THE TRIALS OF ARSENE WENGER, AND HOW NOT TO MANAGE A JUNIOR FOOTBALL TEAM
As the equalising Anderlecht goal hit the net, my Arsenal supporting friend had seen enough,
“That! That…..!”, he moaned, eyes boggled, struggling for the words to express his disgust at another defensive capitulation.
“My Under 13’s team defends better than that!”
Poor Arsene Wenger is a man under siege; ex players joined the chorus of disapproval, with Paul Merson calling recent performances “shocking”, and “tactically clueless”
Wenger retaliated, labelling Merson “a joke”, and pouring scorn on the value of his opinion, given his lack of managerial experience.
An online commentator, observing the fracas, commented,
“A fascinating duel. On the one side we have a faded has been and chronic under achiever, who is living on past glories, and is in utter denial about his personal shortcomings.
And on the other side we have Paul Merson.”
So, in the light of the media furore, and taking account of my coaching colleagues observation, I got to thinking; is their anything a junior football manager could learn from what’s happening to Arsene, and his Arsenal team?
MISTAKE 1: By consistently selecting Arteta, Ramsay, Wilshire, Cazorla and Ozil, Wenger seems to have forgotten that his greatest sides mixed the sublime skills of Bergkamp, Henry, and Pires, with the inner steel and will to win of players like Vieira, Adams and Gilberto.
LESSON 1: PICKING YOUR BEST PLAYERS WON’T NECESSARILY CREATE YOUR BEST TEAM
MISTAKE 2; Midfield players and full backs are continually over committing to attack, leaving the Arsenal centre halves exposed to a quick and direct counter.
LESSON 2: SPEND AS MUCH TIME ON DEFENSIVE COACHING AS YOU DO ON THE ATTACKING PART OF THE GAME
Mistake 3: Wenger persists with a style of play that has become outdated, and has been successfully neutralised and exposed by his major rivals for many years.
LESSON 3: COACHES CAN BE IDEALISTS, BUT SUCCESSFUL MANAGERS MUST BE PRAGMATISTS
MIstake 4: In order to shoe horn what he regards as his most creative talents into a team, Arsene has chosen playing systems like the 4-1-4-1, which expose the defensive weakness of those same players.
LESSON 4: USE A SYSTEM THAT THAT SUITS THE PLAYERS AT YOUR DISPOSAL
Mistake 5: Signing Ozil when under pressure to spend his transfer kitty, then playing him as a winger, and unbalancing the Arsenal team.
LESSON 5: DON’T SIGN A NEW PLAYER UNLESS YOU ARE ABSOLUTELY CERTAIN THEY WILL IMPROVE THE TEAM AS A WHOLE
Mistake 6: In 18 years Arsene Wenger has only had 2 assistants in Pat Rice and Steve Bould, whilst other top Managers bring in new assistants on a far more regular basis, to freshen up the team environment, and instill progressive ideas and approaches to coaching.
LESSON 6: NEVER BE AFRAID TO HAVE AN ASSISTANT WHO CAN CHALLENGE YOU.
Mistake 7: Arsene has been in charge at Arsenal for 18 years. The performances of his teams, the quality of his signings, and the enjoyment he derives from the game, seem to have diminished significantly over time.
LESSON 7: IF YOU’RE NOT ENJOYING RUNNING A TEAM, IT’S PROBABLY TIME TO GIVE SOMEONE ELSE A TRY
If Arsene does decide to call it a day, he would be welcome to pop in at the junior football club I’m involved in; any man who has created such beautiful, free flowing sides will always be valued by a lover of football.
And if he needed cheering up, I would just let him chat to my under 9’s about the benefits of steamed broccoli and cabbage for the aspiring player, so that he could watch the horrified faces they pull!