Arsenal America

Wenger and the Modern Premiership

Aug 31, 2005 by MrZog

Several recent posts have defended Wenger by stating that he’s been successful in developing players AND winning trophies as long as he’s been here, so let’s have faith and stay the course. For the most part, I’m in that camp.

However, I wonder if that philosophy is still viable in the ‘new Premiership’. Chelsea are not just spending money, they are spending crazy money. Plus they have a good manager. Man United continue to spend and have a good manager. Liverpool and spending and have a good manager. Spurs are spending and have a good manager. With the exception of Man U, none of the above was the case even as recently as two years ago.
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Wenger’s weaknesses

Aug 30, 2005 by MrZog

Ed. Note – We’ve received plenty of comments from people complaining about too much negativity here. Well, we can only print what we receive. Personally, I don’t fully agree with the comments made here, but the point is to have open discussions…

Arsene Wenger’s managerial strengths and weaknesses have been called into question recently after he let Vieira leave and didn’t (or failed to) get a replacement. There has been a lot of discussion about his strengths – eye for young talent, astute money management, etc. I just wanted to debate on what are his perceived weaknesses and what do other people think. I list my top four and open the house for debate.

1. He doesn’t like British players, i.e., he prefers foreigners. I know that not all British players are good, but let me quote some examples – Upson vs Cygan. Stuart Taylor vs Almunia. In both cases, the former was better than the latter, but they were let go. Why? True, Jeffers was not worth it and maybe even Richard Wright. But Pennant and Bentley are decent talents. To just say that other players are better and hence they were let go is an easy option. But to persist with them is harder. Pires is aging and Reyes hasn’t exactly shined. So doesn’t it make sense to keep Bentley?

Definition of AMBITION

Aug 29, 2005 by MrZog

The arguement that we should improve our squad with signings or should not have sold Vieira as it underminded the club’s ambition and opens a potential door for our key players to exit from Highbury, in my opinion, has a basic error in logic.

Take Henry as an example. When he first joined Arsenal, we were hardly a team which had won trophies for fun. So, why then, were we AMBITIOUS enough for Titi then, but not now, after so many trophies we have won in recent years?

Secondly, if Titi had a problem with us handing too many chances to young players, let’s cast our mind back to when he first joined Arsenal again: he was 20, around the same age of Reyes, van Persie, Senderos.

After being transformed to a new central forward role, he hardly lit up the world instantly. Arsene kept faith in him, and the rest is history. So he had his share of chances and faith given by our manager. Now that the manager has decided to keep his faith in a new generation of young players, why should it be seen as a sign of “lack of ambition” from the club?
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