Quantcast

Can we trust Wenger to deliver his philosophy?


Philosophical

By AJ the Gunner
March 5 2009

Wenger has always maintained that he will not compromise The Gunners' style of attacking flair football, and this has always been his footballing belief, and ultimate priority. He often maintains before every season that at Arsenal there is always a mixture of outstanding qualities, with factors in the team that are excellent. Wenger considers himself a crusader for Total Football.

Champagne Football?

 The attacking brand of football of which the ultimate goal is to entertain the fans dictates that Arsenal must be faithful to the way they approach the game, and try to improve when they can. Players who are technically gifted are bought, or obtained in youth, and groomed to suit this style of football [I often wonder where the likes of Song fit in with these types of players].

What I want to argue is that Arsene always maintains emphatically that footballers live in a highly privileged world; and that it is the team's responsibility to give the fans moments of happiness.  Where they are able to step out of their daily life and into a dream world of football made in heaven, go home from a game thinking "Today I had an exceptional moment".

 Since the ultimate goal is entertainment, has what we have witnessed so far this season remotely resembled what Wenger promised fans? Gone are the days when we played that breathtaking, quick passing football that fans back in Nigeria call ‘Champagne Football' which was compensation enough even when the results didn't go our way.

False optimism

Of late we have not witnessed the brand of football promised us; instead we have been forced to endure a lackluster unfulfilling football that produces results that label us as an inconsistent side that has lost its cutting edge. This, as many of us believe by now, is the result of fielding an unbalanced team; with certain players that under normal circumstances would have no business playing for a club like Arsenal.

The club remains optimistic that it is heading in the right direction pointing to the fact that we have been finishing in the top 4 in the league on a regular basis. However, even this achievement is seriously under threat, with Villa ahead of us, and Everton breathing down our necks. The team has to stop the rot of inconsistency, stop dropping points, win our remaining games, and hope that Villa implodes.

Limits to ambition

Because even if the Gunners win the rest of their games, finishing 4th is not entirely in their hands as Villa needs to drop points for them achieve this. Has Arsenal reached the point where it fights for the 4th place with the likes of Villa and Everton?

The Board maintains that we are an ambitious club, ready to challenge for trophies but does what we are witnessing of late show great ambition? When we hear Peter Hill-Wood say that Arsenal won't be affected even if we fail to play Champions league football next season one begins to wonder what message he is trying to pass across to fans (or the team come to that. Ed).

 Is PHW suggesting that playing in Europe and winning trophies are no longer the priority of the club? Wenger believes that it is the responsibility of every big club to win games with style and Arsenal must have that ambition and will to always fight for that. Well I don't know if all the goalless draws and scraping through games resemble playing with style. Winning convincingly has become a tall order for the team.

Nonetheless, beating West Brom, and with Villa losing at Citeh it should give cause for hope. But the team must start winning in style to fulfill that hope.

Not prepared for injuries

The worst part of this is that we have now joined the boo boys club, those who resort to booing their team instead of supporting it. How pathetic.

One can argue that injuries to key players have been our biggest problem this season. I can't even remember the last time we had our first 11 players play together as a team. This has been a bane for several seasons; it's strange that a manger in the class of Wenger has continually failed to consider the possibilities of injuries to key players when planning for a season. He started this season with only one real world class central midfielder, as if nothing could ever happen to him.

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger shows his frustration to the fourth official

Frustrated Philosopher 

Quality not quantity

 For crying out loud we even started the season knowing that the key players that were injured would not return till most of the season was gone.  For me, Wenger has failed to apply the true meaning of the term ‘Strength in Depth'. He has filled the club with players who struggle to hold the fort for key players who are injured.  In effect we have a large number of players but lack strength in depth because these players are not match winners.

 Football is not about quantity but quality. It's not about ‘the young and the juvenile' but the mixture of youth and experience. The good news is that key players are returning from their injuries but the fear is; do we have enough games left to rescue our stuttering season?

