Unfortunately there are many problems Wenger has at present. One of them being arrogance. He can't continue to neglect the fact that the opposition play in a certain formation or style and he has to negate them yet still continue to be effective when Arsenal attack. The only time I can remember him having any tactical nous was when he played very defensively against United in the 2005 FA Cup final. George Graham would often use Keown to man mark a dangerous opponent.
For me, Wenger is a curator. He collects wonderful specimens (Henry, Viera, Pires etc etc.) What he does then is let them do their own thing on the pitch. Unfortunately, he has failed to coach any of the players coming through - Walcott is a fine example. He couldn't beat an egg!
The current problem is when we play one up front at home. Chamakh again is left isolated and allows the full backs to attack as the centre halves can mark him without much help. He doesn't have great pace and the support for him comes from Arshavin (when he can be bothered) or Fabregas( when he is not trying to create miracles all over the pitch). This formation can work away from home when teams feel they have to attack. We are then able to use the space created to hit them on the counter attack. When we are chasing a game at home and Chamakh has to go down the wing there is no support for him and as Arshavin becomes tired (as per usual) the support lessens as does the support for midfield.
Then Wenger makes his master plan by bringing on his substitutes 15 minutes from the end of most games. Mourinho had the right idea by bringing on impact players at half time or just after. It is so difficult to get warmed up and find the pace of the game at that late stage. How many times has an Arsenal player made an impact off the bench in recent times ( Fabregas once and Bendtner twice as I recall). RVP looks unfit and Theo should play as a centre forward to use the space and not get pushed wide and down another blind alley.
Wenger has made poor adjustment and should have also played Djourou in the Spurs game. Koscielny got beaten in the air by Defoe! We knew Crouch would play at some stage and that they have some tall physical players coming up for set pieces yet he chooses to play a young player in his first season in the Premier league who is vastly inexperienced and undersized!
It may be time for Wenger to move upstairs and look after the money side opf things. He has been a great servant but most of us can see the mistakes with the squad. The keeper situation, buying Squillaci for more than the market value due to having a paper thin squad, signing the likes of Silvestre (Easter Island Head), Cygan, Stepanovs, releasing Upson - we can see the Achilles heel emerging! We haven't had a natural winger in the squad for years and then he has an affair. I would say it was a mid life crisis. Lets just call it a crisis. Our position doesn't bely the way we are playing. If the league wasn't so poor this year we wouldn't even be in the top four. Nuff said.
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