing a game all he does every time is throw in all his available strikers hoping one of them gets lucky and setting up the same way for every game. Although this last is a result of the way we play it still does show an unwillingness or inability to adapt tactically.
Wenger is a great club manager but he definitely is not a great coach, at least for the last ten years. He seems only able to build a winning team and if the players he has bought do not fit into his preferred style, he is unable to turn a team into winners by making the best of the players he has.
Patrick