Faithless

 

 

 

In the history of the premiership, 3 managers would stand out above the rest as Alex Ferguson would be regarded as the most successful manager it has ever had; Jose Mourinho would be known as perhaps the most tactically astute and having the biggest impact in the shortest period; but if you asked most neutrals about the best of the lot, I am pretty sure Arsene Wenger would come out on top.

 

The reason is that his teams played the best football and he did not spend as much money as his peers to win the premiership. Whatever the merits or demerits of buying the premiership as it were, no one can accuse of Wenger of doing such a deed.

 

More than any manager in the modern era, he has made stars and superstars of relatively unknowns and stars respectively. The likes of Patrick Vieira, Emmanuel Petite, Thierry Henry, Robert Pires, Cesc Fabregas, Nicolas Anelka, Alexander Hleb, Emmanuel Adebayor and Freddie Ljunberg etc have achieved global fame from learning from the great man.

 

But it seems that not winning any trophies in 3 seasons and the events of last season are beginning to turn some fans against him. There were a lot of disgruntled supporters following their defeat against Fulham on Saturday.

 

Wenger is a great manager, there is no doubt but he does have some stubbornness in him that has prevented his sides from winning more trophies. It is all well and good allowing kids play in the preliminary rounds of the Carling cup but it was folly to play them in the final against Chelsea’s 1^st team and against Tottenham Hotspurs’ 1^st 11 last season.

 

Winning like losing is a habit and if his young side had triumphed in the Carling cup that might have added as a springboard for bigger success as Jose Mourinho might not have been as successful as he was in England if his Chelsea side were beaten by Liverpool in his 1^st Carling cup final.

 

Another bone of contention with the Arsenal fans is his seeming love affair with the much disliked Emmanuel Eboue. From a personal point of view, I think Eboue is a fine player but only as a right back.

 

It was nonsense to play him as a right winger but to now play him in central midfield is just crazy. I don’t if he feels that Samir Nasri is not big or strong enough to play in the central midfield but like Hleb before him, he is wasted on the wings as he creative enough to be on the ball as much as possible.

 

I am not sure what Denilson’s development is like as he has not improved an iota in 3 seasons in my opinion and for him to partner Eboue in the centre of midfield is just asking for trouble as they are neither creative or destructive enough.

 

There are 2 areas where Wenger is sorely lacking in ideas and those are centre defence and goalkeeper. The good news for Arsenal fans is that he has sent Philippe Senderos on loan to AC Milan but the bad news is that he bought Mikael Silvestre from Manchester United.

 

Wenger is a great manager and would always make money for his club but he needs to buy experienced players to complement what he has right now otherwise trophies would keep going to less worthy sides that simply bought their way to them and not develop a team of players.