 Wenger's track record

Wenger has proven over time that he has what it takes to steer the club in the right direction but are we still patient enough to let him do this once again? Have we fans run out of patience or do we feel that only a trophy won will be enough to convince us to believe once again.

The biggest issue is can Arsenal fans look beyond the possibility of not winning any trophy yet again, not playing Champions league football next season, and still trust Wenger's philosophies.

It's a tough question especially when the entertaining football promised us is fast becoming a distant memory. Stability is always the key in football but can Wenger raise another squad capable of really consistently challenging for trophies when it is proving difficult to keep a stable side. A players' loyalty is not guaranteed these days.

Wenger says Trust My Philosophy. The big question is can we?

Cultzeros2

 

View a Printer Friendly version of this Story.

Bookmark or share this story with:

Can we trust Wenger to deliver his philosophy?
Discussion started by Arsenal Times , 05/03/2009 19:51
Arsenal Times
05/03/2009 19:51
What do you think? You can have your say by posting below.
If you do not already have an account Click here to Register.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2009:03:08:20:06:59 by Padre Pio.

Merlion96
05/03/2009 20:16
The missing ingredient is really a Libero in the mold of Makelele.

Our problems are:

1) Wenger desires to address Fabregas' frustration in being substituted late in Spain's Euro 2008 game when a more defensive approach is needed to defend a slender lead.

2) He did it by laying 4-2-3-1 with Dneilson-FAbregas partnership in a holding midfield role but with one of them sittign back when he partner drives into the box.

3) Denilson is still "work-in-progress" as Libero. But give him 2 seasons more, he will blossom into that defensive steel of a Makelele. I think Denislon is slightly taller than Makelele isn't it?

4) The TEAM was completely disrupted by major injuries, especialy Fabregas and Walcott which limited our attacking option.

5) Again, the failure of Eboue and Diaby to develop to takeover the slake in the absence of Rosicky, Fabregas, Heb and Flamini.

****************************************************
But the signs are good we are gettingn there.
And the purchase of Arshavin makes all the difference in providing guile and creativeness isntead of those drab displays in 2008.

- Denilson is improving,
- Diaby is getting into stride to fulfil his potential,
- Nasri is playing more centrally,
- Bendtner is coming to grip with his "Lone Striker" role.
- Walcott returning next week,
- Eduardo returning within 2 week.

The glaring weakness is of course van Persie who has yet to develop an understanding with hsi team-mates and somewhat make me feel that bulk of hsi goals are due to his individual briliancy and not created by team-work.

Van Persie is an egnima.

Will he ever fit into an Arsene Wenger team with telegraphic understanding with hsi c0-partner and all midfielders?

karteta16
05/03/2009 20:36
Quote:
The glaring weakness is of course van Persie who has yet to develop an understanding with hsi team-mates and somewhat make me feel that bulk of hsi goals are due to his individual briliancy and not created by team-work.
Van Persie is an egnima.

Will he ever fit into an Arsene Wenger team with telegraphic understanding with hsi c0-partner and all midfielders?

(Sm53)

well spotted

mapleleafgooner
05/03/2009 21:22
He did say it will take another 3-4 seasons for the current team to gell and deliver the trophies. And that is provided the key players stay put.

Gööfle11
05/03/2009 22:01
Oh, well spotted Merl. Something that I get criricised for...

Why does everybody always go on about the central midfield? Has anybody else noticed that we do not have top class winger (unless you count Arshavin in that role) and not one top class goal scorer, other than Eduardo?

It is too easy for you to go on about a "libro" etc and all that bullshizzle, but the rest of the team is pretty average, and the back ups are worse than average.

Padre Pio
05/03/2009 22:32
Walcott not top class?

Bring back stepanovs!
05/03/2009 23:19
i sense another controversial outburst by th14.....

Merlion96
06/03/2009 05:18
(Sm16)..that is what make this FORUM here so highly addictive isn't it?

We need more characters like TH14...and more visitors like WHiteAhrtlotPricness, Gazza, Pioneer, youngdish...

