Premier League - Wenger's ageism costly

Eurosport - Thu, 07 May 13:44:00 2009

In his 12-and-a-half years at Arsenal, Arsene Wenger has seen almost everything.

Arsene Wenger - 0

Along the way to completely rejuvenating the North London club from top to bottom, Wenger has captured two league and cup doubles, reached the club's first European Cup final and completed an entire league campaign unbeaten.

One thing he had not experienced until recently, however, was the handful of fans calling for him to leave the Emirates Stadium.

Such deluded demands are well wide of the mark; disgruntled Gooners might like to ponder the 21-game unbeaten run in the Premier League. But Tuesday's humiliating home defeat to Manchester United in the Champions League has condemned Arsenal to at least five trophyless years, something the fans are not used to.

The French coach now faces the realisation that he must reinvent himself as much as he reinvented the club he has come to define if he is to drag them back to the top.

For years he has justified his heavy reliance on young players by insisting that - with the Emirates being built and Highbury yet to be sold - he does not have the transfer budget to compete with the other big clubs, despite club chief Peter Hill-Wood repeatedly declaring that the money is there to spend if he so wished.

However honorable Wenger's intentions in refusing to commit the club to the kind of 'financial doping' that has left Manchester United, Liverpool and Chelsea saddled with huge debts, the simple fact is that the Gunners have more often than not been left struggling to keep up rather than setting the pace.

A lot has been made of Arsene's Junior Gunners' weakness, but Wenger's insistence on marginalising players once they turn 30 is just as significant.

While Arsenal have five players born in the 1990s on their books, of the first-team squad only goalkeeper Manuel Almunia and defenders William Gallas and Mikael Silvestre - both unwanted by their rivals - can look back on their 20s.

Compare that with Chelsea who, with more than twice as many over-30s in their squad, are third in the league with one major final confirmed and another pending. Even his supposed nemesis, Alex Ferguson, still feels comfortable enough to field senior players like Paul Scholes and Ryan Giggs, to the point where this season the former passed the 600-match mark and the latter notched up 800 and was named PFA Player of the Year.

Robert Pires was forced to leave to find for job security than the one-year rolling contract on offer in North London, and he and Thierry Henry continue to perform at the highest level in Spain, while the midfield struggles of Denilson and Alex Song show that Patrick Vieira, sold to Juventus in 2005, is still missed.

If nothing else, the presence of Pires at London Colney would hugely benefit the likes of Samir Nasri and Theo Walcott, while Henry's haul of goals in La Liga this season is equal the combined total of Robin van Persie and Emmanuel Adebayor.

That is not to say that Wenger's youth policy has not reaped its rewards. Cesc Fabregas is one of the most highly-coveted midfielders in the game, and a great deal of the future of the England team rests on Walcott's shoulders, but the balance is all too often skewed towards emerging rather than established talent.

The jackpots that the club have hit with the big-money sales of Nicolas Anelka (£23 million), Marc Overmars and Emmanuel Petit (a combined £30m) and most recently Alexandr Hleb (a mind-boggling £11.8m) have not nearly been matched in the opposite direction.

Even the signing of Andrei Arshavin would not have happened had the Russian not flown himself in to complete the deal.

The Premier League, and football in general, has much to thank Wenger for, but unless he makes his peace with the financial realities of the game as it is now, he may never lift any silverware at his team's shiny new home.

Tony Mabert / Eurosport

Comment 243 - 262 of 262

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  1. 257 you have very good point but we still need to spend­ big to do well

    From lubov, on Mon 13 Jul 3:37PM

  2. if only wenger looked beyond his motherland.. France..

    From Kennedy, on Mon 11 May 2:03PM

  3. we don't wanna hear from the man u fans and good­ point comment 261

    From famrich5, on Sat 9 May 6:38PM

  4. I think Riosicky, Eduardo, Arshavin, Van Persie and­ Fabregas is sufficient experience to add to Nasri,­ Walcott, Song and Denilson for us to pose a serious­ threat to any team in the world. We jus need a reliable­ and exsperienced defender.

