Wenger has been proved right once again

piresistible · Post by **piresistible** » Thu Apr 16, 2009 9:23 am

A very fitting article written on teamtalk:

Gunners on course for greatness

TEAMtalk feels Arsene Wenger has been proved right once again after seeing his young side roar into the Champions League semi-finals.

Wenger does not often get things wrong - and everyone else will soon have little option but to believe his latest Arsenal generation are destined to be the best yet.

Just a few months ago, the Gunners were written off as a club in crisis, with a team devoid of experience, steel and guile, relying too much on the potential of youth.

On Wednesday night, though, the side led by 21-year-old captain Cesc Fabregas, fighting fit again having missed more than three months with a serious knee injury, set up a Champions League semi-final against holders Manchester United with a 3-0 win over Villarreal at an electric Emirates Stadium.

Next up is the small matter of an FA Cup semi-final date with Chelsea at Wembley on Saturday afternoon, and although this season's Premier League title is all but out of reach, few can deny Wenger's latest talents their place among Europe's elite.

The unwavering faith in youth has long been a trait of the shrewd Frenchman, knowing the direction the club would have to take as they embarked on the move from Highbury to a new, 60,000-seater home at Ashburton Grove.

It was fitting then that three of his young proteges combined for the opening goal which set Arsenal on their way after 10 minutes, Theo Walcott latching onto a deft backheel from Fabregas to touch on a through ball from the once-maligned, but now rejuvenated, Emmanuel Eboue.

From then on, the Gunners never looked like surrendering their grip on the tie, most of the hard work already done in securing a 1-1 draw in the first leg in Spain last week courtesy of a brilliant scissor-kick strike from Emmanuel Adebayor.

Certainly there seems little weakness in Arsenal's forward line, which will add the mercurial Russian playmaker Andrey Arshavin, who is cup-tied in Europe, to the mix, while Croatian striker Eduardo is another expected to be ready to grace Wembley.

In midfield, the reputation of Alex Song, still only 21, continued to grow, with the Cameroon international holding the line to allow Fabregas more freedom.

Wenger, though, will know his squad cannot afford any more losses in defence, with full-back Bacary Sagna ruled out tonight because of a virus, adding to a growing absentee list which includes Gael Clichy, centre-backs William Gallas and Johan Djourou, as well as goalkeeper Manuel Almunia.

Stand-in Kieran Gibbs picked up a kick on his foot late on, but played out the final minutes.

Continue to play with such wonderful flare and spirit going forwards, however, and Arsenal's shortcomings at the back could well prove inconsequential over the defining weeks of the campaign.

This result will send Arsenal to Wembley full of confidence.

When the Gunners last played a major final at the stadium, winning the FA Cup in 1998 and then the following season's Charity Shield, Arsenal were a much different proposition - led by midfielder enforcer and captain Patrick Vieira, soon to be inspired by the genius of Thierry Henry.

Now, though, is the turn of Wenger's latest generation to repay their manager's heart-felt belief they have the talent to deliver silverware once again.

The Gunners faithful were not afraid to voice a chorus of disapproval during difficult times earlier in the campaign, but the Emirates Stadium was at fever pitch from kick-off, as Walcott rampaged down the right, and almost gifted Adebayor a tap-in.

Arsenal eventually took the lead after 10 minutes, when some quick passing put Walcott clear into the right side of the penalty area.

The England forward needed no second invitation, and sent a clever chip over the advancing goalkeeper to put the Gunners a step closer to Rome.

Leading scorer Robin van Persie saw his curling free-kick saved well by Diego Lopez, with Adebayor's follow header hacked off the line.

Villarreal went close in first-half stoppage time when Diego Godin headed over, but Arsenal made sure of a semi-final place when, on the hour, Van Persie released Adebayor to net his fourth goal in as many games.

Dutchman Van Persie converted a penalty to make it 3-0 and finally sink the Yellow Submarine who had Villarreal's Sebastian Eguren sent off after he was shown a second yellow card, for dissent when arguing the decision.