Irritate the hell out of us..(Sm149)..but hey..it is all good and clean fun...(Sm154)

See, sicne 3 seasons ago, Arsenal is so downed and out that our Top-4 members do not deem Arsenal FOrum worth a visit unlike thsoe glorious years of 2003-2005 before our TEAM went t.i.ts up and kaput...(Sm77)

Gööfle11
06/03/2009 07:53
So you honestly class Walcott as top class? Dude, come on man. It is total stupidity to class Theo anywhere near top class. Pires, Arshavin, Ronaldo, Ljungberg (for a year or so), Ribery and Messi were/are top class, Walcott is on the verge of greatness, but he is not pushing it.

Merlion96
06/03/2009 08:58
Walcott is a late developer.
And World Cup 2006 held back his develoment by a year or so.

Justw atch Walcott flies when he had gained maturity and upper body strength.

he cna only get better and better when training with the likes of Arshavin, Rosicky and Fabregas which will help in his "football brain" development.

And if rumors are correct and we buy Daivd Silva, Dvid Villa and Spanish players in teh summer, it will only help all those youngsters during training sessions.

karteta16
06/03/2009 09:29
TH14 is right, Walcott is not ready, he's got top class speed and is improving but he's not top class yet. He's not consistant enough he was in poor form for us then goes off the play for England scores a hattrick and all of a sudden he's top class again (Sm9).

our wings can't rely on a player that hardly completes a full 90mins.

Bergmars
06/03/2009 10:57
I have to say Im with TH14 on this Walcott has done little to convince me as yet,and if someone could dreg up old posts I have been banging on that we have no NATURAL wide players,those who can get behind defences and actually cross accuratly and cosistently.Dare I say similar to what Lennon did to Evra but with a good delivery as the end product which IMO is all thats missing from Lennons game.Walcott to often resembles a rabbit caught in headlights,he is not a natural wideman and I think will eventually play through the middle.

Merlion96
06/03/2009 11:17
Walcott is not a natural winger..agreed.

And by sticking him out there, Wenegr is developing him into a central striker:

1 - able to hold onto to abll in tight situation and beat defenders in a tight space.

2 - Devleop his awareness - fotball brain - on bringing team-mates into play.

3 - Developing his delivery and passing skills in opening up defence and pass yourself out of a tight situaiton when surrounded by 2 or 3 defenders.

4 - Learn how to time his runs like Henry, from deep, from flanks and cut into centre.

5 - And when he is rotated into centrals triker, it is naturally and isntinctively for Walcott to be a mobile central striker, holding the balls even surroudne dby 3 or 4 defenders, and timed his passes to brign his co-striekr into place or witht hat developed peripheral vision, sliped a pass to an atacking midfielder like Fabregas drifting noto the box un-notice to run clear to goal.

Many a times lasts eaosn that Adebayor or Van Persie and even Hleb failed to pick-yp Fabregas who dirfted un-noticed into the box - expecting a quick one-two or a one-touch one-pas ball to him.

Instead, Helb or Adebayor wil imediately take the bal out of teh box with a frustrated hanging out tehre in free space.

But with Arshavin, Eduardo and development of Walcott and Vela, we are going to re-discover our one-two passes in the box.

After World CUp 2006, Walcott was expected to instantly step into senor teama nd paly Wengerball as if he is borned to it.

It is not.
And the french SPine needs 2 to 3 seasons to develop that telegraphic understanding.

And how many seasons had Fabregas palyed with hsi rpesent regular partners and team-mates including Walcott?

FFS!! Denilson, Diaby, Walcott, Nasri adne ven van Persie are playing their very first FULL SEASON together.....and what hapen?

HORRENDOUS INJURY LIST which scrapped this season and senior players got tos atrt all voer again to develop that telegraphic understanding for 2009/10 season.

You notice that Rosicky, Arshavin, Eduardo, Adebayor and Walcott enver play together?

main Atribute:

We need to inject that element fo unrpedictability into team-plays again.
And Walcott's apce is just one of the many weapons in our arsenal now to inject pace and unpredicatbaility into out impotent attacks.

