Questions for Wenger

1) Why did you sell Lassana Diarra in January and keep hold of Abou Diaby and Gilberto? Yes, he wanted to go, but only because you made it clear he was further down the pecking order than very average players.


2) Why did you not spend the requisite money on Jonathan Woodgate (or another centre-half) in January, particularly after watching Philippe Senderos made to look ordinary by Birmingham of all teams?


3) Why on earth did you field a team containing Justin Hoyte and Armand Traore against ManYoo in the FA Cup when those same players had been torn apart by Tottenham?


4) Why was a game against your biggest Premier League rivals - who would clearly get a psychological boost - sacrificed?


5) Why make William Gallas your captain when there are move clear examples of leadership qualities, with Cesc Fabregas and Mathieu Flamini the two obvious alternatives?


6) Why did you refuse to spend money on a ready-made alternative to Fabregas last summer, leaving you no choice but to run him into the ground?


7) Why have you played Emmanuel Eboue game after game after game on the wing despite his effectiveness waning at the same pace as his popularity?


Why did you not buy a left-winger when it became clear that Tomas Rosicky is made of biscuits?


9) To go back to 3), why field these players again against Liverpool in the league when they have been a byword for disaster this year?


10) Why rest Emmanuel Adebayor, Alex Hleb and Gael Clichy in that league game - a tactic that pretty much guaranteed that victory would be beyond your grasp - but still play the clearly-dead-on-his-feet Fabregas?


11) In the third part of the trilogy, Why wait until you needed to score a goal before bringing on Theo Walcott and Robin van Persie? Why was your decision a reactionary one?


12) Why did you not buy a single player in January when you ended December two points clear of ManYoo but it was already abundantly clear that you were over-reliant on 13/14 key players?


13) Will you adjust for ManYoo on Sunday and play Toure at centre-half, Eboue at right-back and Walcott on the wing or stubbornly stick to the same idea?


14) Will Gilberto play in the expected absence of Flamini despite the fact that he will likely be up against the pace and power of Ronaldo, Rooney and Tevez?


15) Will you stick with the same principles and once again stubbornly refuse to spend big in the summer, refusing to compete on a level playing field as if that would somehow be cheating?

Taken from football 365.

Some good ones, some bad. The issue about Fabregas is right on the money - you're dead lucky that he hardly ever gets injured but even so, you need backup because he's so integral to your team working.

Like Man U with Ronaldo - they went out and bought Nani a year early and at significant expense in part because they knew an injury to Ronaldo would take a big chunk out of their game. And they bought Anderson and Carrick at a combined cost of over 30 million to cover for Scholes...

Saw this earlier and thought Saints had taken up freelance writing and sent one or two pieces to F365.

I'm suprised Saints hasn't taken this thread to the cleaner's yet.

Simple quick reason to most of those questions would be that Wenger is stubborn but I'll give him the summer and next season to rectify the situation. If not he should be moved upstairs.

16) Will you be leaving this summer so Arsenal stand a change to actually win a prize next year ?

Alot of people say Wenger should leave but who would he be replaced with? Another factor would be that most of our players are attracted to the football Wenger plays so a lot of them would definitely be off.

Some fair points, but also some that clearly benefit from hindsight. He suggests Flamini as captain over Gallas, yet at the start of the season Flamini looked like a bit-part player who had nearly walked out over the summer. I don't think anyone expected him to play so well this season, and if he had been made captain at the start of the season it would have been met with plenty of surprise and bemusement.

Sheffield gunner wrote:Some fair points, but also some that clearly benefit from hindsight. He suggests Flamini as captain over Gallas, yet at the start of the season Flamini looked like a bit-part player who had nearly walked out over the summer. I don't think anyone expected him to play so well this season, and if he had been made captain at the start of the season it would have been met with plenty of surprise and bemusement.

I was thinking that when I read it. I think at the start of last season people would of mentioned Toure, Gilberto or Cesc.

Gilberto everyone thought was the natural replacement

Ray Parlour wrote:Gilberto everyone thought was the natural replacement

He is/was, the next senior player to go out.

17) Why do you constantly make the excuse that any setback Arsenal suffer on the field is due to the players lacking experience, but treat veteran players (i.e. Pires, Gilberto) like $h!t ?!

Fair and Balanced™ wrote:17) Why do you constantly make the excuse that any setback Arsenal suffer on the field is due to the players lacking experience, but treat veteran players (i.e. Pires, Gilberto) like $h!t ?!

