Wenger Continues To Gamble Arsenal’s Future

Is he the greatest manager in the club’s history? Yes, he definitely is. He certainly can look back on a good number of years in which the club did so well under his tutelage, but all that is in the past now as those years filled with trophy-laden glory have been replaced in more recent times by a six season drought of trophies, thanks to Mr. Wenger’s stubbornness in sticking to his youth policy.

Not only is Wenger stubborn, he is perhaps the biggest gambler in football, as evident in his refusal to buy a defender during the January transfer window last season, even when it was becoming clear that TV5’s injury then would keep the Belgian international out for virtually the whole of 2010/11.

Rather, Wenger kept his faith on a leaking backline with the likes of Sebastien Squillaci just as having to watch such players as Nicklas Bendtner, Abou Diaby, Marouane Chamakh, Manuel Almunia and even Swiss defender Johan Djourou wear the Arsenal jersey was frustrating. These players never should have come anywhere close to the red and white of the Gunners, let alone wear it and worse yet, play in it at the heart of the club’s defence.

This makes me wonder what it would be like if the squad that made up the legendary ‘Invincibles’ played against the current squad, perhaps a 5-0 demolition of the current squad with Thierry Henry getting past Squillaci with great ease and Dennis Bergkamp using his sultry skills to leave Djourou helpless in his wake. And it would be unimaginable to see either of Chamakh or Bendtner get past Tony Adam or Martin Keown or even Sol Campbell; who had two spells with us.

Yet in all this, Wenger has forged ahead with his gambling by letting Gael Clichy go to Manchester City, without getting a replacement that’s better than the Frenchman and by the look of things in the transfer market, he may not be getting one before the season starts in a few weeks time.

The pre-season match at FC Cologne made me realize what a mess that side of Arsenal’s defence would be should Kieran Gibbs be our starting left-back in the coming season as the young English international was found wanting on numerous occasions where he failed to do his primary job as a defender, mostly after his forays forward.

I cannot make clearly enough the horror that awaits if he is to face the likes of Gareth Bale, Antonio Valencia, Nani and Aaron Lennon among a host of others in the fast, physical nature of the English Premier League.

Hopefully not you say? I wish I could share your optimism but it’s the grim state of things. In my opinion, Wenger must stop gambling or else the trophy drought will continue.

What do you think? Am I the only one that thinks so?

Submitted by www.o-posts.net