Imagine Walcott hovering around in centre circle and by-line.
Which team si daft enoguh to let Walcott un-marked with ALL their full-backs and CB counter-attacking Arsenal?

Teh name Walcott alone - whiche quate t pace and lightning counter-attack - will make ROma to devise another defence to handle Walcott.

This si teh FEAr that Walcott will bring to any opponents, merley by being named in the team.

AJ The Gunner
06/03/2009 17:26
Quote:
mapleleafgooner
He did say it will take another 3-4 seasons for the current team to gell and deliver the trophies. And that is provided the key players stay put.

The key question is; will the key players stay put if we fail to clinch the 4th spot? thank heavens villa look like they are imploding and everton are dropping points but without CL next season i really can't count on them staying.loyalty and football hadly mix now.


lack of genuine wingers make it easy to predict arsenals play especially now that our quick passing fast counter attacks are missing.

RVP is really an enigma as i am forced to agree with Merlion that he has failed to gel or form a great strike force with any player.i would ship him to the right wing were he plays well for the dutch team if i were wenger.

i still feel our mifield lacks steal and we can't dominate games with what we have unless we really really speed up our play with zippy passes like we did against milan.

Gooner_Mike
06/03/2009 18:23
Walcott is top class, not world class but he will get there. A hat-trick against croatia not good enough? Not even rooney could do that. His pace with the ball is phenomenal nobody comes close.

Padre Pio
06/03/2009 18:45
Mike I agree with you 100%.
The important thing is his pace frightens dfences. They are scared npot to mark him, it gives us space

Gööfle11
06/03/2009 19:24
Pace does not equal footballing ability.

ArsenalForever
06/03/2009 19:47
his run against liverpool shows that he has footballing ability

try to run as fast while dribbling past defenders

it might look easy on telly but i guarantee you its a very hard technique to master

AJ The Gunner
06/03/2009 19:51
Quote:
TH14
Pace does not equal footballing ability.

whats with you.Theo is more consistent than the likes of Ade whose wages were increased to bang in more goals.

the issue with theo is not whether he is world class or top class but the fact that his pace gives us advantage.his pace frightens defenders like Padre pointed out and it gives us space

Gööfle11
06/03/2009 19:57
Why do people keep bring in Adebayor? It is a seperater issue and a different player. The culture of comparing players is ruining football. Judge the individual player.

karteta16
06/03/2009 21:05
Ade's scored a hattrick this season, RvP hasn't and people still say RvP is our best playerdrinking smiley,

judging someone on one game for england when he scored the same amount of goals as he has done for his club with over 15 times the more minutes isn't a good case, when he failed to score passed a few shite teams.

Merlion96
06/03/2009 22:14
Yes, Walcott brings pace. which adds another dimension to our plays, which forces defence to take care of another problem.

Now, Walcott's pace, Arshavin's guile, Nasri's dribbling, Eduardo's predatory instinct...and throw in Fabregas' passing skills...

We have a team that no defence that will not eb pierced even if they put 10 men behind the ball. They will be dragged al over the place.

After Walcott's injury and before Arshavin, we were playing dreadful football with no guile, no passing ability and worse of all, no pace in attack.

Bring back stepanovs!
07/03/2009 00:28
'The culture of comparing players is ruining football' (Sm22)

Billythekid
07/03/2009 02:18
If people stopped comparing good footballers with great ones the argument as to whether one footballer is better than the other would have no frame of reference, therefore nobody would know what was good and what was great ?!
Maybe you meant that people should not compare players that are plying their trade in different positions ?

Gooner_Mike
07/03/2009 03:44
TH14 maybe you cant read, I said pace "with the ball". Just watch what he did against liverpool, single handedly set us up for the win against them till the babel dive.

Fair play if you think hes not good enough but in the games so far I think hes done more than enough to show he can @#$%& on the likes of denilson in the starting 11..

Merlion96
07/03/2009 08:24
IN WENGER WE TRUST.

It is like sterling silver, tarnished and blacken for the last 4 seasons.

