As most of you know, this is not my area of expertise. However I have noticed in discussions on this board that members do think a number of our players are indeed played out of position, Bendtner, Walcott to name a few. My question to the more knowledgeable is that is this one of Arsene's less successful attributes. Does he all too often have players out of position thus compromising their effectiveness on the pitch? Over to you pals
Well to be fair on wenger he successfully converted: Thierry Henry from winger to striker. Alex Song from centreback to defensive mid.. Kolo Toure from Right midfield to centreback. Emmanuel Petite from Centreback to midfield. to name but a few. ...but yes it's worrying just how many players he tends to play out of position. 1. Theo - the guy is a striker. 2. Arshavin - doesnt have the legs for playing as a WF. should be played behind a CF down the middle. 3. Van Persie - has the ability to play anywhere across the front but his best and most natural position is not as a CF. 4. Eboue - been played as a RW and a DM over the years. 5. Bendter - he's a target man! although his first touch is so bad his second touch is nearly always a tackle. It seems wenger tends to just buy players he likes. Not necessarily the ones he needs.
I think he just wants to improve their overall game Like theo, he has the pace and finishing, but struggles to beat players and with his passing/crossing etc, so putting him on the wing allows him to improve his passing, movement, ability to beat players etc same with Bendtner, helps improve his team work, his work rate and his touch etc
I will argue that Eduardo's career at Arsenal ended because of the change in system. Eduardo never fitted into the 4-3-3/4-2-3-1 and lost form then left. Even when Cesc never played, we used the same system and people like Eduardo and Bendtner could not fit in. The lack of flexibility in his system is a major flaw of Wenger.
That's the other thing Super Jack. Flexibility in his game. For me that becomes very clear when we seem to be unable to change tactics when things are not working. My memory is a tad hazy on this but I thought that in the days of Capt Viera, the players themselves, under Viera's direction would change tactics to suit the occasion. These days they simply look towards the bench in expectation of some magical gesture from the boss.
Bloody good question, OP, if I might say so as an outsider... I've often seen it as a marque of a top manager that he is able to put certain players in positions that they would not otherwise have been noted for by lesser managers. Consider Harry's genius in playing Bale at LW, instead of LB. How many truly saw that as being viable? It's easy, in hindsight, to say "yeah, it was obvious," but the reasonable among us know full well that it wasn't.
Greetings Mr H Sometimes these things could boil down to hunches. Mr Bear gave us a few examples above of inspired positions in which Arsene has located some of our more illustrious players. I'm sure it's not down to a case of selecting numbers at random. Sometimes things don't work out even at the behest one's best intentions. These are the occasions of course when changes are required but are they implemented?
I have to say, though, that I seriously believe Wenger was, and remains, completely wrong in playing Walcott as a winger, as he was in playing Nasri in that role. Both are so much better suited as playing just off a main striker, but with license to drift out wide, in order to create a hole. But, of course, to make that work, you need a versatile midfielder to not only command play in that hole, but also to be able to defend if play breaks down. Viera did that for you, as did Roy Keane for United. Little wonder that each of those two teams dominated play, in their day.
Good analysis Mr H. I learn more daily through these pages. We should have brought Viera back to coach the team. This was a major miss IMHO...
True Guys. I guess the jury's out on Patrick Viera in his light blue kit but I have to say though that if he could impart his reading of a game to the current City players, we'll have a tough nut to crack.
