Congratulation to Arsene Wenger on his 1000th game at Arsenal. I remember when he started and people said Arsene Who? Of course he hasn't won anything for a while, though that was aggravated by the need to fund the Emirates. He has said that the most important thing is stability at the club...cups and trophies come and go, but he said the important thing was the stability and structure at the club. It is undeniable that Arsenal have been at the top table for a long time. Dean said that Wenger said that the only thing you can be sure of when buying a top player is top wages....he preferred to be very selective and get players that suited the club (usually from Southampton....though I may have imagined that bit ). It would be nice to think we could end up with such stability. We have been in the position of changing managers as our needs changed...be nice to hold on to one that suits us (sigh). I also agree in getting players in that suit the club...how often have other clubs bought in a couple of expensive players and then finding it doesn't work. We are going the right way about things....building a team of equally important players rather than a couple of stars who can't make up for the team's inadequacy.
How many more games does Poch need before he catches up? Would be wonderful if he stays with us that long
I agree this kind of stability would be very nice. Also for Southampton, it would be more than we are used to/ people expect; where as with Arsenal, the lack of trophies is viewed as a concern. The main thing I don't like about Arsene is his tendency to play players out of position, which reduces their impact and stunts their development; just because it worked with Theirry Henry doesn't mean it's going to work all the time. When Walcott was with us he was a quick centre forward who would latch onto balls over the top and was pretty handy at finishing one-on-one with the keeper. As a winger he seems pretty haphazard. Chamberlin is definitely a more versatile player and it seems he's finally being deployed in the middle (I'm sure we mainly used him as a winger), but I can't help think if he was still a Saints player he would be getting talked about in the same breath as Lallana, and would be a certain starter for the World Cup.
Does make you wonder what we could have achieved this season with a fully fit Walcott and chamberlin in our starting 11 this season!
Wenger pulled English football out of the caves it was dwelling in. Credit for that. I still see him as a whinging French git though.
It has been mentioned how he changed things at Arsenal from the drinking culture he discovered when he arrived. Footballers see themselves more as athletes now.
Aren't all managers of the top clubs whingers...they expect to win, blame others if they don't, and are generally hard done by.
True. As an aside, has anyone noticed how much moaning there is coming from Pochettino recently. We never get the breaks, refs are against us....