Excellent point. Often comes across as ageist - the way he only offers 1 year contracts etc to the older players, how he has treated Lehmann , Bergkamp, Pires in the past for example.

The fact that Arsenal didnt make big effort to sign Woodgate says it all to me - Wenger thrives on his reputation to buy no named youngsters (almost exclusively from abroad); fair enough, but he cannot then keep making the excuse about "lacking experience", or whingeing when he ends up winning nothing - tried and trusted EPL players are something that Ferguson at United knows about and at times has broken the bank for - e.g Ferdinand, Carrick for example - Wenger seems to lack the ability or , infact, the urge to blend youth with experience. Its not like Arsenal cant afford to splash the cash either. the main reason why Wenger has gotten away with a lack of silverware in recent times is because he hasnt spent big bucks; maybe its time he stuck his neck out and risked buying a few experienced players in the summer

Pretty much agree with that. The way some of our older players have been treated (Pires and especially Bergkamp) has long been something I've taken issue with. I wouldn't include Gilberto in this because frankly he has been horrendously poor all season and just doesn't look capable of contributing to our squad. He should be offloaded in the summer. The captaincy issue should have been handled better though because despite his woeful footballing ability at the moment, Gilberto seems a decent bloke and someone who has contributed a lot to our side in the last five years or so. He should have been treated with more respect.

I guess this summer will be the big test of just how firmly Wenger believes in his approach (or how stubborn he is if viewed from a slightly different perspective). It should be blatantly obvious what we need, and if Wenger doesn't invest reasonably large sums of money signing quality players there could be a lot of discontent. If not just for the quality of our squad, I hope Wenger spends money to show we do actually have the power to compete. I worry that the more he tries to compete on a significantly tighter transfer budget than our rivals, the more some supporters will start clamouring for that fat Pr!ck Usmanov to take over the club with his promises to spend big.

and just when you start doubting the sanity of the boardmembers on here (the whole incredibly childish Arsenal - Liverpool thing) some very valid points are being posted

Axeslammer wrote:and just when you start doubting the sanity of the boardmembers on here (the whole incredibly childish Arsenal - Liverpool thing) some very valid points are being posted

Hate to say it, but on the whole the Arsenal fans on here put a lot of us to shame with their sensible talk. If only they supported another club

Senor Woody wrote:

Axeslammer wrote:and just when you start doubting the sanity of the boardmembers on here (the whole incredibly childish Arsenal - Liverpool thing) some very valid points are being posted

Hate to say it, but on the whole the Arsenal fans on here put a lot of us to shame with their sensible talk. If only they supported another club

Its Allez that usually lets them down with his madcap zany comments.

Probably because, a season where Arsenal fans have by the majority felt they are on the verge of winning a big trophy, only to be let down at the last hurdle..... the arrogance that they would win these trophys to find out what everyone else was saying - they simply aren't as a whole ready or good enough to win.

So instead of taking swipes at everyone / thing else as to why they haven't done better - they've realised the direction of the questioning has to be aimed at their beloved club, players and manager.



Arsenal are a top football team, with obvious problems though which up untill now the fans were not prepared to admit to.

Ray Parlour wrote:A lot of people say Wenger should leave but who would he be replaced with? Another factor would be that most of our players are attracted to the football Wenger plays so a lot of them would definitely be off.

but they'll be more attracted by winning trophies, unless there are some big signs that they mean business early in the summer, then i can see cesc and a few others upping sticks and moving elsewhere

borocooper wrote:

Senor Woody wrote:

Axeslammer wrote:and just when you start doubting the sanity of the boardmembers on here (the whole incredibly childish Arsenal - Liverpool thing) some very valid points are being posted

Hate to say it, but on the whole the Arsenal fans on here put a lot of us to shame with their sensible talk. If only they supported another club

Its Allez that usually lets them down with his madcap zany comments.

Nah, I'd attribute it more to Shazxxl and the repeated public declarations to make sweet sweet bumsex with Alexander Hleb

Bollocks, how wise everyone is after the event.

Many (admittedly mainly Saints) people made similar points months ago and Arsenal fans argued Wenger's side. And why not? Wenger should be congratulated for the progress the side made this season where many predicted they'd finish 5th.

