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Comment: Why Arsenal Will Prove The Critics Wrong
Much criticism has been levelled at Arsene Wenger’s young side this season. Owen Watson argues that a great deal of this has been unfair and backs the Frenchman’s team to come good by the end of the campaign…
19 Jan 2009 12:23:58
There has been a great deal said and written about Arsene Wenger’s footballing philosophy and the way he approaches the game, on and off the pitch. Admirably, the Frenchman prefers to nurture young talent through the club’s youth system rather than spending lavishly on players that are deemed ‘the finished article’.
Financial Situation
Many have sniped at Wenger for his inability to ‘splash the cash’ but, in truth, the canny 59 year-old should be lauded for his frugal approach to the club’s finances.
There are signs that the Russian Revolution at Chelsea has started to come undone. Roman Abramovich has always maintained that he wants a return on his investment in the West London outfit and, should he elected to leave, Chelsea would find themselves in all kinds of problems. They have a team full of ageing stars and, although they have a couple of decent youth prospects, they are nowhere near the calibre of Arsenal’s starlets. Even if nightmare scenario does not come to fruition at Stamford Bridge, can it really be said that Chelsea will be challenging for the Premier League title in three to five years time with their current squad?
There are mixed opinion as to whether building the Emirates Stadium has provided financial constraints on Wenger in the transfer market. I find this hard to believe; when budgeting for this scenario the board will have included money for transfers and Wenger has removed many of the high-earners from the wage bill.
True, Emmanuel Adebayor was appeased with a contract his current form doesn’t justify but Gilberto, Alexander Hleb and Mathieu Flamini have all left the club. In terms of transfers, Wenger’s net spending has been around £5 million as the money from selling Hleb was used to finance the Samir Nasri deal.
The result of this is that Arsenal can comfortably afford to push through a deal for a certain Russian playmaker later this week, and possibly even push the boat out on an unknown entity to anchor the midfield. This would be uncharacteristic of the tight-fisted Wenger, but the fresh influence of Ivan Gazidis may see Arsenal being a touch less cautious.
The advantage of buying now not only improves the chances of salvaging the season, it increases the optimism on the terraces and, most significantly, it gives the new players half a season to bed in. This means that when the next campaign starts the new acquisitions won’t have to get up to speed – a flying start in the new season is worth paying a slight premium for now.
Wenger clearly understands the situation and may feel under no pressure to make hurried purchases. Liverpool spent £20m on Robbie Keane, who has generally disappointed, and, in the past, Manchester United seemed to be able to spend £15m on substitutes and £30m on first-teamers .This outrageous spending can’t last forever - and whatever happened to Kleberson?.
At a time where politicians are maligning bankers and telling the public that we have taken out too many loans, the idea that the ‘spend, spend, spend’ binge of the top Premier League clubs won’t come back to bite them is naïve, and economics graduate Wenger knows this very well.
People Problems
There is undeniably an issue with the depth of the Arsenal first team squad. Wenger has alluded to the conundrum he faces in that if he has too much experience then it means his younger players don’t get the game time they need to develop – Cesc Fabregas is a prime example of this and Theo Walcott isn’t a bad one either.
Wenger had the opportunity to poach Xabi Alonso from rivals Liverpool in the summer but decided against it. Now Liverpool are top of the league while Arsenal are largely struggling due to their lack of midfield cover.
To add insult to injury, Liverpool have struggled to muster any kind of creative force when Alonso doesn’t play. It is notable that Liverpool have performed woefully against Stoke recently without the Spaniard, and they didn’t look anywhere near as dangerous against Preston North End when Alonso failed to emerge for the second half.
Completing the deal would have provided the perfect opportunity to critically weaken a rival whilst addressing the need for a deep-lying counterpart to partner Fabregas.
It’s not so much that Arsenal lack a defensive midfielder - Alex Song has done relatively well in the big games against ‘top four’ opposition and Arsenal have collected an impressive amount of points from their 'title rivals' - rather, when playing against the lesser sides his presence isn’t required.
Denilson has shown promise this season but still should be considered deputy to Fabregas rather than a midfield partner, though at full strength the team could carry him to ensure his development.
Personnel is an issue, but not as great a problem that is often made out. Nasri has shown he is able to deputise in the centre and, if Wenger can sign a creative player to play on the flank, or possibly go with the emerging Carlos Vela on the left, then Arsenal could still land in reasonable distance of the top – if not realistically challenging.
