Arsene Wenger holds the fate of England on his shoulders, we should be worried

There is a belief that Arsene Wenger develops and nurtures talent better than anyone else. Ask some Arsenal fans if this is true and many would agree, however ask them if this policy has achieved success and they will find it hard to argue that it has not. There is a belief that before Wenger came to these shores, young players weren’t being developed, methods on training and nutrition were non-existent and foreign players did not grace our English game. All these are fallacies perpetuated by the pro-Wenger media who have built up this manager as a prophet instead of a good manager.

Wenger was very successful in his opening years at Arsenal, he won the league and FA Cup and looked to be the man to knock Ferguson off his spot. Why was Wenger so good then, his methods apparently helped and Adams testifies to Wenger prolonging his career. However, what was key was what we inherited; a back four and GK drilled to perfection in the art of defending. Understanding, trust and bravery are key aspects of being a defender in the English league and Arsenal possessed that. Wenger bought very well also in his early years, with his understanding of the youth in France he managed to pick up players who had lost their way in Italy in Henry and Vieria and and was very fortunate that Bruce Ricoh had purchased a real master in Bergkamp. Wenger had the pieces to his puzzle in place and he was successful.

When he began losing these pieces his philosophy changed along with it, perhaps his vision was in line with Barcelona today, however he lacked the understanding of what makes Barcelona so good. He invested all into youth, completely disregarding the over 30’s of who had experience, knowledge and pedigree in winning, competing and fighting. The English league is a tough place, where physicality is a major component, it resembles our culture of hard work and grit. Spain resembles it’s culture as Brasil does. We cannot create this culture, it is ingrained. Ferguson knows this, and thus will continue with his older players as they know what it is like, they can be trusted, they can help the young players. When Hansen said “you won’ win anything with youth” he was right. You can’t win solely with youth, Ferguson didn’t, he had a mix. And this is the key.

Wenger has continued on his path of youth only development for the past 6 years. Not rarely buying a player over 25 and mostly under 21. His team has always been touted as young and we have been led to believe that give them time and they will be great. This has proved false. Wenger has failed in philosophy because he has forgotten the vital ingredient, experience. Without it, who will a player learn from? When things are tough, where is the experience to help weather the storm? Barcelona have mixed youth with experience and have been successful. Fabregas is an excellent example; captain of Arsenal at 24, arguably one of the most experienced players in the team. Yet he stagnated, he became burdened, no one was able to help him. He now looks the player we all thought he was going to be, why? Because he is surrounded by quality and experience, he can learn from Xavi, Iniesta and Guardiola and link up with Messi; world class needs world class.

And this brings me to my belief that Wenger holds England’s success in his hands. Alex Oxlade Chamberlain has shown glimpses of being something very special so far. He is young and yet possesses a great intelligence and understanding accompanied by technical brilliance and speed. He appears to have it all, yet does he have a manager and a team who can help progress further? Messi did, Ronaldo and Rooney did. Yet I look at Arsenal and I worry, Walcott has not become the player we thought, is this because of Wenger, I believe so. Aaron Ramsay rejected United and went to Arsenal, I believe he made an error. He could have learnt from Scholes and Giggs and being part of a winning team, learning about success. Arsenal offered 1^st team football but they couldn’t offer him education, because this requires experience. So Arsenal now have Wilshere and Chamberlain, players who could be key to England being successful and yet are they in the right hands? Can we really trust Wenger to nurture our talent? I am not convinced.