Earlier this week it was announced that Arsenal could be in the market for a defensive coach, which lead to a mass twitter fest of who the man for the job could be – the likes of Steve Bould, Tony Adams and Martin Keown have been touted for the position.
Arsene Wenger has other ideas however and has moved to dismiss the rumours. When asked about a defensive coach coming in, the Frenchman said:
‘I have just completed 30 years of coaching, I don’t want to answer this kind of question.’
It appears to me that Wenger wants to be in control of coaching his players and feels that he doesn’t need, or want someone coming in to take credit. It could however just be that Wenger doesn’t want to discuss the situation and feels the club do not need a new member of staff. However, I agree that it is more than likely that he is extremely annoyed at the suggestion of someone coming in.
While I would welcome a defensive coach coming in, I feel it would need to be someone who was able to work with Wenger. I do feel something needs to be done about our defence and maybe a new defensive coach is the way forward.
Wenger was recently given support from Ivan Gazidis, claiming his position at the club was secure. After hearing this, Wenger said:
‘Whether I work for the next 10 years or the next day I will give my maximum for the club and let others focus on the situation. I am completely focused on doing well. I can understand that people are unhappy and criticise but I know people are quick to go overboard.’
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Fool old fart! The only great defence he has had is the one he inherited.He has not got a clue how to build a decent defence…Squilaci Silvestre Djourou Koscielny….Bolton will prove him wrong , once again!!!
I don’t know about the Bolton match but I have no doubt that :
> We won trophies under Wenger in the earlier years because he inherited the old Arsenal back four plus Seaman. And then recruited top defenders like Sol Campbell for the 2nd great Wenger team.
> Arsenal under Wenger have developed hardly any really good defenders and has had no solid defence for several years.
But of course … ” I will nevere abandon my attacking principles ” (!!!)
The whole team out there on the pitch fails to defend properly when the oppo. have the ball .. whether at set pieces or open play. Too often when we attack and lose possession we are all over the place with no shape left and badly open to counter attack.
For this one can only blame Wenger who is totally set in his ways and will allow nobody on the coaching staff (eg. Adams or Keown) the freedom to make the essential changes.
It makes me sick. Yes he has done a lot for the club but he has run out of road and has nobody but himself to blame. As the ex players say … he is a good Manager but no Coach.
This is the main reason why the defensive maladies have persisted for so long despite a zchange in personnel. A much celebrated manager who has grown bigger than his shoes never ever willing to listen to anybody because “Arsene knows best”. For me I feel sad that behaves like that. A little modesty would be great