Walcott and Eduardo will come back into contention very soon; this should provide the side with additional attacking verve. A rampaging Russian or a central midfielder would be a welcome addition, but they are not essential to the cause.
Style of play
And all this before we really get onto the pitch! It seems a lot of commentators don’t really watch Arsenal as the criticism has consistently taken the form, ’they play nice football, but they aren’t strong enough’. However, if you have actually watched Arsenal consistently this season, you will see that they really have not produced the kind of dynamic and attacking football that they played last season.
They have at times strung together some stunning moves but watching the highlights masks over the real problem and that is the team have too often looked short of ideas.
Although this is concerning it is to be expected; young footballers are generally more inconsistent than seasoned professionals. The key for this Arsenal side in determining how many future honours they claim is the extent to which they can learn from their mistakes and resolve them.
There are signs that this is happening and the mainstream media have failed to pick up on it. For instance, when Liverpool or Aston Villa don’t perform particularly well but manage to pick up the victory, it is a quality to be admired - they ‘ground out the result’ and, especially in the case of Liverpool, ‘this is evidence they will make a title challenge’.
When Arsenal don’t play very well but beat Bolton 1-0 at home, a fixture they have traditionally had many problems in winning, it is a sign of even more concern! If you look to the early part of the season that is the type of game the Gunners would not have take three points away from. This is something that should be seriously noted by those that love to criticise Arsenal.
In the End
When they are at their best Arsenal can dominate teams and tear them apart - even with their second string - and now the side is finally starting to learn how to win in trying circumstances. With possible January reinforcements allied to Eduardo and Walcott coming back into the side, Arsenal should be flying at the business end of the season.
Too many people wrote Arsenal off at the start of last season following Henry’s departure and too many people are writing Arsenal off now. It remains to be seen if Arsenal are too far off the pace to challenge for the league title - they probably are - but talk of Aston Villa finishing fourth is premature. At the time of writing Arsenal are six points off the leaders; I would back them to be closer than that by the time the campaign comes to a close.
Owen Watson, Goal.com
*Note article written 19 Jan., 2009
Much criticism has been levelled at Arsene Wenger’s young side this season. Owen Watson argues that a great deal of this has been unfair and backs the Frenchman’s team to come good by the end of the campaign…
19 Jan 2009 12:23:58
There has been a great deal said and written about Arsene Wenger’s footballing philosophy and the way he approaches the game, on and off the pitch. Admirably, the Frenchman prefers to nurture young talent through the club’s youth system rather than spending lavishly on players that are deemed ‘the finished article’.
Financial Situation
Many have sniped at Wenger for his inability to ‘splash the cash’ but, in truth, the canny 59 year-old should be lauded for his frugal approach to the club’s finances.
There are signs that the Russian Revolution at Chelsea has started to come undone. Roman Abramovich has always maintained that he wants a return on his investment in the West London outfit and, should he elected to leave, Chelsea would find themselves in all kinds of problems. They have a team full of ageing stars and, although they have a couple of decent youth prospects, they are nowhere near the calibre of Arsenal’s starlets. Even if nightmare scenario does not come to fruition at Stamford Bridge, can it really be said that Chelsea will be challenging for the Premier League title in three to five years time with their current squad?
There are mixed opinion as to whether building the Emirates Stadium has provided financial constraints on Wenger in the transfer market. I find this hard to believe; when budgeting for this scenario the board will have included money for transfers and Wenger has removed many of the high-earners from the wage bill.
True, Emmanuel Adebayor was appeased with a contract his current form doesn’t justify but Gilberto, Alexander Hleb and Mathieu Flamini have all left the club. In terms of transfers, Wenger’s net spending has been around £5 million as the money from selling Hleb was used to finance the Samir Nasri deal.
The result of this is that Arsenal can comfortably afford to push through a deal for a certain Russian playmaker later this week, and possibly even push the boat out on an unknown entity to anchor the midfield. This would be uncharacteristic of the tight-fisted Wenger, but the fresh influence of Ivan Gazidis may see Arsenal being a touch less cautious.
The advantage of buying now not only improves the chances of salvaging the season, it increases the optimism on the terraces and, most significantly, it gives the new players half a season to bed in. This means that when the next campaign starts the new acquisitions won’t have to get up to speed – a flying start in the new season is worth paying a slight premium for now.
