Saukrates
09 Dec 2004, 10:39 PM
Wenger Is No Genius
To the lad who wrote in yesterday and the media in general who think Arsene Wenger is a genius in the transfer market. Can we not bin this ridiculous notion once and for all? People are acting as if he's assembled a rag-bag outfit of complete unknowns that have shocked the world and become the best team on the planet (curiously without ever coming within a country mile of winning the European Cup).
Vieira and Henry were in the reserves at AC Milan and Juventus respectively - gee, what could they have been doing at those clubs? The word was out on them years ago and although Paddy went for a knock down, 'Terry' cost the club millions, which everyone conveniently forgets. Why would Juventus let him go? Had they spotted even at that tender age that he vanishes quicker than a fart in space whenever there's a big game on?
Robert Pires had been in France's World Cup winning squad, not to mention the subject of a very high-profile transfer from Metz to Marseille before Wenger signed him. Gilberto Silva (who no Arsenal fans seem to rate because he doesn't back-heel it all the time) was fresh from winning a World Cup for God's sake. And they were able to indulge Sol Campbell's wage demands because they got him on a free after he knifed the club he'd been with all his life square in the back.
Go back even further, Emmanuel Petit was an incumbent France international when they signed him and Marc Overmars had starred in the European Cup with Ajax and at the World Cup with Holland - remember him doing Des Walker like the proverbial kipper in the qualifiers? Just how does Wenger find out about these unknowns? If being a genius in the transfer market requires reading World Soccer and (back in the day) watching the odd episode of Gazzetta, a few million of us can claim the same thing.
There have obviously been successes - signing Anelka and then offloading the miserable get when he thought he was too good for all this (look at him now!); Edu, who probably wasn't very well known in his own house at the time; and Freddie Ljungberg, yet even this was a couple of weeks after he'd made England look stupid in a Euro 2000 qualifier in the last desperate moments of Glenn Hoddle's reign.
However, that can be qualified with the following words - Wreh, Grimandi, Cygan, Toure, Lauren, Manninger, Lehmann, Suker, Luhzny, Stepanovs, Kanu, Wiltord, Jeffers etc. and so on. Doesn't look so much of a genius now, does he?
Arsenal shouldn't complain about the size of their squad, being based in London they have a massive advantage over most Premiership teams. I wouldn't live there for all the gravy in Manchester, but it does attract people from overseas in particular, especially if they have pockets full of disposable cash like footballers.
The main reason for this assumed genius seems to be the current crop of Arsenal young players who had a run-out in the Carling Cup until they were given a stiff what-for by United's Pontins League team. By definition over half of those kids will never make the grade, and it's too early to judge on fringe players like Flamini, Fabregas and Van Persie.
Even Reyes still has a hell of a lot to prove, especially with that albatross of a transfer fee hovering over him. Yes they had the odd good game at the start of the season but that doesn't make them great players, and it certainly doesn't make Wenger a genius. Something like adequately replacing the back four he inherited and emulating George Graham with success in Europe would strengthen his case, not his reserves beating Man City and Everton.
Mike Gibbons, Manchester
I scooped this from the mailbox of one of the soccer sites that I frequently look at and it just really made my day,it had me laughing all morning long,how does,Toure,Lauren and Girmandi with his very limited abilities be a bust
To the lad who wrote in yesterday and the media in general who think Arsene Wenger is a genius in the transfer market. Can we not bin this ridiculous notion once and for all? People are acting as if he's assembled a rag-bag outfit of complete unknowns that have shocked the world and become the best team on the planet (curiously without ever coming within a country mile of winning the European Cup).
Vieira and Henry were in the reserves at AC Milan and Juventus respectively - gee, what could they have been doing at those clubs? The word was out on them years ago and although Paddy went for a knock down, 'Terry' cost the club millions, which everyone conveniently forgets. Why would Juventus let him go? Had they spotted even at that tender age that he vanishes quicker than a fart in space whenever there's a big game on?
Robert Pires had been in France's World Cup winning squad, not to mention the subject of a very high-profile transfer from Metz to Marseille before Wenger signed him. Gilberto Silva (who no Arsenal fans seem to rate because he doesn't back-heel it all the time) was fresh from winning a World Cup for God's sake. And they were able to indulge Sol Campbell's wage demands because they got him on a free after he knifed the club he'd been with all his life square in the back.
Go back even further, Emmanuel Petit was an incumbent France international when they signed him and Marc Overmars had starred in the European Cup with Ajax and at the World Cup with Holland - remember him doing Des Walker like the proverbial kipper in the qualifiers? Just how does Wenger find out about these unknowns? If being a genius in the transfer market requires reading World Soccer and (back in the day) watching the odd episode of Gazzetta, a few million of us can claim the same thing.
There have obviously been successes - signing Anelka and then offloading the miserable get when he thought he was too good for all this (look at him now!); Edu, who probably wasn't very well known in his own house at the time; and Freddie Ljungberg, yet even this was a couple of weeks after he'd made England look stupid in a Euro 2000 qualifier in the last desperate moments of Glenn Hoddle's reign.
However, that can be qualified with the following words - Wreh, Grimandi, Cygan, Toure, Lauren, Manninger, Lehmann, Suker, Luhzny, Stepanovs, Kanu, Wiltord, Jeffers etc. and so on. Doesn't look so much of a genius now, does he?
Arsenal shouldn't complain about the size of their squad, being based in London they have a massive advantage over most Premiership teams. I wouldn't live there for all the gravy in Manchester, but it does attract people from overseas in particular, especially if they have pockets full of disposable cash like footballers.
The main reason for this assumed genius seems to be the current crop of Arsenal young players who had a run-out in the Carling Cup until they were given a stiff what-for by United's Pontins League team. By definition over half of those kids will never make the grade, and it's too early to judge on fringe players like Flamini, Fabregas and Van Persie.
Even Reyes still has a hell of a lot to prove, especially with that albatross of a transfer fee hovering over him. Yes they had the odd good game at the start of the season but that doesn't make them great players, and it certainly doesn't make Wenger a genius. Something like adequately replacing the back four he inherited and emulating George Graham with success in Europe would strengthen his case, not his reserves beating Man City and Everton.
Mike Gibbons, Manchester
I scooped this from the mailbox of one of the soccer sites that I frequently look at and it just really made my day,it had me laughing all morning long,how does,Toure,Lauren and Girmandi with his very limited abilities be a bust