Clichy is a budget Ashley Cole, he fits the system well but lacks Cole's tackling, determination and postitional sense while suffering from a similar lack of height/strength. He's not as good as Cole was at that age albeit was an excellent 2nd choice. Traore is like a shite Clichy, again not as good as Clichy was at that age. Senderos is a joke, particluarly when compared to Agger, Vidic or Skrtle. Eboue is a great, if limited overlapping fullback but he's fairly impotent as a right sided midfielder. Cesc has been below par since before Christmas but I didn't hear any Gooners on here crying out for him to be rested or a backup signed. Or any suggestions for that matter.

Gallas as captain was the natural selection, taking the captaincy away from him is unthinkable mid-season. Not buying a flair midfielder in January was probably a mistake, but how long does it take such a player to settle in? Look how long it took Hleb for example. Injuries don't help.

1) On the Diarra issue, yes it was a disaster that he left in January after a mere four months while Gilberto stayed, and yes this may have been an issue Arsène could've man-managed better, but on the other hand:

Diarra had no right to insist on a place in the first team ahead of Flamini, and he was indeed already the no.1 backup midfielder. The sheer breathtaking arrogance of coming from Chelsea and expecting to walk into a team where Flamini was already playing like a man reborn, and storming off because Wenger couldn't guarantee this, beggars belief. Tragic really, because he was getting opportunities he'd never had at Chelsea and would have played a massive and potentially critical role in the second half of the season. But Arsène isn't in the habit of clinging on to players who want out.

2) Cover in central defence required – fair enough, but anyone who saw that Birmingham game would know that Senderos was one of the outstanding performers in that game other than the goal and that the problem was up front that day.

5) Very strange point as has been observed. Cesc would have been a wrong decision, Flamini a bizarre one; Gilberto an untenable one, Touré?? I continue to believe Gallas's fight, belief and aggression has had far more of a positive effect than a negative one.

A lot of the other points are very fair.

Interesting response on 606 (no, not by me).

Perhaps you'd like to give examples of these "madcap, zany comments", Borocooper?

You're full of them Allez.

Was just a joke really

Yeah, I was guessing that. Madcap and zany is good, but I suspect it might be my Deutschland hat rather than the Arsenal one you're thinking of...

Allez les rouges wrote:Yeah, I was guessing that. Madcap and zany is good, but I suspect it might be my Deutschland hat rather than the Arsenal one you're thinking of...

And dont you just look ridiculous in your Deutschland hat:

I look rather magnificent if I say it myself

There are some valid points, but I agree that a number of them benefit from hindsight, and some of them come up more because of unforeseeable injuries and drops in form.

Diarra seems a very good player. It's a bit of a puzzle as to why he was sold - on the one hand, he obviously doesn't have a great attitude all of the time, but then Wenger has kept other players, like Bendtner and Eboue, with bad attitudes, and he didn't seem to value Diarra as much as some of the Arsenal fans on here did, and as much as his performances for Portsmouth suggest he warranted.

It seems to me that selling him was one of Wenger's bigger mistakes this season. On the issue of Fabregas - you can't really buy in a ready-made alternative for that type of player - Fabregas is very talented; he controls Arsenal's midfield and often leads by example more than anyone else in the team; he's so central to Arsenal that they're always going to suffer and have to change their game slightly when he's absent. But Diaby would have been an alternative, somebody who Fabregas could have been rested for, who would have offered something different but something still creative.

Diarra could also have covered at right back, allowing Toure to stay in the centre, but as the article points out, Wenger persists too much in playing certain players who are neither good enough for Arsenal, nor fit the way Arsenal play - and so even with Diarra at the club, I imagine we would still have seen Senderos at centre back and Eboue on the right wing recently.

Woodgate would have been a perfect signing for Arsenal. He's a quality player in an area in which they only have two capable players - he would have been marvellous cover for them, and moreover would surely have performed better than both Gallas and Senderos in this second half of the season. Woodgate has a remarkable capacity for calming a defence. He's a much better footballer than Senderos as well as being far better at reading the game, and he would have improved Arsenal's defending from set-pieces. I think the failure to sign him is inexcusable on Wenger's part - he is a player that Arsenal have needed in every way, not too old, good enough that he would have slotted into Arsenal's team, suited their style of play and improved their defence at once.

