Tuesday’s 2-1 loss away to Olympiakos might have felt like
another nail in Arsene Wenger’s coffin, but in the grand scheme of things a
hugely changed side lost little in Greece. There are plenty of reasons for
hope, if not happiness, for Arsenal fans, but it will need some tweaking, some
new tricks and a return to an old one for Arsene Wenger if the side from the
Emirates is to return to challenging and then winning trophies.
According to reports,
Wenger has around £70million to spend and Chief Executive Ivan Gazidis says it
is solely down to the manager how he spends it. With that in mind, and without
being unrealistic (there will be no chance of Stan Kroenke and Alisher Usmanov
resolving their differences yet), we offer 6 ways Wenger can take Arsenal back
to the top.
1.
1. Get a Plan B
Arsene Wenger is a fantastic developer of talent. He can
nurture a young player and turn their potential into world class ability.
However, tactically he is not the most enigmatic. He started with a 4-4-2 when
Arsenal were still at Higbury, switched to a 4-2-3-1 when Thierry Henry left,
and since then has stuck with that formation.
There has been no invention. Nearly all his changes this
season have been like for like and while they say the hardest thing is to change
a winning team, when you are not winning the easiest thing is to switch players
and switch tactics. Wenger prefers not to.
Arsenal used to be criticised for passing, passing, passing,
dropping points whenever they came up against an organised team that put men
behind the ball. With so little flexibility in their other tactics aside from
passing (a front man with two wide forwards, ball playing central midfielders,
advanced full backs that offer the width, for example) all teams need to do is
find one way of beating them and Wenger has no in game changes to combat it.
Last weekend’s game against Swansea was a prime example – although Michu’s two
goals came late, the team from Wales had dominated in terms of chances from the
start. A better tactician would have evaluated Arsenal’s problems and made in-game
changes accordingly.
There are some gaping holes in the red and white squad, but
they do have players who could play in a different system – indeed these
players have actively voiced their preference for change. Both Theo Walcott and
Lukas Podolski have pleaded to be played in a central birth, and alongside the
improving Olivier Giroud they could give more options higher up the pitch,
causing more problems for the opposition and making Arsenal less predictable.
2.
2. Go back to the old Arsene
We all enjoyed ridiculing Wenger’s myopia whenever a
controversy arose in an Arsenal match (when it involved one of his players as
the villain), but there is another facet of Wenger the manager that has changed
over the last ten years, and that has been his strategy in the transfer market.
While no longer enjoying an unrivalled knowledge of French
football from which he signed so many of the ‘invincibles’, an analysis of
Arsenal’s transfer policy in the first half of Wenger’s reign contrasts
markedly from the second half.
The exodus of stars is well known to even the most casual
football observer. Overmars, Petit, Vieira, Henry, then Adebayor, Clichy,
Toure, Nasri, Fabregas, van Persie. Plenty of money came in to the club, and
they have the fantastic Emirates stadium as a result, but the greater cost is
now being realised.
Examine that list again, and you will see a difference
between the first four names and the latter six. Wenger used to sell players
when they were right at the peak of their careers and at the very peak of their
market value. They still had a few more years in them, but their ability was
just about to decline and their value would only decrease. Arsenal certainly
missed the likes of Petit, Vieria and Henry, but they got the most out of them
and it allowed the next generation to come through (the exception in this
period was le infant terrible, Nicolas Anelka, but time has shown that was a
pretty smart move as well).
The latter six had plenty years at the top and arguably had
room for improvement. They were not edging towards thirty, they were entering
their mid twenties, and none of them are thinking about leaving the highest
level.
Then consider the signings Wenger has made. Never the
greatest spender (arguably his biggest buys have been his worst), the Frenchman
mixed unheard of teenagers with hungry, high quality players how were not yet
fully appreciated. Vieira was at AC Milan, Petit had shone for a good Monaco
side which had included David Trezequet and a certain Thierry Henry before they
had made moves to Juventus. Freddie Ljungberg had impressed for Sweden against
England, Mark Overmars won the European Cup with Ajax, Sol Campbell was signed
on a bosman from bitter rivals Tottenham, add in Davor Suker, Sylvain Wiltord,
Robert Pires, all quality players who were winners previous or represented
their country on numerous occasions.
Include Anelka, Fabregas, Clichy, Kolo Toure and other
youngsters and Arsenal had the right mix of experience, youth, hunger, winners mentality,
and ability.
Over the last five years that policy has changed. Arsenal’s
recent big name signings have been ones either no one else really wanted or
youngsters thrown too soon into the deep end. Some, like Nasri, Santi Cazorla,
and Thomas Vermaelen, have been good signings. Others, like Chamakh, Gervinho,
Mertesacker, Rosicky, Arshavin, and Arteta to a lesser extent, have their
moments but are not up to the standard Arsenal require.
Olivier Giroud has impressed after an iffy start, but Lukas
Podolski has gone the other way, and even Cazrola and Vermaelen have started to
struggle with the burden of carrying this Arsenal side on their shoulders.
