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Wenger's Gamble Costs Dear


By Mallyx
September 30 2015

Below is a reaction to the debacle against Olmpiacos from a poster to this forum known as Mallyx. I will publish it without comment or editing:   As most of you know I have long been more for Wenger than against. I do stick up for the guy on here from time to time, not because I have blind faith but because I think most of the time the comments on here are either harsh or just plain wrong. However, this year I think the guy has made a rod for his own back and I think each of his gambles pretty much backfired last night.


1. Playing Ospina over Cech.

Now, I didn't have a major problem with this, Ospina is a good keeper and I understand he wanted to give him some game time. He made a mistake which any keeper can do (see Cech vs West Ham). However, if you do make that decision and he makes a mistake you have to expect to be criticised for it.

2. Not signing an additional DM style midfielder

Not so sure if he took Coquelin off because he had a knock or just needed a more attacking type player. He got his equaliser so fair enough but you can't help thinking if Coquelin had been on the pitch he would have had more of an influence on their 3rd goal (where actually was our midfield?). Maybe if he's had a decent alternative to the Coq he may not have had to leave us so open.

3. Not signing an additional striker.

I know he's scored a few goals this season but I remain to be convinced with Walcott as a main striker. I think his movement is improving but sometimes his finishing is poor and I don't think he is very effective leading the line. Again, another striker either starting infront of Walcott or available from the bench looked much needed last night, especially with Giroud injured.

4. Faith in his young players

I do admire him for this in a way but they make the same errors time and time again. Last night we start of well, misss a few chances in the opening 10-15 mins. Go through a period of passing in circles, totally slowing the game down not looking effective going forward but somehow looking vulnerable to the counter before conceding. Feeling the need to over commit too early in an attempt to get the game back leaving us more vunerable. Wenger removes his defensive midfield option (but only disciplined option) to throw on more attacking option but exposing us even more to the counter. This happened last night, it happened at away to Zagred, home to Monaco last season and numerous other times in Europe over the last few years. Now is this the players or the managers tactics?

5. Giving them too much freedom

In Europe we play with too little disicpline. We probably do in the Premier League but get away with it more. Wenger allows his players to play with too much individual freedom with seemingly little regard to being disciplined positionally and defensively on the pitch. The only player I can think of who does do that is the one player everyone is raving about, Coquelin. It looked like he was about to be discarded until being bought back from Charlton on loan. How can a kid come from Charlton into a top four Premier League side and make such a difference? It's not because of his passing skills or his technique on the ball it's simply because he lent a litte discipline to the midfield role. In a midfield famed for going missing once the ball is lost he suddenly looked like this amazing addition. The worry is, I don't think we have another of his type in the squad though.


I've backed Wenger for years I as believed the job he was doing, until a couple of seasons ago, given our transitional nature was amazing. While being financially restricted to keep us up there year after was a great achievement IMO. Something I don't think he gets enough credit for on here.

However, we are not in those financially restrictive times any more. We may not have the capacity of a Madrid or Man Utd but we have far more than the vast majority. My question over Wenger always has been can you use the cash wisely when you have enough. He now probably has more cash available than he's ever had. He has chosen, for whatever reason, not to use it.

This morning, this looks like a very poor decision indeed. A decision I find it very difficult to defend.

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