No person should ever be immune to criticism. Neither should Arsene Wenger and his side. Their recent run of results have been poor and they could be breathing down the neck of Manchester United had it not been for their recent inconsistency.
They promised so much but fell apart as the season progressed. The season has turned out to be a disappointing one after it promised so much; similar to how the previous seasons have panned out.
Following another disappointing draw the clamor for Wenger to abandon his youth policy has reached fever pitch with some people even demanding the sacking of Wenger as Arsenal manager.
Ever since the draw against Liverpool, there has been so much talk about the failure of Wenger’s policy and how the time has come for vast changes. Wenger and his side has faced immense criticism in recent weeks mostly surrounding their trophyless run which sadly looks set to become six years.
Wenger no doubt deserves criticism for his tactical inflexibility and his rigid style of play but he also deserves credit for what he is managing with a budget that pales in comparison to the likes of Chelsea, Manchester City.
There reaches a point when the criticism is no longer constructive criticism.
While Arsenal’s season has been disappointing definitely it was is not a disaster when you look at the larger scheme of things. Even teams like Tottenham and Chelsea who have had worse seasons so far haven’t received the level of criticism that is presently being directed at Arsenal and their illustrious coach, Arsene Wenger. Many are now criticizing Arsenal since they have thrown away the league because of their inconsistency. This is spot on. But the same people who are now criticizing Arsenal for their inability to win the league never even gave them a hope of winning the league.
It would suffice to say that Arsenal have exceeded several expectations by going so far in the league.
It’s always easy to criticize a team and that is what we are seeing with the Arsenal team. True, they failed to win the league but it’s not as if they are outside the Champions League spots. They are second in the league and if we share the optimism of the players, the league is still within their approach.
This is the attitude that people should look to have. While Arsene Wenger and his team still maintain that the league can be won, everyone else is calling them dreamers. The chances of Arsenal pulling of a league crown are less but it still exists and that is what fans should be doing.
Realism is always required but Arsenal should aspire to soar great heights and winning the league is their dream. Arsenal winning the quadruple was being unrealistic but them winning the league is a dream that we must still harbor and I’m keeping my fingers crossed. Who would have expected Schalke to make the semifinals, but that is exactly what they did and Arsenal can still do it.
There also plenty of positives to take away from this season. From the tremendous rise of Jack Wilshere to the goalscoring exploits of Samir Nasri, Theo Walcott and Robin van Persie. Yet this is hardly mentioned. Instead all we see are headlines that go by the tune: “Arsene Wenger losing the plot”. Also Arsenal had four players in the PFA Team of the Year with only Manchester United with four having more. Last season Arsenal only had two and this is an improvement. Yet we hardly see anyone mention this because people are too busy picking the faults in this Arsenal squad.
Another aspect in which Arsenal have come under heavy fire is the fact that they haven’t won a trophy in five seasons now. Arsenal’s recent trophy drought is nothing to be proud of. A top club like Arsenal should be winning trophies and under Wenger they did win trophies consistently. Arsenal have won three English Premier League titles since the start of Wenger’s tenure back in 1996 and they have also been crowned FA Cup champions four times.
But since they last lifted the trophy back in 2005, they have been trophiless falling short on several occasions. The trophy drought can be pinpointed on one main reason: the construction of Emirates.
Since the Highbury was fairly small in terms of capacity, Arsenal decided to build the Emirates, a new 60,000 seater stadium. As a result of this, Wenger has adopted a very frugal approach in the transfer market, a policy in which he chose to sign unheralded talent and proceeded to convert them into match winners.
As a result of this we have seen the likes of Cesc Fabregas, Robin van Persie, Kolo Toure, Emmanuel Adebayor and countless players become world class players at Arsenal.
So in recent times he has been accused of not signing established players who many feel will help the club win trophies. Wenger adopted a prudent approach in the transfer market because there were financial constraints on the London club and they were massively in debt when the Emirates was constructed.
