With the new season seems to have come a new focus from Arsenal. "It is unacceptable to give away goals like that in the big games," said Wenger. "We can only blame ourselves. "We lacked real authority and decisiveness at the back." "Was it a mistake to leave out Per Mertesacker? Maybe. But we will never know. We cannot play the game again." "Giroud should have scored," Wenger said. "He was in a good position to score. Why did he not score? It is hard to identify." I've never heard him talk about players like that. Essentially blaming Koscielny & Giroud. He's normally a staunch defender of all his players. Is this a change in emphasis? I think it's safe to say Merts & Verm will start the game next weekend. Steve Bould seems to have brought some no-nonsense to the team, and perhaps Wenger has seen this have an impact and is going a similar route? The way they're handling Theo, publically saying he'll find opportunities limited unless he signs, is another indication of a more hard-line philosophy.
The trouble is that players can react very badly to public criticism...not matter how gently it's delivered. Rednapp joked that his mrs could have scored a header that Darren Bent missed and that ended their working relationship. depends on the player I suppose
Can't hurt in my opinion, Fergie is always bollocking players who don't pull their weight and his record speaks for itself. It's only the prima donnas (e.g Beckham at Utd.) that react badly and teams are better off without them anyway.
Wengers always been too soft. Look at Fergie and Mourinho. Players get chastised for bad performances. Maybe it's time Wenger was a little more authoratative.
Yeah but Redknapp was a twat. He was always coming out with self congratulatory rubbish at the expense of his players/club/chairman/wife/secret bank account etc
FFS ... it seems impossible to have a sensible discussion on here sometimes. Should I now respond with how much a twat Wenger is cos he had an affair and fathered a child with someone other than his wife? Or is that as irrelevant as redknapp being a twat? I was critising twat players for not being able to take criticism ...
Been reading The Sun again have we ? And anyway I'm not calling Redknapp a twat for his non footballing matters, I'm calling him a twat for publicly insulting his players and jumping at any chance to congratulate himself. Surely you must remember him telling Spurs fans to shut up because 'I'm the best thing that's happened at Spurs' ? Makes you wonder why you sacked him if that wasn't an accurate statement ?
The thread was about wenger telling it as it is about his players....my point was only it depends on the player as to how they take it ... I used Redknapp's criticism of Bent to illustrate the potential problems...and you take it down the line of RedKnapp being a twat. I was not criticising your beloved wenger or saying Redknapp was better than him .... I was commenting on the thread.
I'm commenting on the thread too fella I'm not really sure what the problem is ? I agree that Redknapp's criticism of Bent was out of order, I'm not sure what he was expecting to achieve by saying his wife was a better striker really - and that isn't the only example of Redknapp shooting his mouth off to the detriment of your players and club. That's why I called him a Twat. Personally, I'd rather Wenger and Bould did their bollockings behind closed doors, I don't see any value in publicly dressing down one of your players. Although I do think that they can only be honest when asked about Walcott's situation. It will affect his place in the team if he doesn't sign as the club will sell him if he doesn't sign.
Fair do's ... been off sick and have been stuck indoors over the weekend with hormonal daughter and mrs so am probably hormonal myself! I'm always torn on this issue (public criticism) - I think that players need to grow some and get on with it but can't think of a single occassion where it has worked. But I do have respect for Wenger saying it how he saw it....better than complaining that there weren't enough added on time being played like a certain somebody!
Needing some man time eh? It's all good fella I agree that players should be big enough to take some criticism, but I just don't think it serves any purpose for their managers to do it in public, it's just not necessary and usually creates more ill feeling than acting as a problem solving technique. I manage a team of people in my job. If I have to speak to anybody about issues on their performance, I do it in private, during their line management supervision, or if it can't wait then I'll pull them to one side and have a word with them about it. I'd never entertain the idea of giving someone a dressing down in front of their colleagues - it would just undermine them further.
Can't disagree with that to be honest...god I must be ill...agreeing with a gooner...can this week get any worse
Gary neville on Sky has just mentioned the authority issue. According to him, we need a CB who says "you're not getting into my box"
