How Arsene Wenger is turning his World Cup winners into a liability
Article by Neil Leverett
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As night becomes day, a certainty in any Arsenal season is that their long-serving manager, will be subject to criticism from all angles of the Gunner's fanbase. However in recent years, those critics have become ever more pointed in their reasoning for complaints. Not only have fingers been thrust in the same direction, but those circles have been increasing year on year as the Arsenal boss approaches his third decade at the helm.
After a largely successful transfer window for Wenger, coming off the back of a victorious World Cup campaign for his in-house Germans, the Gunners and indeed Wenger should be onto a good thing this campaign. Unfortunately after yet another shambolic, almost lazy away performance in Dortmund on Tuesday night, further questions have been posed with the blame aimed squarely at Wenger. But why is this?
The crux of the matter once again all comes down to a lack of any kind of defensive judgement, despite the now omnipresent figure of Steve Bould as Arsene Wenger's no.2. Arsenal's defence has always been a source of consternation amongst the Emirates faithful but that concern continues to grow and is seemingly never addressed at the root. After repeatedly stating he would add a defensive midfielder, once again Wenger failed to deliver and in doing so has seen Arsenal take a huge step back in progress. This affects all but the most keenly felt are messrs Mertesacker, Ozil and Podolski.
Arsene Wenger has never been a mastermind on the football field, let alone a tactician. He merely bought well and inherited a solid defensive unit in his early tenure at Highbury. Now, the North Londoner's lack of protection ahead of a shaky defence has already reared its' ugly head after just four league games and Tuesday's Champions League opener. Having missed out on Morgan Schneiderlin and William Carvalho - at least for the time being - Per Mertesacker's responsibility is even greater to be a reliable defender.
As we have seen in the embryonic stages of this season, that is simply not the case. Mertesacker now seems a liability. This writer's proviso pre-season was that Mertesacker could continue as first choice centre-back with Laurent Koscielny as long as there was a midfield guardian ahead of him. On a night where Arsenal's deficiencies were glaringly obvious, it was plain to see Mikel Arteta is not that individual. Far from it. But nor is Mathieu Flamini.
The big German's game is in decline and his pace non-existent but his game would suggest different, often venturing forward with gay abandon on a high back line, merely trotting back to aid his defence. Hasn't his manager spoke to him of this? Germany won the World Cup in the summer, but let us not forget Mertesacker was replaced by the more mobile Jerome Boateng after Die Mannschaft conceded two goals in a 2-2 draw with Ghana. Mertesacker didn't play again during his country's route to the final. I would put it to you that if Mertesacker had, Germany simply not lifted the Jules Rimet trophy back in July.
Mesut Ozil however, was present in all of Jogi Lowe's starting elevens in Brazil, yet is the greater conundrum. Since moving from Real Madrid last summer for £42m, Ozil's form has been plagued with inconsistencies. Since his debut versus Stoke last term - assisting on all three goals versus the Potters, Ozil has struggled to be the match winner that many expected. Other than a masterclass versus Napoli in the Champions League, the Turkish-born midfielder has become somewhat of an enigma on the football field.
With all that stipulated, Wenger refuses to play Ozil behind the striker and instead opts to shift him out onto the left as he often done in a 4-2-3-1 formation, with the lone striker and has played (and arguably ruined) Andriy Arshavin in a similar role. As documented - despite what the Frenchman may think, the Arsenal boss is no tactician and playing their record signing in a position he clearly does not suit is a real problem for the Gunners.
With all of Ozil's attacking exploits, one could forgive him to have a poor defensive side, but as those exploits seem a ong way off, his defensive frailties have come under the spotlight, most notably for Seamus Coleman's opening goal for Everton at Goodison Park and Martin Demichelis' equalising header versus City at the weekend. The Ozil to perform is becoming a burden, for which the buck must surely stop firmly at his managers feet.
In the case of Lukas Podolski. many expected the veteran striker to depart the club, but after Olivier Giroud's untimely injury that eventuality was shot down in flames by Wenger, and yet he still lacks game time, where he could be a useful asset as a back up for the nervous Danny Welbeck. When he was brought on at the Signal Iduna Park, Podolski had an opening but literally his first touch on the ball was poor and it got away from him. It was a clear indication of the lack of game time that the German had had. Not only that but the dent his confidence has suffered by his manager not believing in him. It is evident for all to see.
With Arsenal now down to the bare bones in defence withe the absence of Mathieu Debuchy Arsene Wenger has come in for a huge amount of stick after a loss in Germany which quite frankly was and could have been a humiliation. With Germans on cloud nine after finally regaining that World Cup after 24 years, it seems their winning mentality has not transferred domestically - at least, not in North London. Whilst the past months have been a fairytale for Deutschland and Vorsprung Durch Technik, for Arsene Wenger and Arsenal after ending their trophy drought, the preceding complacency that has followed in the squad threatens to turn into a nightmare. A nightmare which sadly, is all of Wenger's own doing and ultimately only he can u wake up from.
© e-Football 2014 All rights reserved no part of this document or this website may be reproduced without consent of e-Football
Follow e-Arsenal on Twitter!