    From Damion, on Sat 9 May 5:10PM

  5. Put Wenger in the boardroom and get a new manager­ endof.!!!

    From pensink358, on Sat 9 May 12:16PM

  6. All this is really LAZY JOURNALISM. When you say­ ageism, did Arsenal ever make the Champions League­ semifinal when they played with 'older' teams­ like those of Tony Adams, Keown, Vieira, etc? Arsenal­ have NEVER been prolific at the Champions League or­ European Cup. If anything, the current teams of youth­ have gone farther than their predecessors, reaching the­ final in 06 and semifinal in 09. Better analysis of­ Arsenal's European failings, please! Would Pires­ have still been in Arsenal's first team, if­ he'd stayed? NO. Why didn't you mention­ Ljunberg as well - as a player Arsenal should have kept­ so that it has 'experience'? Or Lauren? Or­ Sol Campbell? Or Kanu? Or Bergkamp? Now you see what­ I mean? LAZY LAZY ANALYSIS

    From Peter Ntephe, on Sat 9 May 5:29AM

  7. Monsieur Wenger is very stuborn like most frenchman, he­ doesn't want to spend money like the other top 3 or­ tottenham and man city (big spenders, low achievers).­ but i hope that after seeing the effect that a player­ like Arshavin brought to the team (he came to form and­ took the team with him) can be very positive, taking­ pressure of the youngsters. and decide to spend on a­ good central defender like Vidic or Terry, well made in­ that mold, Buy back Flamini. And next season we will­ see Chelsea fall to piece (getting on the old side) Man­ U, no motivation after winning twice the PL in a row.­ our only adversary would be liverpool but they got Rafa­ as a manager so no luck there. and will win something­ :-)

    From lazygooner, on Sat 9 May 12:14AM

  8. Who is suggesting the board should sack wenger?. Do you­ sack who is lining your pocket with pounds and­ increases your bank balances. The board are laughing to­ the bank it is the fans that suffer it like the poor­ guy from kenya who commit suicide. The only time the­ board can think of that is when they fail for no 4 on­ the table.

    From dapfash, on Fri 8 May 7:57PM

  9. arsene wenger need to buy strong players especially­ defence because his young lads always lost possession­ and back is often very vunerable most of the time.­ Arsenal football club is great but we need some success­ and rewards, we want arsenal to win something. But to­ win, you need strong and experienced players. If you do­ not spend money, the likes of fabregas, vanpersie etc­ may decide to leave arsenal football club.
    Please,­ please, please buy more players.
    anon

    From mojisola, on Fri 8 May 5:00PM

  10. WENGER is not one of the best managers in the­ world!!Rather He is THE BEST of the best­ managers!!!Semi final of CL and being the forth in­ PL!No other manager can achieve that with those­ kids!Just wait and see what's goin to happen next­ season!
    WENGER WENGER WENGER THE BEST FOR ALL THE­ TIME!!

    From Wellars S, on Fri 8 May 4:13PM

  11. Wenger is a great manager no question about it.
    But all­ managers get things wrong at times. The problem with­ Wenger is that when he gets something wrong, he gets it­ horribly wrong.
    His other problem is that instead of­ admitting his own misktakes he will look elswhere to­ put the blame, that be it the pitch, or aggresive play­ from the opponents or the ref, Wenger loves­ complaining.
    Wenger got it horribly wrong, selling the­ likes of Pires,Anelka,Henry, and he never made up for­ it. You need players like them in the squad,it doesnt­ matter if they dont play every minute of the match,­ their experience and knowledge can be of tremmendous­ help to the team and a great influence for the­ youngsters.
    Man.U fan

