Highbury House

While things are relatively quiet and before the big news were all expecting is announced, I wanted to run this past you to see if this make sense to you all?

I have been thinking quite a lot about our football team and have tried to look at as many angles as I can, hoping to find what will turn us into Champions.

No matter where I look, I keep coming back to the same old question in my mind:

Is Arsene Wenger a genius or has he passed his sell by date with Arsenal?

I can almost hear some of you laugh out loud at that comment as most supporters are giving him just one more year to make it work.

The mood of the fans has definately shifted over the last six years as we have failed to add to our Trophy Cabinet, the last season being the most frustrating having lost out yet again in the last few months of the season.

The youth program that Wenger put into place, is it working?

Without going into all of their activities, has it been a worthwhile system for him to have adopted?

I look at players like Fabregas, Djourou, Wilshere, Ramsey and many more that Wenger has installed and brought them into the first team and in all honesty the players coming through are pretty impressive, so much so I am surprised we are actually in the market for new experienced players.

Most supporters don’t see a good player until his worth is round the twenty million mark, some are calling for four signings, others for more  but I have a different view which I will explain later.

My view is that the youth program is working well but it should be producing more players, more often!

Wenger has a knack for finding young talent and  bringing them through slowly and in the majority they improve with us, so in my eyes it has worked and I believe it will keep on working.

Our managers job is to find talent, mould them into a winning formula and put titles and trophies in the Arsenal cabinet.

He also needs to know how other teams are getting in our faces, understand how they have found a way to play against us and turn us over and put a stop to it!

He hasn’t and that has freaked us out, to actually realise that this is happening and we have no answer to it , well, no wonder our self-confidence is shot to pieces.

This is a major Wenger failure in my opinion.

I need to sort out this defence area, where's Keown??

Ask most supporters the question, have we got a team that can beat anyone on its day, most would answer yes wouldn’t they?

But, then ask them how many new players we need, and most would say almost half a team, am I right?

So what is wrong that Wenger, what is he struggling to cure?

When you look around at successful teams yes we have to look at Manchester United, a club that is not a million miles better than us, it has to be said.

But why when they sell a player, lets say Ronaldo, they can ask for £80/90 Million? Why when Rooney was holding out from signing his new contract figures of the same amount was being bandied about but when it comes to us, our best players like Cesc and Nasri barely make the £30/40 Million?

Right now we are now getting annoyed with these players because of frustration and many supporters are saying if they want to go let them. I haven’t heard any of them say they want to leave and at that estimated price no way.

Is Torres worth £50 Million, would you say he is a better player than Cesc Robin or Nasri, has he proved he is worth that amount since his move?

Of course not.

Our players are no worse than the others. United we have beaten them, Chelsea, and Barcelona too. We must ask the same prices if buyers come in, if they wont pay they can’t have them, Another mistake by Wenger.

So, we have established that our team is as good as anybody elses but why are we not winning things? What is the problem that Wenger cannot cure right now?

Please don’t tell me we need four or five players because we don’t, what we need is to make what we have into winners and that comes down to the coaching.

The players have the talent, they proved that against Barcelona, they defended as a group and held out very well. Over the two games we played them, we had a win and a loss. They are labelled as the best team in the world but we beat them.

They have great play makers,  they play keep ball very well, that’s why every team they play are chasing around but we were leading the tie until the referee gifted them by sending off our main man – regardless, we still held our own and but for Nikki……

Our players are not bad players but because we crumbled at the end of the season and that has to be down to the coaching. When teams like Bolton and Blackburn found a way to beat us, we didn’t do anything about it.

Why? Because we have no defensive coach that’s why!

There is  simple cure and why can’t Wenger see it I don’t know, after all, he is the genius,  not me!

No coaching drills makes for these mistakes, you will not rectify this without strict disciplined defensive coaching. As a problem comes up it should be corrected immediately coaching is needed constantly, drills practised until you all move like a shoal of fish, a strict strong solid disciplined defence will win you titles make no mistake.

Our forward play stops at the eighteen yard line, then the ball is passed back or sideways until we lose it why, because we have run out of idea’s, coaching instills idea’s confidence and technique, practice makes these moves silky smooth, and ultimately gives results.

Same can be said about our attacking free kicks, every one we take is identical to the last and nearly always the same result, in the stand! Either that of we just pass it to a player five yards away and gain nothing…

It’s a plain fact that Champion Boxers do not win titles on talent alone, coaching shows them how to win. Even in horse racing, the horses need coaching maybe slightly different but it’s up to the coach to prepare the horse so it can win. Cricketers, tennis players in fact every sportsman or woman needs a great coach to cure their vulnerabilities and help them become winners.

A good manager, even a genius cannot do everything and Wenger needs to understand this. Everybody learns something new every day and untill Wenger takes heed we will struggle.

Buying new players may be a quick fix but without the much-needed coaching, we will continue in the same old way – the sideways passing, the over passing and the lack of shooting on sight. We will no doubt also continue to give away silly goals from set pieces and the like….

Arsene Wenger wants to do it all but a true genius would know that you need others to help out with new ideas and different approaches to the game, maybe then we will start to overcome our current frailties and finally become winners again…

Newcastle is our first fixture next season, followed by Liverpool at home then the Mancs at Old Trafford – August could be the month to show we have rectified all that has been wrong and get off to a great start in the league….

Written by Steve Palmer