As for Gallas, his performances in the first half of the season, where he played well in defence and lead by example in scoring some important late goals, showed the rationale behind Wenger appointing him captain. I don't think Wenger can be blamed for the fact that Gallas has grown increasingly childish as the season has progressed, and has put in increasingly poor performances. As things stand, I'd be inclined to sell him in the summer, because he must be turning into a bad influence at the club. The problem is that this would mean Arsenal losing their captain for the second summer running, losing one of their more experienced players, and they'd need probably two centre backs bringing in.

I'd agree that Arsenal could have done with at least one winger, left or right, in January, because overall they lack cover on the wings. At the same time, it's understandable why Wenger didn't bring anyone in. Arsenal play a fluid style of football, so you have Hleb roaming to the left often, and this season Wenger frequently looked to play Eduardo or van Persie as a left winger coming inside to join Adebayor. Though Rosicky and van Persie have been frequently injured in the past, still they were expected to feature in the second half of the season, whilst Eduardo was on form in January - with him playing well, and with Rosicky and van Persie supposedly on their way back, another left winger might have seemed excessive.

Like Glenn says, creative players generally take a while to settle in. Wenger obviously likes to develop young players, and so there's the constant pull between putting faith in youth and allowing it to develop and risking that by bringing in more established players. More, I imagine that part of the reason Wenger likes to develop young players is because he has a certain ideal way of playing, and young players can be developed more easily to fit that, to suit Arsenal's system. A creative player brought into Arsenal's team may find it harder to adapt than he would at most clubs.

I certainly don't agree with Wenger's policy of only offering 30+ year olds one year contracts. I think Arsenal need to spend on a few established, 25-29 year olds this summer, and the dependence solely on youth has hurt them in the past seasons. However, Wenger has at least let a number of these 30+ year olds leave on frees - Pires, Campbell, he was going to let Lehmann go in January. If it's a policy that isn't clever and that doesn't help his team, I don't think it is one that particularly shows the players involved a lack of respect, and it also goes against the idea that Wenger is excessively proud of breaking even in the transfer market.

I don't read much into Arsenal losing so heavily to Man Utd in the FA Cup. What I don't understand is Wenger fielding a weak team against Liverpool at the weekend, then coming out and saying 'We can do the double!'. His team at the weekend showed either tremendous naivety or a lack of faith in his team - either way, fielding a weak team was a stupid move when Arsenal's chances in the league depended on the game. As for Tuesday night, I agree with a point Allez made, in that I think Wenger's error was less in not bringing on Walcott and van Persie sooner, more in being either too stubborn or in lacking the bravery to bring on Song instead of Gilberto, or to start Song at centre back, or to play Toure there, Eboue at right back, and Walcott on the wing.

he could have kept diarra until the summer and then sold him, when he was able to get a replacement, no need to sell him in jan.

Diarra forced his own way out. Had he stayed, we'd have seen his value to the side and a whole lot of things could have been very different...

I think we've all touched on the key points that F365 make in the past week.

We seriously need to invest in depth in the summer, but we won't... you just know it!

Someone earlier in the season said that its almost as though Wenger refuses to buy players, just so that he can use the 'we haven't spent much money card' I'd argue that could be true.

I also think you could argue that he doesn't buy middle aged players so that he can use the 'its a young squad' arguement.

I understand that he likes to get them in young so that he can mould them to the Arsenal style more easily but its not as though there are plenty older and more experienced players out there that could adjust easily enough.

Ray Parlour wrote:I'm suprised Saints hasn't taken this thread to the cleaner's yet.

On the whole the Arsenal fans (the odd crackpot aside) have been agreeing with me, and conceding that a lot of my criticisms of Wenger's approach and the squad he's assembled are accurate.

So there's no point me repeating what I've said all season long just because it's turned out to be true. Everyone can see that for themselves.

But I will say one thing about how the press has responded to Arsenal going out of Europe and looking highly unlikely to threaten for the league title - they've talked a lot of $h!t. The word 'purist' has come up in every other article I've read on the subject, with every single writer overlooking the fact that part of Arsenal's limited success is down to them adapting their game and playing uglier football some of the time. Two things stand out - the willingness to sometimes just throw long balls up to Adebayor, something that never happened under the Bergkamp-Henry partnership, and scoring headed goals from set pieces, also something rarely seen under Wenger's previous side. And sure, Wenger deserves some praise for taking a step towards a more rounded team and playing style, but hardly anyone's given it to him because they'd rather toe the line and talk about 'purists', which is of course Wenger's preferred reason. 'We failed because our football is too good'...