As night becomes day, a certainty in any Arsenal season is that their long-serving manager, will be subject to criticism from all angles of the Gunner's fanbase. However in recent years, those critics have become ever more pointed in their reasoning for complaints. Not only have fingers been thrust in the same direction, but those circles have been increasing year on year as the Arsenal boss approaches his third decade at the helm.
After a largely successful transfer window for Wenger, coming off the back of a victorious World Cup campaign for his in-house Germans, the Gunners and indeed Wenger should be onto a good thing this campaign. Unfortunately after yet another shambolic, almost lazy away performance in Dortmund on Tuesday night, further questions have been posed with the blame aimed squarely at Wenger. But why is this?
The crux of the matter once again all comes down to a lack of any kind of defensive judgement, despite the now omnipresent figure of Steve Bould as Arsene Wenger's no.2. Arsenal's defence has always been a source of consternation amongst the Emirates faithful but that concern continues to grow and is seemingly never addressed at the root. After repeatedly stating he would add a defensive midfielder, once again Wenger failed to deliver and in doing so has seen Arsenal take a huge step back in progress. This affects all but the most keenly felt are messrs Mertesacker, Ozil and Podolski.
Arsene Wenger has never been a mastermind on the football field, let alone a tactician. He merely bought well and inherited a solid defensive unit in his early tenure at Highbury. Now, the North Londoner's lack of protection ahead of a shaky defence has already reared its' ugly head after just four league games and Tuesday's Champions League opener. Having missed out on Morgan Schneiderlin and William Carvalho - at least for the time being - Per Mertesacker's responsibility is even greater to be a reliable defender.
As we have seen in the embryonic stages of this season, that is simply not the case. Mertesacker now seems a liability. This writer's proviso pre-season was that Mertesacker could continue as first choice centre-back with Laurent Koscielny as long as there was a midfield guardian ahead of him. On a night where Arsenal's deficiencies were glaringly obvious, it was plain to see Mikel Arteta is not that individual. Far from it. But nor is Mathieu Flamini.
The big German's game is in decline and his pace non-existent but his game would suggest different, often venturing forward with gay abandon on a high back line, merely trotting back to aid his defence. Hasn't his manager spoke to him of this? Germany won the World Cup in the summer, but let us not forget Mertesacker was replaced by the more mobile Jerome Boateng after Die Mannschaft conceded two goals in a 2-2 draw with Ghana. Mertesacker didn't play again during his country's route to the final. I would put it to you that if Mertesacker had, Germany simply not lifted the Jules Rimet trophy back in July.
Mesut Ozil however, was present in all of Jogi Lowe's starting elevens in Brazil, yet is the greater conundrum. Since moving from Real Madrid last summer for £42m, Ozil's form has been plagued with inconsistencies. Since his debut versus Stoke last term - assisting on all three goals versus the Potters, Ozil has struggled to be the match winner that many expected. Other than a masterclass versus Napoli in the Champions League, the Turkish-born midfielder has become somewhat of an enigma on the football field.
With all that stipulated, Wenger refuses to play Ozil behind the striker and instead opts to shift him out onto the left as he often done in a 4-2-3-1 formation, with the lone striker and has played (and arguably ruined) Andriy Arshavin in a similar role. As documented - despite what the Frenchman may think, the Arsenal boss is no tactician and playing their record signing in a position he clearly does not suit is a real problem for the Gunners.
With all of Ozil's attacking exploits, one could forgive him to have a poor defensive side, but as those exploits seem a ong way off, his defensive frailties have come under the spotlight, most notably for Seamus Coleman's opening goal for Everton at Goodison Park and Martin Demichelis' equalising header versus City at the weekend. The Ozil to perform is becoming a burden, for which the buck must surely stop firmly at his managers feet.
In the case of Lukas Podolski. many expected the veteran striker to depart the club, but after Olivier Giroud's untimely injury that eventuality was shot down in flames by Wenger, and yet he still lacks game time, where he could be a useful asset as a back up for the nervous Danny Welbeck. When he was brought on at the Signal Iduna Park, Podolski had an opening but literally his first touch on the ball was poor and it got away from him. It was a clear indication of the lack of game time that the German had had. Not only that but the dent his confidence has suffered by his manager not believing in him. It is evident for all to see.
With Arsenal now down to the bare bones in defence withe the absence of Mathieu Debuchy Arsene Wenger has come in for a huge amount of stick after a loss in Germany which quite frankly was and could have been a humiliation. With Germans on cloud nine after finally regaining that World Cup after 24 years, it seems their winning mentality has not transferred domestically - at least, not in North London. Whilst the past months have been a fairytale for Deutschland and Vorsprung Durch Technik, for Arsene Wenger and Arsenal after ending their trophy drought, the preceding complacency that has followed in the squad threatens to turn into a nightmare. A nightmare which sadly, is all of Wenger's own doing and ultimately only he can u wake up from.
© e-Football 2014 All rights reserved no part of this document or this website may be reproduced without consent of e-Football
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