At the final whistle, Wenger allowed himself a wry smile, once again being proved the man in whom Arsenal's complete trust is indeed well placed.

Post by **DB10GOONER** » Thu Apr 16, 2009 11:04 am

hmmm... Wenger is proven right again. No trophies since 2005, hasn't won anything yet this season, but he is PROVEN right...

Skooner · Post by **Skooner** » Thu Apr 16, 2009 11:21 am

Itâ€™s always the way, itâ€™s never a case of the glass being half full or half empty, it is either completely full or completely empty. We are all enjoying the ride at the moment, but weâ€™ve achieved nothing yet. We still donâ€™t know what will happen to the team when they get a major set back. Will they crumble like last season?

I do agree though that it is encouraging at the moment we have belief when we go behind in a match to keep plugging away. Pretty much regardless of criticism I donâ€™t know any Arsenal fan who is actually anti Wenger, they just think he makes some basic mistakes. The youth project was and still is a gamble and is something which might still fail. All that said, letâ€™s hope Wenger really is right again!

mike · Post by **mike** » Thu Apr 16, 2009 11:28 am

To be fair, the champions league & the FA cup runs have been extremely kind up until now. How far we've come will be examined in the next 3 weeks or so. But fair play, everyone (including myself!) completely wrote us off and moaned at how much we'd digressed from last season. Well we're now in a much healthier position now than we were 12 months ago so it's all good. Long may it continue!

donaldo · Post by **donaldo** » Thu Apr 16, 2009 11:36 am

Wenger said judge him at the end of the season and on what we have won.If we win something especially the CL he will have been proved right.But to get to 2 semi finals and finish 4th is not something to celebrate.

We have had a great run but the next 3 weeks will prove if Wenger is right but he isnt right yet

Post by **REB** » Thu Apr 16, 2009 11:40 am

we are in 2 semi finals and there is a big chance that is as far as we go but we all hope that is not the case but it is just 2 semi,s, but lets be realistic here and as wenger himself would say ,cup football is different from league football and in the league we have fell on our backsides again this season,
so lets enjoy the next couple of weeks and with a bit of luck , team spirit and great support lets hope we go on to greater things

augie · Post by **augie** » Thu Apr 16, 2009 11:44 am

Is there not a thread already running on this type of "wenger is king" line of crap ?

FFS we are a country mile away from winning a league and are average in too many positions but yet wenger can do no wrong - in-bloody-credible

rodders999 · Post by **rodders999** » Thu Apr 16, 2009 11:45 am

Football is full of knee jerk reactions. You win a few games you're world beaters you lose a few and you're shit. It wasn't so long ago that there was a Wenger Out thread on here with many people calling for his head at the end of the season. The trick is not to let your emotions get carried away during the extreme highs and lows. Don't get carried away. Wenger is a genius and it's impossible to put into words what he has done for this club.

joematty7 · Post by **joematty7** » Thu Apr 16, 2009 12:09 pm

completely disagree with you augie, were only out of touch with the league due to injuries which caused some mediocre displays in january. on the cup front were clearly competing with manure and chels. this team has bags of potential and this can be seen in walcott's last two goals (both excellent finishes), the improvement of alexander song into a very tenacious central midfield partner for cesc and the comfortable home wins against citeh and blackburn rovers, games i think we would have drawn earlier in the season. we also have goals coming in from all areas now, even eboue looks like getting in on the act when he comes on. arsene clearly knows best and plus, who would do any better?

selsdon · Post by **selsdon** » Thu Apr 16, 2009 12:17 pm

Arshavin has single-handedly changed our fortunes this season. I know he doesn't play in the Champions League but the filip he has given the club is there for all to see.

A side-effect of him joining has meant Eboue has only started one Premier League game since his arrival, away at WBA. Possession is no longer breaking down and that in turn eases pressure on the defence. He's a decent right-back however and is adequete cover for Sagna.

