As we're unlikely to see terraces again at football, this is the virtual equivalent where you can chat to your hearts content about all football matters and, obviously, Arsenal in particular. This forum encourages all Gooners to visit and contribute so please keep it respectful, clean and topical.
I've never bought this revisionist "Wenger was lucky - he did fuck all" rubbish. It's the thinking of people consumed with hatred.
I've also never bought the AKB "he is a genius" line either.
The truth is somewhere in the middle.
He was brilliant manager from 1996 - 2006 arguably still good until 2008..... you do not win what he did playing that style of football based purely on luck.
It's a myth that he didn't coach the defence. Romford, Ozil and a few other players have confirmed that Wenger did a lot of practicing set pieces in training, both attacking AND defensively.
The "he just told us to go out and play" comment has been a bit misconstrued. He didn't say that during training but rather as part of his prematch team talk as the work had been put in on the training pitch during the week. It was more a case of telling players if they saw the chance to try something then do it. Adams' goal against Everton at Highbury in 98 was a direct result of that freedom to take a chance according to Wrighty and had been practiced in training with the CH's.
Yes Wenger was lucky to have inherited the Back 5 and they were the foundation for his early success. But it is churlish and nonsensical to say he added nothing to that and was "lucky" to win what he won. Most successful managers have some form of luck at key junctures in their career. It does not make them lesser managers. Wenger had luck but he also had foresight and revolutionised the English game with the introduction of the two strong, powerful and technically adept central midfielders. That changed the game. Temporarily.....
What the AKB can't accept is that Wenger got it badly wrong in trying to adopt the Barca whore tikka takka style with lighter more mobile players. It didn't transfer from the slower less physical Spanish league to the PL and we ended up with the easily out muscled watered down tippy tappy.
Wenger then fell behind the rest of the top clubs because his ego could not let him accept he had got it so badly wrong and he persisted with The Project and keeping rubbish players long long past the point they were exposed as being not good enough.
He was a great manager but he was very past it in his last decade with us.
That's a fair, well written post mate and hard to disagree with any of it.
I think the problem is some of us respond badly (for want of a better word) to all the bullshit we get fed like ''Wenger built your club'' ... or ''Wenger was a genius'' ... and stuff like ''Wenger has integrity and values etc.''
If only we could swap things round so that in the summer of 2006 we stayed at Highbury and it was Wenger who went somewhere else. I am sure we would all be in a much better position right now!
If only mate. If only....
Have to admit it boils my piss when I read stuff like "Wenger built Arsenal" as if legends like George Graham and Herbert Chapman never existed....
I've never bought this revisionist "Wenger was lucky - he did fuck all" rubbish. It's the thinking of people consumed with hatred.
I've also never bought the AKB "he is a genius" line either.
The truth is somewhere in the middle.
He was brilliant manager from 1996 - 2006 arguably still good until 2008..... you do not win what he did playing that style of football based purely on luck.
It's a myth that he didn't coach the defence. Romford, Ozil and a few other players have confirmed that Wenger did a lot of practicing set pieces in training, both attacking AND defensively.
The "he just told us to go out and play" comment has been a bit misconstrued. He didn't say that during training but rather as part of his prematch team talk as the work had been put in on the training pitch during the week. It was more a case of telling players if they saw the chance to try something then do it. Adams' goal against Everton at Highbury in 98 was a direct result of that freedom to take a chance according to Wrighty and had been practiced in training with the CH's.
Yes Wenger was lucky to have inherited the Back 5 and they were the foundation for his early success. But it is churlish and nonsensical to say he added nothing to that and was "lucky" to win what he won. Most successful managers have some form of luck at key junctures in their career. It does not make them lesser managers. Wenger had luck but he also had foresight and revolutionised the English game with the introduction of the two strong, powerful and technically adept central midfielders. That changed the game. Temporarily.....
What the AKB can't accept is that Wenger got it badly wrong in trying to adopt the Barca whore tikka takka style with lighter more mobile players. It didn't transfer from the slower less physical Spanish league to the PL and we ended up with the easily out muscled watered down tippy tappy.
Wenger then fell behind the rest of the top clubs because his ego could not let him accept he had got it so badly wrong and he persisted with The Project and keeping rubbish players long long past the point they were exposed as being not good enough.
He was a great manager but he was very past it in his last decade with us.
That's a fair, well written post mate and hard to disagree with any of it.
I think the problem is some of us respond badly (for want of a better word) to all the bullshit we get fed like ''Wenger built your club'' ... or ''Wenger was a genius'' ... and stuff like ''Wenger has integrity and values etc.''
If only we could swap things round so that in the summer of 2006 we stayed at Highbury and it was Wenger who went somewhere else. I am sure we would all be in a much better position right now!
If only mate. If only....
Have to admit it boils my piss when I read stuff like "Wenger built Arsenal" as if legends like George Graham and Herbert Chapman never existed....
I was going to start a thread about it but it could get nasty
So I will post it here
15 years ago this month a whole season invincible with the so called mad dictator at the helm
with a defence,midfield and attack of your players( plus DB10 ) they cant nick that season of you by saying it was what you inherited
what a season and what a legend
Yeah but the question has to be..... if he hadn't inherited the side (particularly the defence) that he did what would he have achieved. He repeatedly showed himself to be incapable of building a defence. Had he inherited a defence that was equivalent to his own average standard would he have won a thing. We made him not the other way around. Whatever people may think of David Dein now, he was at the club during that period and very much involved in what went on.
He inherited jens, Lauren, sol, toure, and Cole? Ok missed that.
Back from my hols and a much needed 2 week break from the Arsenal. Good to see that fuck all has changed on here.
Just for what it's worth re the hypothetical question - Cole was a product of the youth system (that actually came good) and of course my fucking granny could have signed SC for free, safe in the knowledge that he was already the finished article
The if my auntie had balls type questioning over a title winning season
Save it for defeats jock
Long live the invincibles and that includes the manager
Hate to break it to you mate but If your auntie had balls then she's really your uncle.
Nice to see that you're from one of those progressive liberal style families
Yeah, sorry for the glib reply it's just that all things Arsenal are so stale and predicatable at the moment that 'what ifs' about yesteryear are slightly more interesting.
The cuntbag is shyte scared that's why the Juve fans would give him Serious stick if he went there and didn't succeed and let's be honest there's NO WAY! he could follow Allegri.
The cuntbag is shyte scared that's why the Juve fans would give him Serious stick if he went there and didn't succeed and let's be honest there's NO WAY! he could follow Allegri.
I was being a tad facetious old chap. He was never in the running.
The cuntbag is shyte scared that's why the Juve fans would give him Serious stick if he went there and didn't succeed and let's be honest there's NO WAY! he could follow Allegri.
I was being a tad facetious old chap. He was never in the running.
The cuntbag is shyte scared that's why the Juve fans would give him Serious stick if he went there and didn't succeed and let's be honest there's NO WAY! he could follow Allegri.
I was being a tad facetious old chap. He was never in the running.
The cuntbag is shyte scared that's why the Juve fans would give him Serious stick if he went there and didn't succeed and let's be honest there's NO WAY! he could follow Allegri.
I was being a tad facetious old chap. He was never in the running.
The cuntbag is shyte scared that's why the Juve fans would give him Serious stick if he went there and didn't succeed and let's be honest there's NO WAY! he could follow Allegri.
I was being a tad facetious old chap. He was never in the running.