This is the reason he chose young talent over proven stars and built an extremely talented squad under difficult circumstances. He made the current Arsenal side competitive, despite never signing a player for more than 15 million.
He has been called on to sign the likes of Scott Parker to the club but signing such players provides him with a dilemma that few fully understand. When Wenger took up the policy he focused on long term goals such as setting a stable base for the future, leaving the club in position where they were financially safe and debt free. And he has been extremely successful in this aspect.
By signing experienced players like some fans are demanding he is potentially jeopardizing his long term goals. For instance if he signed a player like Scott Parker, that would mean that the position is filled for the next three to four years and thereby taking away any possibility of having youngsters like Emmanuel Frimpong ever getting a first team role.
By sticking to his youth policy he is ensuring that two years down the line, the Gunners have an immensely talented bunch of players who are ready to take the world by storm because they have enough experience.
He could have signed one or two experienced players but not to the extent some people are now demanding.
Off late he has been accused of not signing Shay Given when he was available. But now when Wojciech Szczesny and Lukasz Fabianski have seemingly solved Arsenal’s goalkeeping crisis, people still remain with the notion that Arsenal’s weak link is its goalkeeping when that is hardly the case.
Wenger’s failure to win a trophy is disappointing, because every club wants to win trophies but the recent commotion about his position as Arsenal manager is hardly justified.
Another aspect for which Wenger has been criticized, is for keeping poor performers in the team mainly players like Tomas Rosicky, Denilson or Manuel Almunia.
A glance into Arsenal’s first choice team will paint a clear picture that in Arsenal’s best squad there is hardly a player that can be criticized for being poor. Are the likes of Samir Nasri, Cesc Fabregas, Alex Song and Robin van Persie sub-par players? Definitely not.
In a squad of 25 players there are bound to some players who do not perform up to the mark and so is the case with Arsenal. Manchester United have the likes of Bebe, O’Shea, Wes Brown in their team. Yet they are hardly criticized.
But in Arsenal’s case they are criticized. Arsenal have talented youngsters like Henri Lansbury, Aaron Ramey, Ryo Miyaichi who can step up to the mantle and produce superb performances. Also another thing we have to analyze when exactly has these players come in to play. Wenger has had to use them only when he has had some of his top players injured and Arsenal are on team with a lot of injuries.
Take the case of Sebastian Squillaci for instance. He had to play only when both Johan Djourou and Thomas Vermaelen were injured. In other words Arsenal were missing both their best centre backs. Not many teams can handle the loss of two of their best defenders and that is what Arsenal had to manage for certain parts of the season.
Another area that has led to Wenger receiving heavy criticism is his defense of players. He said it before that he chooses to act as if he never saw a foul committed by his players and in order to protect them. Many have criticized Wenger’s habit to ignore the faults made by his players and have blamed this habit for the mistakes made by him.
Arsene Wenger too is partly to blame for his team’s performances. But it is a fact that the amount of criticism he is receiving has gone overboard.
Even I do believe that sometimes he needn’t defend his players to the extent he does, he may have a valid point in defending them. After all few teams come under the amount of criticism that Arsenal come under and so the severe criticism they face may affect them psychologically. There always fans and experts who sometimes go overboard with their criticism( like I did with Emmanuel Eboue following the draw against Liverpool) and so Wenger takes it on himself to defend his players in order to keep up morale. I’m not sure whether that is the reason or whether that is right but the bottom-line is that the criticism received by Arsenal players after one poor performance is a bit too scathing at times.
Wenger over the past six years has made mistakes but which coach hasn’t? Few managers of top clubs have the kind of financial restraints that Arsenal have and yet the consistency that Wenger has achieved with this club is remarkable and yet few are willing to acknowledge this fact. Wenger is no saint but he is a visionary, a man who transformed Arsenal into one of the most attacking teams in world football and a man who shows financial prudence in an era dominated by over inflated prices.
It’s easy to find faults in a person and that is exactly the case with Arsene Wenger and Arsenal. I have always maintained the stance that Wenger’s policy will reap rewards soon and that day is not so far away.
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