1 non-Wenegr player The Defense was all Wenger That game was basically played in our half Besides so what if he "inherited" some players He was still the manager that MANAGED them to those trophies
I never said that but saying he was lucky when we were winning is just silly He is equally as responsible for our trophy drought than he is for our past successes under him
Arsenal 03/04 season most used players in each position, and the manager who signed them: GK Lehmann - Wenger RB Lauren - Wenger CB Campbell - Wenger CB Toure - Wenger LB Cole - Youth, promoted by Wenger RM Ljungberg - Wenger CM Vieira - Recommended by Wenger CM Gilberto - Wenger LM Pires - Wenger ST Bergkamp - Graham? ST Henry - Wenger I agree that many players were already there behind the scenes who made these players who they were, but anyone who says that Wenger inherited this team is a liar. 10 of these 11 players, most used during his arguably best season were brought in or promoted from youth by Arsene, as were many other fringe players. He will always be one of the best managers ever, he's just lost his grasp of tactics in the last few seasons and needs to go. Sorry if this has already been done.
What has been said is that he was lucky to inherit the players he did, not that he was lucky to win trophies. Read the damn thread. As for 2005, its already been pointed out that not only did Bergkamp play, but the majority of those players had the oppotunity to play with characters like Adams. They had the right attitude drilled into them by the players that were there already. Wind forward to the current team - how many retain the link to the likes of Adams, Keown, Bould, Winterburn, Dixon, Parlour, Wright...
You mean that game where Man U dominated us ? That game we had 1 shot on target in ? You reinforce the idea that .. Wenger has been lucky, cos we were beyond lucky that game.
And if you read further you would see that I said the reason we won was because of our defense We got dominated but we won the trophy and that that is what stands that we won the 2005 FA Cup final
OXO ... some might say it means we were very lucky. It wasn't down to a great defence. They hit the woodwork twice and missed the goal narrowly from a plethora of shots.
I am of the fan base that thinks Wenger has taken us as far as he can, but we can't rob the guy of the actual success he has brought to this club, the only reason why we are very angry is because Wenger has failed to maintain the high standards that he brought to this club. Secondly, with the 98 double winning side, although a lot of the players were inherited, Wenger still did make some very effective signings that greatly helped the side, such as Vieira, Petit, Overmars, and Anelka. Thirdly, Wenger made the team play in a completely different manner, a style of play that everyone admired, Tony Adam's goal against Everton summed it up. Fourthly, the sides of 02, and 04, especially the 04 unbeaten season, were mainly Wenger players, and not inherited. The Wenger back then was a very different to the Wenger now, if we could get the Wenger of then I would fully support him, that was a Wenger who would not put up with sh!t players, a Wenger who brought in quality class players, a Wenger who mixed youth with experienced players, the Wenger of old did everything the Wenger of now does not do, the Wenger of old did everything Arsenal fans are currently calling for. The Wenger of old was on par with Ferguson, Mourinho, you name them, he was up there right along side them with the level of success he was bringing, especially with the style of play he brought. Sadly we have become a shell of that time and team, we have become completely rubbished compared to than, it's really sad when we compare it.
I think the main reason for our failure has been the change in the style of football we play. In the 03/04 season we had tall, powerful and more importantly quick players which made our play much more direct. Sometimes within 5-6 passes we would have a sight of goal and teams could simply not live with our quick and powerful play. For the past 6-7 seasons we have reverted to the tippy-tappy short passing game where after 15-16 passes sometimes we haven't even gone past the halfway line! This lets the opposition get back into position and makes it very hard for us to break them down. In the past we have had Fabregas/Nasri who have been able to play that killer pass through the eye of a needle and unlock defences, when this has worked the football has looked great. However this season especially we are struggling as we do not have that kind of player anymore.
I think it's funny that you see having one shot on target and winning as lucky yet when you had not shots against Barca you thought you were very unlucky to go out.
Different circumstances, Barca weren't really dominating us in that game, the red card completely changed the game in Barca's favour, in fact everything had been going quite perfectly when we equalised, our complete defensive approach was working, and Barca's first goal was down to a very silly pass by Cesc right outside the box, so it was very unlucky the way we lost. Against Manu meanwhile they were completely dominating us, hitting the post, having a header cleared off the line and headed up against the post etc.
Ermm, WHAT?! Oh and you didn't equalise, Barca did it for you. It's unlucky that your player made a **** pass? Are you off your rocker? Does that mean Blackburn were unlucky because they gifted you 7 goals?
The Barca game actually just supports the theory that by that time we had degraded badly. No way , no how would the 2003-4 team have been battered by Barca like that. In fact I think they'd have beaten them.
Dunno about that Jayram, this Barca team are arguably the best club team of all time! Would love to see it though!
Yeah I agree, that would have been some game if both teams were on form. I think we would have carved them open though - more so than they would us. Especially in the last 30 minutes.
Yeah Barca don't have a brilliant defensive unit, all good players but far too attacking. I mean the fact they're happy to play Mascherano at the back when Pique or Puyol are out shows how amazing their style of play is. In the final third, Bergkamp and Henry in their prime would've done some damage.
They had a better 1st half. We matched if not bettered them in the 2nd half. The 2nd leg our tatics was to shut up shop and it was working till Fabregas had a moment of idocity and basically handed them the goal. We got lucky on the goal, but we would have played better with 11 men instead of 10. And of course if B52 didn't have the touch of a rapist we could have beaten them.
Once again TheOXOCube I as the original poster did not say Wenger was lucky to win what he has. The first line in my post states what a great job he's done all round for the club on and off the field. BUT you can't argue he has failed to achieve the same success for the past 7 seasons now. 7 long seasons with people like myself paying for possibly the highest priced season tickets in world football. So I'm questioning what's changed, what did we have then that we don't have now and what qualities do we lack. 1. We're in a new stadium but that's hardly going to affect our motivation and performance...Highbury was never the loudest for home support 2. David Dein (a person Sol Campbell and Thierry Henry both claimed played a MASSIVE part in getting them to the club) 3. Our original scouting network has moved on to other teams 4. We lack defense solidity and leadership So in the eyes of the fans that defend Wenger based on his original successes do you truly believe he has the ability to recreate that same success. If YES how and why has it taken this long without getting it right? If NO then why stick with him? How long is he entitled to stay if we don't think he can achieve success and we're slipping backwards?