    From landdweller82, on Fri 8 May 3:30PM

  12. craigcowan69 = di_ck head

    From Hooftheballupfield, on Fri 8 May 1:59PM

  13. All these great players Arsene should go out and buy-­ who are they, are they available,would they come to­ Arsenal and could we afford the transfer fee plus their­ massive wage costs?.Arsene has made some strange­ decisions over the years and some of the young players­ who showed real potential when first introduced 2­ seasons ago have not developed in the way either we or­ the manager would have hoped.Injuries to key players­ throughout the season has not helped,which again­ exposed the deficiencies of the squad-no­ Tevez,Giggs,Scholes or Berbatov to pull out of the hat­ when injuries occur or when things are going wrong.The­ purchases of Nasri,Arshavin and Eduardo has been a step­ in the right direction and maybe with a bit of shrewd­ selling and buying we might somehow pick up 2 or 3 of­ the more physical and technically skilled players that­ the squad needs.Like all Arsenal fans i am disappointed­ that we have not actually won a trophy this year but­ when you actually look at the team sheets that we have­ put out this this year the team has performed 'well­ above it's punching weight'.A fit squad, a few­ new players and the continuing development of­ Ramsey,Gibbs,Wiltshere et.al and who knows maybe next­ year Arsene will finally get the reward that this man­ ,of the very highest integrity, deserves.If it­ doesn't happen then i think that it will he himself­ who will call time on his managerial position rather­ than the club on him.I dread to think what will happen­ then. 'GUNNER BILL'

    From WM, on Fri 8 May 1:40PM

  14. I can not see this obsession with a trophy !its not­ like its worth anything !The fact The Arsenal have­ never been out of top flight football and are­ financially secure and play watchable football and­ offer a glimse of brilliance is that not enough!look at­ it another way Arsenal are always there in top 4 and­ they worry everyone else so hey keep the tin pots It­ consistency that counts

    Ps Sell That clown Adeybayour­ waste of space lazy great lump

    From gunnerman&boy, on Fri 8 May 9:02AM

  15. "why not sack him and get years of instability,now­ that makes sense"wenger is 1st class staying in­ the premiership is always the priority of any­ manager,cups and trophies will always be a­ lottery".

    From farsical, on Fri 8 May 5:39AM

  16. "why not sack him and get years of instability,now­ that makes sense"wenger is 1st class staying in­ the premiership is always the priority of any­ manager,cups and trophies will always be a­ lottery".

    From farsical, on Fri 8 May 5:33AM

  17. Wenger is a great manager no doubt about that but i­ want him to understand something that the key to­ success is consistency, if you are not consistent­ success is far from you. we all saw how good the team­ was last season how. wenger should have done every­ thing to keep flamini and hleb. my opinion is arsene­ should buy strikers who can do it alone i mean striker­ that can drive the ball, score at all chance he has­ also a reliable mid-fielder like reo coker, barry or­ alonso, rather relying on song and denilson finally two­ reliable defendes SHERIFF FROM NIGERIA

    From olorunosebi, on Thu 7 May 11:50PM

  18. Wenger is a great manager no doubt about that but i­ want him to understand something that the key to­ success is consistency, if you are not consistent­ success is far from you. we all saw how good the team­ was last season how. wenger should have done every­ thing to keep flamini and hleb. my opinion is arsene­ should buy strikers who can do it alone i mean striker­ that can drive the ball, score at all chance he has­ also a reliable mid-fielder like reo coker, barry or­ alonso, rather relying on song and denilson finally two­ reliable defendes SHERIFF FROM NIGERIA

    From segunakinola, on Thu 7 May 11:05PM

  19. Wenger is a great manager no doubt about that but i­ want him to understand something that the key to­ success is consistency, if you are not consistent­ success is far from you. we all saw how good the team­ was last season how. wenger should have done every­ thing to keep flamini and hleb. my opinion is arsene­ should buy strikers who can do it alone i mean striker­ that can drive the ball, score at all chance he has­ also a reliable mid-fielder like reo coker, barry or­ alonso, rather relying on song and denilson finally two­ reliable defendes

    From segunakinola, on Thu 7 May 11:04PM

  20. we need some good strong (not necessarily big-­ considering nasri, arshavin, walcott, fabregas) players­ to get this team to the top. I will never stop­ believing. We can win this. Prove the media wrong- we­ need trophies!!

    From famrich5, on Thu 7 May 6:15PM
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