Norrie Hernon : Another way of looking at it…
Hi Myles,
The reader contributions are interesting. I wonder do the proportion of ostensibly anti-Arsene mails match that of the total sent?
Anyway, I was thinking about this from another perspective today: imagine if, after leading them to the unbeaten season, Wenger had anticipated the lack of funds as a result of a new stadium and used that moment to move upstairs/retire/become England/PSG/Real Madrid manager – and we had appointed a new manager at that time.
Now imagine that that manager’s record was identical to Wenger’s i.e 5 years without a trophy, but one FA Cup, one CL final and a place in the top 4 each season – but with seemingly congenital weaknesses that prevented anything more.
Would those same ‘Arsene knows’ advocates have been as patient? No, for two reasons: Wenger exploits an inferiority complex among gooners who are still not quite convinced they belong at the top table of European – or even national – football; and, two: the tactics that Wenger employed from 96-04 have not merely changed since but are for the most part unrecognisable.
Put simply: without the past success, I believe our hypothetical manager would have by now been sacked. It must gall Wenger – as proud as he is stubborn – to be sustained on past glories that seem ever more remote.
From Arsenalisto : Fabregas, exhausted!
I was one of the few who pointed out how Fabregas was holding on to Chamakh’s hand, but why the hell was he doing that?? I know you wanna hold on to the player next to you so that the wall doesn’t split open but once the ball is hit you release your arm. Anyway these things happen in a split second, and Wenger have put it down nicely as “basic mistakes”.
I had a feeling Wenger used the game vs Braga as a test for to see what’s the real deal with the team and especially Fabregas. Fabregas on the night was almost out alone on the pitch. Wenger probably wanted to see his reaction and how he would lead the team. Wenger came to the conclusion that Fabregas is exhausted mentally and physically, though more mentally. After what was happening over the summer, not surprising at all and hopefully Fabregas comes back better than ever before.
I promise, Wenger’s team tomorrow will be an all different team from the team we saw in the last 135 mins.
From Paul Smith : No progress
Many say that Wenger cannot be sacked, “look at the progress he has made”.
Wenger made progress with Arsenal once he had one the double in 98 and again with the invicibles. Since the invicibles and since Arsenal lost the 50th game at Old Trafford, Wenger has made no progress.
Arsenal are so predictable – Arsenal can’t score from or defend set pieces. Arsenal cannot defent when being counter attacked and if a team is playing against Arsenal they can pack the defence and midfield Arsenal are unlikely to score.
Losing 3-2 at Highbury in 2006 marks the point at which everyone saw how fragile Wenger’s “young guns were” and Zamora on the counter attack at Highbury in 2006 was no different to Braga’s goals on Tuesday night. Average players have been replaced with average or weaker players and any players who offered any sort of passion or fighting spirit (Flamini, Gallas etc have been treated like dirt and not offered enough cash because they upset the wimps like Walcott, Clichy, Denilson and Diaby (players who have been rewarded for their failures with new contracts). No progress has been made since 2006 – same league positions (+/-) and no trophies.
From John O’Shanahan : Real Madrid
Hi Myles
How about a piece about anti-football, deliberate red cards and other stunts Mourinho has pulled in his quest to win silverware?
The constant anti-AW diatrabe is so old,. Yes Arsenal are not where we want to be but how far on are we from 10 years ago? Remember Chelski’s bottomless pit investments have not won the CL yet. It’s a funny old game!
From Louis: Fabregas handball
It seems likely that Fabregas was responsible in this case.
It’s not like it’s the first time…
http://www.football.co.uk/arsenal/gerrard_blasts_crazy_world_cup_ref_webb_for_missing_fabregas_handball_rss398428.shtml
From Brendan : The ball is round
Erm, Myles, sorry my dear chap. Me again, clogging up your intray.
The thing is I can’t get this out of my mind.I’ve been thinking about your comments after the Spurs game. So here I am, sitting after the Braga game, with everything looking even less rosy.
But you know what? I’m not letting it get to me. No, not even in the true full-blooded fan sense.
It’s true that these days I don’t get to matches – distance and expense being the main obstacles. I sometimes used to go in the Highbury days. So ‘full-blooded fan’ is hardly applicable, I suppose.
But I can dream, right? Modern day football is about dreaming, in my view. In my dream, there is a kind of invisible wall of unreality that separates certain clubs from the rest. Behind that wall are clubs that through various means have moved themselves into a realm of reality which is so unreal, that even my football dreamworld is more real that the ‘real’ one which they inhabit. There are only two English clubs there at the moment – Manchester City and Chelsea. Whatever those clubs do has absolutely no relevance in my football dreamworld.
How does that affect Arsenal? Well, we’re still not doing great, because we still wouldn’t have won the league since 2004-5. But we may have won a cup or two.
Even so, I’m tolerably happy with the way things are. Why? Because for every bad, seemingly catastrophic thing, I’m seeing a potential positive somewhere else.
Yes, I agree that Wenger’s stubborn, closed-minded and monomaniacal in his approach. He ought to try different styles, mix it up, get some grittier players.
But the way you and others present it, you’d think that Arsenal players were wearing pink leotards and worrying whether they’d smudged their lipstick. Only a week – ONE WEEK – after they’d put up a gritty defensive display away at solid, capable Everton.
Come on Myles, aren’t you and many others succumbing to the Sky Sports News / 5 Live nonsense age of building them up’n’knocking ’em down? When you’ve got 24 rolling bullshit about football from the hellish house of Sky, you need to present any defeat, and flaw, any defect in a team which is mostly to be found in the top 4 and regularly competing in the champions league as a catastrophe. Questions are being asked, what’s wrong? Where’s the problem? Pointless articles about lack of communication. Someone’s mate knows the tealady who said they never speak to each other. Blah blah. As Alex Ferguson would put it, the X Factor generation attitude – the scrutiny, the judgements.
Yes, Wenger’s deluded, myopic, all of those things. If he wasn’t, he wouldn’t be the successful man he is. He has been wrong about many things, very often, most recently playing Fabregas for the last few games. I’ve been saying this again and again, it’s too much of a risk to play him. And Wenger’s delusion – desperation maybe?- forces him to continue playing him.
But judge him against his peers, on the basis of his resources, over a period of time. On that basis, he is still a very successful manager, of a very successful club. The wild joy of Tottenham fans (and fair play to ’em for that) is precisely the reflection of how successful he’s been. The fact that they’re now able to beat us shows not only our flaws but also the fact that Tottenham – which has invested considerably more in players than Arsenal – has finally got it right with the manager and the whole club working together. It doesn’t suddenly mean the other lot down the road are dunces who’ve lost the plot once and for all.
The ball is round. There aren’t just two sides to the story, but infinite sides.
Enjoy your football, Myles.