Whether the signing of Arshavin was forced on Wenger is another matter but makes you think of what could have been achieved had he joined pre-season.

Post by **DB10GOONER** » Thu Apr 16, 2009 12:36 pm

rodders999 wrote:Football is full of knee jerk reactions. You win a few games you're world beaters you lose a few and you're shit. It wasn't so long ago that there was a Wenger Out thread on here with many people calling for his head at the end of the season. The trick is not to let your emotions get carried away during the extreme highs and lows. Don't get carried away.

Wenger is a genius and it's impossible to put into words what he has done for this club.

Irony, anyone?

rodders999 · Post by **rodders999** » Thu Apr 16, 2009 12:57 pm

DB10GOONER wrote:
rodders999 wrote:Football is full of knee jerk reactions. You win a few games you're world beaters you lose a few and you're shit. It wasn't so long ago that there was a Wenger Out thread on here with many people calling for his head at the end of the season. The trick is not to let your emotions get carried away during the extreme highs and lows. Don't get carried away.

Wenger is a genius and it's impossible to put into words what he has done for this club.
Irony, anyone?

I was expecting that......and you were odds on to be the fucker who did it! I make that observation based on the 12 years Le Boss has been here. The transformation has been incredible, and the roller coaster ride hugely enjoyable (for the most part!).

Post by **DB10GOONER** » Thu Apr 16, 2009 1:19 pm

rodders999 wrote:
DB10GOONER wrote:
rodders999 wrote:Football is full of knee jerk reactions. You win a few games you're world beaters you lose a few and you're shit. It wasn't so long ago that there was a Wenger Out thread on here with many people calling for his head at the end of the season. The trick is not to let your emotions get carried away during the extreme highs and lows. Don't get carried away.

Wenger is a genius and it's impossible to put into words what he has done for this club.
Irony, anyone?
I was expecting that......and you were odds on to be the fucker who did it! I make that observation based on the 12 years Le Boss has been here. The transformation has been incredible, and the roller coaster ride hugely enjoyable (for the most part!).

You know me so well, rodders!!

augie · Post by **augie** » Thu Apr 16, 2009 2:27 pm

joematty7 wrote:completely disagree with you augie, were only out of touch with the league due to injuries which caused some mediocre displays in january. on the cup front were clearly competing with manure and chels. this team has bags of potential and this can be seen in walcott's last two goals (both excellent finishes), the improvement of alexander song into a very tenacious central midfield partner for cesc and the comfortable home wins against citeh and blackburn rovers, games i think we would have drawn earlier in the season. we also have goals coming in from all areas now, even eboue looks like getting in on the act when he comes on. arsene clearly knows best and plus, who would do any better?

We are out of touch in the league cos our squad has too many over-rated players simple as. There will be many Gooners out there who, like myself, will remember the George Graham latter years when we became an outstanding team who were shit in the league

We were out of the running for the league this season long before january and the improvements that you refer to have all been in the last month improvements. Yes we have badly missed some of our creative players at times this season but on far too many occasions this team have not shown the heart or passion needed and we have seen some shocking displays from song, eboue, bedtner and denilson.

It does appear that we have turned a corner of sorts lately (I agree that the signing of arshavin has been huge in that regard) but we need to stay grounded and be realistic about the quality of this squad and our standing this season and not just this month

wlchuccc · Post by **wlchuccc** » Thu Apr 16, 2009 3:26 pm

I like and respect AW very much. Having said that, you look at who is going to play this Sat against Chelsea. Our squad is not good enough. It's his job to sign in players to make sure that we could have enough players for the whole season (he could do it in January to sign 1-2 players more).

More importantly, as others said, we have not won anything yet this season. I would not say it has been proven that AW is RIGHT. We need to win a trophy at least this season. Then I will admit that our citique to AW was WRONG.

Up the Arsenal for LIFE