Spit and polish needed to bring it back to its mirror-like finish.

AJ The Gunner
07/03/2009 08:44
Quote:
Merlion96
IN WENGER WE TRUST.
It is like sterling silver, tarnished and blacken for the last 4 seasons.

Spit and polish needed to bring it back to its mirror-like finish.

Trust My Philosophy cos Arsene Knows.

I wish he boots Ade out of the club and flushes some characters out as well and replaces them with quality.we really need quality backup for the times when injury which is a definate constant in football comes along.for it always comes.
i really doubt if the likes of theo,eduardo, fab, rosicky were fit we will be in this situation that we find ourselves.
the only thing is that wenger may never have signed arshavin if fab wasn't injured.

karteta16
07/03/2009 09:47
Wenger knows Adebayor is good enough for Arsenal.

AJ The Gunner
07/03/2009 10:13
Quote:
karsene16
Wenger knows Adebayor is good enough for Arsenal.

Are you joking or you really mean what you are saying.well since wenger thinks he is vital to arsenal then i guess he thinks ade is good enough but frankly Ade is a complete joke.i still cringe that he is our African footballer of the year.a very bad year for our african players.

karteta16
07/03/2009 10:31
Wenger plays him, he's one of the highest paid players at the club, Wenger busted a gut to keep him and wouldn't sell him for 20mil and get two 10mil unknowns the price wenger normally gets his players for. Yes he hasn't had the goals recently but we are playing a different style to last season which will change when players like Eduardo are back.

Ade is the best lone striker in the league, this season he's played with RvP or Bendtner, his game better with him having an extra creative mid behind him or a creative striker like Eduardo. When he plays in a 5 man mid or with Eduardo then i will comment on what he can do or can't do.

This team is a different team to last season's so the whole team need time to adapt.

Bergmars
07/03/2009 13:02
Linford Christie had pace but he couldnt play football,Walcott may come good I think he will but as a central striker,what Im saying is he is not a wide man and certainly not top class yet.Most discussions re Arsenal are about what could or may happen what most of us dispute is the here and now.The future is something no one can predict,its massively flawed because you just cant say who is going to progress and who will not,in the meantime as mapleleaf has quite rightly stated we may lose key players bringing us back to start again.

Gööfle11
07/03/2009 13:43
I will keep saying this, it is great that Walcott has pace, he has done some wonderful things for us, but in the majority of his matches for the club he has been poor. He seemed to be coming good, but he was still doing little compared to the likes of Pires etc.

He will be an amazing player, no doubt, but he does not fit into a fully fir Arsenal team, unless you leave van Persie on the bench.

Padre Pio
07/03/2009 20:28
Of course he has done less that Pires, he is barely 20, Pires is in mid 30s.
Yes Walcott is work in progress, but he was progressing in the rght direction

Gööfle11
08/03/2009 11:51
That is true, thanks for repeating that. My point, again, is that he is not there yet. He is way off what Arshavin or Pires can/could give us.

Gooner_Mike
08/03/2009 12:28
Quote:
My point, again, is that he is not there yet.

Hes done miles better than the likes of henry, pires, and arshavin did at the age of 20! He needs games to show his true potential and his shoulder popping out every other game hasnt helped. Hopefully by next season he will be a regular starter and you can eat your words.

Gööfle11
08/03/2009 12:33
Hey, thanks for stating my own opinion over and over and over and over and over and over again, then claiming that i disagree and that I am going to "eat my words". It is pathetic mate.

I agree with you. He is a fantastic 20 year old, but he was not playing anywhere near what we should expect from a top class Arsenal player, as he is not a top class Arsenal footballer just yet.

Why don't you copy and paste the above paragraph, then add, "hopefully he becomes a class player and you will look stupid"!

Show them who is boss Mike.

Gooner_Mike
08/03/2009 12:42
Im sorry I got bored reading half way through that last pile of crap, but its funny how your the same person who claims Denilson is one of the best defensive midfielders in the world, or at least "top 5" yet you think Walcott, who scored a world class hattrick against croatia and tore about 6 liverpool players to shreds, isnt Arsenal quality.