Youngsters like Oxlade-Chamberlain, Gibbs, Jenkinson and
even Jack Wilshere have found themselves stretched. Whereas before they were
slowly introduced into a settled and accomplished team, now they are expected
to solve the problems their teammates have caused.
If Arsenal have £70million in the bank, spend it on top
players, winners, and not hyped youngsters who can’t deliver now, and will
eventually move elsewhere for medals. Speaking of which...
3. 3. Stop being a stepping stone
If Wenger has £70million to spend, or whatever, he should spend
all of it. Soon. Arsenal need to send out a statement that they are a club
aiming for the top, not a team trying to halt a slow slide to the bottom.
Wenger himself has to take a lot of the blame for Arsenal’s
diminishing status in the eyes of the footballing world. Players no longer join
to win leagues and trophies, they join to improve their game, perhaps
experience the Champions League for the first time, and enjoy good wages that
English football has to offer. If they make a good impression then great, maybe
they can get even more money with a few medals chucked in at their next club.
The talk around Ashburton Grove is not about challenging for
titles anymore, not really. It is about qualifying for the all important
Champions League. Arsenal have managed to do that on 16 consecutive occasions
but as their ambitions slip from winning, challenging, competing, to simply
qualifying, the danger is a bad result here or a bit of bad luck there and now
they are not even top 4 anymore, and the whole Emirates edifice comes crashing
down.
Of course, it would be foolhardy for Wenger to suddenly
claim they can win the Premiership now, but the downgrade of their aims has been
a slow and steady process and at some point they need to reverse the rhetoric.
A couple of stellar names, players who make supporters go ‘wow’, would really
do the trick and change the negative atmosphere around the club at the moment.
A good start might be Klass-Jan Huntelaar, but more will
need to come, including....
4.
4. Where is the midfield destroyer?
Petit, Vieira, Gilberto Silva, Flamini, Song. All players
who got stuck in. Not afraid to do the dirty stuff. Win the ball. Shield the
defence. Carry the water. However you want to put it, it’s clear that Mikel
Arteta, for all his ability, is no ball winner and certainly not a physical
presence. Jack Wilshere will get stuck in once he has a few more games under
his belt, but the rest of the midfield looks flimsy, and undoubtedly adds extra
pressure on to a fallible defence.
As mentioned before, Wenger was once well known for not
seeing the various indiscretions of his players on the pitch and Arsenal racked
up 68 red cards between September 1996 and March 2007 – over 6 a year on
average. Over the next 3 years they picked up 12 (4 a year), including six in
the Premiership in 2010/11, three last season, and one this season and in
2009/10 (Premier League only). This despite more challenges being deemed worthy
of a red card over the last five years, with one footed lunges joining the two
footed variety in earning a straight red.
Arsenal need more bite across their team, they need to press
more, put more tackles in, and generally have more physical presence on the
pitch. Opposition teams feel they can bully Arsenal off the pitch, not with
fouls and kicks (although that does happen) but just by being stronger.
5.
5. Get rid of the deadwood
According to transferleague.co.uk
Arsenal used to sell a lot more players than they bought, nearly twice as many
from 2002 to 2007. This season being an exception (although we’ve addressed the
need to bring in more players), Arsenal have bought and sold on a largely even
basis in terms of numbers, but this is not by design.
Marouane Chamakh, Nicklas Bendtner, Ju-Young Park, Denilson,
Andrey Arshavin, Sebastien Squillaci and Andre Santos could all be employed
elsewhere is anybody had wanted them. The merits of Lukasz Fabianski, injury
prone Abou Diaby, and the inconsistent Tomas Rosicky could also be questioned,
while Bacary Sagna and Theo Walcott’s futures are uncertain.
That is a lot of talent that is either not required or whose
future needs deciding on, and while they remain they only serve to cloud
Wenger’s thinking.
There was a time when the manager would have ruthlessly
culled those who were not good enough, safe in the knowledge that he had the
quality within the squad or players lined up to come in that would enhance the
team. Now, with problems mounting and no clear and simple solution in sight,
Wenger is stuck relying on players he knows are not good enough.
6 6.
It’s okay to ask for help
Whether it be a new coach with fresh ideas, or an active
director or chief executive to help Wenger in the transfer market, the
ex-Monaco manager needs a little help.
He has carried Arsenal football club through some great
times, into a new stadium, and his only hope seems to be that the financial
fair play rules will hurt all the other clubs, leaving his team standing at the
summit. Personally I cannot see this happening, the FFP will be a battle
between accountants and lawyers, and as the Etihad sponsorship of Manchester
City has shown the rules can be not so much bent, as smashed to a pulp.
The absence of a David Dein-like figure has coincided
spectacularly with an absence of silverware in the Arsenal trophy cabinet, and
while Ivan Gazidis talks a good game and seems a respectable man, he does not
give the appearance of having the cunning, knowledge or skill of Dein. If
nothing else, Dein helped lift some of the weight from Wenger’s shoulders.
Wenger looks increasingly tired and exhausted, and it would be no shame asking
for help in running the football club.
By following even one of those suggestions Wenger will get
Arsenal performing a lot better and help return the club to where it once was.
Can you think of anything else Wenger could do?
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