Wenger clearly understands the situation and may feel under no pressure to make hurried purchases. Liverpool spent £20m on Robbie Keane, who has generally disappointed, and, in the past, Manchester United seemed to be able to spend £15m on substitutes and £30m on first-teamers .This outrageous spending can’t last forever - and whatever happened to Kleberson?.
At a time where politicians are maligning bankers and telling the public that we have taken out too many loans, the idea that the ‘spend, spend, spend’ binge of the top Premier League clubs won’t come back to bite them is naïve, and economics graduate Wenger knows this very well.
People Problems
There is undeniably an issue with the depth of the Arsenal first team squad. Wenger has alluded to the conundrum he faces in that if he has too much experience then it means his younger players don’t get the game time they need to develop – Cesc Fabregas is a prime example of this and Theo Walcott isn’t a bad one either.
Wenger had the opportunity to poach Xabi Alonso from rivals Liverpool in the summer but decided against it. Now Liverpool are top of the league while Arsenal are largely struggling due to their lack of midfield cover.
To add insult to injury, Liverpool have struggled to muster any kind of creative force when Alonso doesn’t play. It is notable that Liverpool have performed woefully against Stoke recently without the Spaniard, and they didn’t look anywhere near as dangerous against Preston North End when Alonso failed to emerge for the second half.
Completing the deal would have provided the perfect opportunity to critically weaken a rival whilst addressing the need for a deep-lying counterpart to partner Fabregas.
It’s not so much that Arsenal lack a defensive midfielder - Alex Song has done relatively well in the big games against ‘top four’ opposition and Arsenal have collected an impressive amount of points from their 'title rivals' - rather, when playing against the lesser sides his presence isn’t required.
Denilson has shown promise this season but still should be considered deputy to Fabregas rather than a midfield partner, though at full strength the team could carry him to ensure his development.
Personnel is an issue, but not as great a problem that is often made out. Nasri has shown he is able to deputise in the centre and, if Wenger can sign a creative player to play on the flank, or possibly go with the emerging Carlos Vela on the left, then Arsenal could still land in reasonable distance of the top – if not realistically challenging.
Walcott and Eduardo will come back into contention very soon; this should provide the side with additional attacking verve. A rampaging Russian or a central midfielder would be a welcome addition, but they are not essential to the cause.
Style of play
And all this before we really get onto the pitch! It seems a lot of commentators don’t really watch Arsenal as the criticism has consistently taken the form, ’they play nice football, but they aren’t strong enough’. However, if you have actually watched Arsenal consistently this season, you will see that they really have not produced the kind of dynamic and attacking football that they played last season.
They have at times strung together some stunning moves but watching the highlights masks over the real problem and that is the team have too often looked short of ideas.
Although this is concerning it is to be expected; young footballers are generally more inconsistent than seasoned professionals. The key for this Arsenal side in determining how many future honours they claim is the extent to which they can learn from their mistakes and resolve them.
There are signs that this is happening and the mainstream media have failed to pick up on it. For instance, when Liverpool or Aston Villa don’t perform particularly well but manage to pick up the victory, it is a quality to be admired - they ‘ground out the result’ and, especially in the case of Liverpool, ‘this is evidence they will make a title challenge’.
When Arsenal don’t play very well but beat Bolton 1-0 at home, a fixture they have traditionally had many problems in winning, it is a sign of even more concern! If you look to the early part of the season that is the type of game the Gunners would not have take three points away from. This is something that should be seriously noted by those that love to criticise Arsenal.
In the End
When they are at their best Arsenal can dominate teams and tear them apart - even with their second string - and now the side is finally starting to learn how to win in trying circumstances. With possible January reinforcements allied to Eduardo and Walcott coming back into the side, Arsenal should be flying at the business end of the season.
Too many people wrote Arsenal off at the start of last season following Henry’s departure and too many people are writing Arsenal off now. It remains to be seen if Arsenal are too far off the pace to challenge for the league title - they probably are - but talk of Aston Villa finishing fourth is premature. At the time of writing Arsenal are six points off the leaders; I would back them to be closer than that by the time the campaign comes to a close.
Owen Watson, Goal.com
*Note article written 19 Jan., 2009