Firstly, apologies to those who follow this blog, as we know that our recent posting has been as reliable as a £50m striker based in South-West London.
However, we have come across the below article from Henry Winter, and thought it was worth sharing. Some interesting views on Arsene Wenger…
This is not cheap Arsenal bashing, but I would have to largely agree with Winter on this. Wenger needs to take a bit more responsibility and avoid the constant blame of others. Having a permanent complex about the world being against you does not help anyone. Yes, there are always refereeing decisions that go against you, and these can be infuriating, but over the course of this season I don’t think Arsenal can blame referees on what looks like another trophy-less campaign.
I wonder if Arsenal fans agree with this? I know the club is run in an admirable way, and Wenger’s ability to create a stylish team while balancing the books is laudable, but surely this barren run without success must be becoming hard to accept.
I watched Sunday’s game, and I have to say that, penalty incidents aside, Arsenal did not look like a team that was going to overhaul Manchester United and win the title. Yes, Liverpool offered little going forward (as they always do in big games away from home), but they probably still deserved a draw. I know it’s the de rigueur analysis at the moment, but Arsenal did genuinely look like they lacked some responsibility on the pitch. Not someone to get stuck in as such, but someone to lead by example and stay calm under pressure. As the game reached the latter stages, it looked as though some of the players were lost and didn’t really know what to do.
I have no idea of what the answer is, although I’m pretty sure it doesn’t involve sacking Wenger. And yet it appears that something fundamentally needs to change.
Henry Winter: Arsenal manager Arsène Wenger must open his eyes and make his team accept responsiblity
For all the growing growls of dissent towards Arsène Wenger, the saner souls at Arsenal know the solution does not involve changing the manager.
It involves the manager himself changing. Wenger needs to open those famously closed eyes, finally seeing his and his team’s faults.
So much exists that is right about Arsenal from board to ground to youthful talent that it is little surprise that those who love the club, who feel they are close to a winning formula, become frustrated by the inhibiting wrongs in Wenger’s psyche.
Criticism can definitely be heard around the Emirates. Some impatient supporters have been sending text messages to each other, reworking the trusty “In Arsène We Trust” match-day banner. “In Arsène We Rust” reads the new version. Mettle-work is required.
Managers set the tone for their team. By always blaming others, whether referees, linesmen or opponents, Wenger grants his players a get-out, a chance to shirk responsibility. So they carry on, refusing to accept personal liability, not standing up for the team when leaders are craved.
Take Emmanuel Eboué. Many tiny brushstrokes bring true definition to the big picture of a title race but the defender’s challenge on Liverpool’s Lucas on Sunday was calamitous, reflecting Arsenal’s naivety and lack of responsibility-taking.
Does Eboué know he has transgressed, letting the team down? From Wenger’s pronouncements, Eboué would assume culpability lay with the referee, Andre Marriner. Wenger himself probably believes it was Marriner’s error, not Eboué’s, so retreating further into his match-day persecution complex.
Arsenal’s inability to see out a campaign lies as much in the mind of their manager as in the feet of their players. A charming man when encountered during the week, the French perfectionist becomes so tense on match-day, so obsessed with the result, that he cannot accept it could be his team’s weakness that is ever responsible. Can’t be (the hapless) Eboué. Must be (the excellent) Marriner. What nonsense. Wenger blinds himself to reality and Arsenal suffer badly as a consequence.
He cannot take adversity gracefully. Wenger’s behaviour on Sunday flitted between the embarrassing and the laughable. As the late, great Sir Bobby Robson, a man who treated the two impostors of triumph and disaster equally, famously remarked: “Arsène needs to learn how to lose.”
He can’t, though. Wenger cannot deal with hard times. He should learn from Sir Alex Ferguson. For all his public pyrotechnics, Ferguson will invite his opposite number for a drink after the match, will send a letter of congratulations after a rival’s success. Ferguson has perspective. Wenger, for all his formidable cerebral capacities, does not.
Even the briefest glance over his charge sheet since Arsenal last won the title in 2004 reveals Wenger accusing Ruud van Nistelrooy of cheating, claiming Tottenham lied, rucking with Alan Pardew on top of the usual sparring with Ferguson and Jose Mourinho. Now he has added Kenny Dalglish to his scrapbook.
Wenger loses friends and credibility by defending the indefensible, trying to argue that Emmanuel Adebayor had done nothing in the so-called Snarling Cup final of 2007. The striker deliberately bumped into Ricardo Carvalho, took a swing at Frank Lampard and needed rescuing from further mayhem by a quick-thinking Arsenal physio. Innocent claimed Wenger. He’d make an unconvincing defence lawyer.
On Sunday, Wenger talked proudly of Arsenal’s “15-game unbeaten run” in the Premier League, a statistic ignoring ruinous draws with Wigan, Newcastle, Sunderland, West Brom, Blackburn and now Liverpool. Who is he deluding? Himself. And his players.
By contrast, the manager expected to lift the Premier League trophy this year is an arch realist. Ferguson will rail against officials, publicly proclaiming every conspiracy theory under the sun, but he is clear-eyed in private. He defends his players for their excesses or mistakes in front of the camera but takes action in private. Wayne Rooney was punished internally for his elbow on Wigan Athletic’s James McCarthy, even though the FA took no action.
Ferguson demands players take responsibility. That is why his team are full of leaders from Nemanja Vidic to Rio Ferdinand and Ryan Giggs. Edwin van der Sar, Patrice Evra and Rooney will point out weaknesses and rally team-mates. For all their disappointment at losing to Manchester City at Wembley, United’s resilience is embodied in Vidic. A true leader. They will bounce back, probably this evening at St James’ Park, where Wenger’s men threw away a four-goal lead.
Arsenal have rarely been so short of leaders. Cesc Fabregas is a wonderful footballer, but he is no Vidic. That is why Wenger must open his eyes and appreciate the urgency of drafting in a tough competitor like Scott Parker. No more butterflies, please. Just warriors.
If reading the morning’s headlines was not painful enough, Arsenal fans must have blanched at seeing the story that emerged throughout the day, proclaiming “Alexander Hleb would like Arsenal return”. More tippy-tappy. More cul de sacs.
Arsenal need more like Jack Wilshere, who never goes missing on the pitch, even off the pitch when the club want somebody to represent them for a community, charity or corporate function. Only a teenager but a captain in waiting, Wilshere takes responsibility.
Wenger needs an assistant who challenges him. Boro Primorac sits behind Wenger, back in the paddock, while Pat Rice is stationed alongside the manager. If Rice leaves in the summer, Wenger must turn to a bright, confident, opinionated successor. One obvious contender, Steve Bould, is already at London Colney.
Barring a few significant, experienced recruits, the answer to Arsenal’s problems lies within.
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