Im not sure what drugs you are on but I recommend staying off them your going delusional. Or better yet you could try thinking before opening your mouth...

Gööfle11
08/03/2009 13:28
Yet again, idiots who think in black and white fail to understand that you can have two opinions on the same issue. I rate Walcott, I also rate Denilson. Walcott was not playing like that in every match, he scored a "World Class" hat-trick in one game, a magical run in another, a few other moments here and there. But you fail to accept that Denilson is playing well because he does not foam at the mouth?

Just because I do not agree with the popular opinion that Walcott is a fantastically brilliant and highly important member of our team does not make me delusional.

AJ The Gunner
09/05/2010 20:46
i went back and dug up this article i wrote while soul searching on whether i can trust mr. wenger to deliver on his philosophy........ and since i wrote this, we have only managed to finish 3rd to secure CL football while failing to deliver a single trophy...since then we were smashed and humiliated out of the CL by barca and lost to wigan after being 2 goals up...... etc.......

a lot has happened since i wrote this and my verdict as regards the questions asked are; I DON'T TRUST WENGER AND HIS PHILOSOPHY AGAIN...I THINK THE LAW OF DIMINISHING RETURNS HAS SET IN...,I FEEL HE IS DELUSIONAL AS TO HIS OBSESSION TO WIN WHILE MAINTAINING THIS CRAZY SYSTEM...........I DON'T BELIEVE HE WILL SIGN THE QUALITY PLAYERS WE NEED UNLESS I SEE THE PLAYERS HOLDING OUR JERSEYS UP[I KNOW THE MOROCCAN LAD IS ON THE WAY BUT STRONG RUMOURS SUGGEST CESC IS HEADING TO BARCA... I PRAY ITS FALSE COS I JUST LOVE THAT LAD]

BOTTOM LINE FOR ME IS THAT WENGER HAS FAILED WOEFULLY THIS SEASON AND HAS MANY SHAMEFUL GAMES I WOULD LOVE TO FORGET LITTERED IN BETWEEN ............ VERY SAD........

Can We Now Trust The Process 🤔🤷🏿‍♀️ or Should We Still Remain Cautious 🙇🏿‍♀️

Padre Pio
09/05/2010 23:45
Yes you are right he cant be trusted to deliver, But Cesc will saty one more season. If he buys 4 good players i will believe in him again.

"When we had to suffer the team is a lion because they suffer together." 4 July 2020 at Wolverhampton Wanderers
Arteta on his team's first away victory at a club above them in the Premiership since September 2015 at Leicester.

eduardo
10/05/2010 01:17
and that moron still finished above twitchy and the tiny totts, says it all about the totts really

SandyB
10/05/2010 10:08
Quote:
and that moron still finished above twitchy and the tiny totts, says it all about the totts really

Are you started bench marking him against the Totts only or you are suggesting AJ is a Tott?

AJ The Gunner
09/03/2016 15:24
couldn't help feeling dejected when i read this article i wrote March 5th 2009. apart from 2 FA Cup is the same old same old. Since then more fans are loosing faith with wenger. they are becoming more vocal. since then wenger has been labeled delusional even by some fans that have chanted in wenger we trust. since then ticket prices have increased and we have lost players...

Do we still TRUST wenger?? should we swallow our doubts and give him 3 more years according to his contract extension???

Can We Now Trust The Process 🤔🤷🏿‍♀️ or Should We Still Remain Cautious 🙇🏿‍♀️

Sorry, only registered users may post in this forum.
We record all IP addresses on the Sportnetwork message boards which may be required by the authorities in case of defamatory or abusive comment. We seek to monitor the Message Boards at regular intervals. We do not associate Sportnetwork with any of the comments and do not take responsibility for any statements or opinions expressed on the Message Boards. If you have any cause for concern over any material posted here please let us know as soon as possible by e-mailing abuse@sportnetwork.net
 

StreamFootball - Arsenal