Wenger worried Chelsea success could damage football

[davieG]

Quote

 

Date published: Wednesday 10th May 2017 10:50

Arsene Wenger believes football might have to “rethink the whole process” if clubs who do not dominate possession continue to succeed.

Following Leicester’s remarkable Premier League title victory last season, Chelsea are on the verge of winning their second top-flight crown in three years.

Both sides have adopted a counter-attacking style, with more possession-oriented sides such as Arsenal and Manchester City struggling in the meantime.

Wenger fears that this change in approach must be addressed as teams should be “encouraged” to play more.

“Over the last two seasons, teams who have not big possession have won the league,” Wenger said. “And, as well, teams who were not involved in Europe, at all, won the league. Because the league is so physically difficult, maybe it is very difficult to cope with both. We will see how Chelsea respond next season.

“Are teams who are not making the game doing well? Yes. When we analyse it in Geneva [at coaching conferences], we always analyse the Champions League and I must say, in some seasons, the team who had low possession won the Champions League. Over a longer period, it is the teams who have the most possession who win it.

“I still think sport has to encourage initiative and, if it rewards too much teams who don’t take initiative, then we have to rethink the whole process because people will not, forever, come to watch teams who do not want to take the initiative. The responsibility of people who make the rules is always to encourage teams who want to play, because that is what you want to see.

“I am convinced you still need to have the ball to create goal chances and that you cannot encourage, as well, youth teams to say: ‘We do not want the ball’,” Wenger said. “You cannot buy big players and say: ‘We do not want the ball’. Big players want the ball.”

 

http://www.football365.com/news/wenger-worried-chelsea-success-could-damage-football

 

[DJ Barry Hammond]

 

The intiative is using another teams strengh as their weakness. 

 

I understand the point Wenger is trying to make (if both teams sat back waiting for the other to counter, the game loses overall), but he's not made it very well and he'd do better concentrating on his own teams failings and learning from others successes.

 

Twat! 

[Lovejoy]

Boo fcuking hoo. Wenger needs to do one. This is a pathetic attempt to cover up how he has failed to adapt as a manager over the past decade.

 

It's also worth noting that supporters of Leicester, Chelsea and the like don't seem to be moaning about the brand of counter attacking football they're "subjected" to. Yet I'm always hearing Arsenal and City fan moaning about their lack of cutting edge or overplaying in the final third.

[foxy boxing]

Wenger is always moaning how other managers play the game and how teams are set up against him. as a manager you have to have more than one way to win a game. it is not just about having the ball and attacking with as many players as possible as he seems to want but also about stopping the opposition and stifling them and to use your own team strengths as best you can. if you haven't got great attacking players then you use what you have to the best of their abilities and defending itself is an artform albeit not as exciting as attacking football.

[davieG]

It's all about balance no one wants to see a team endlessly passing it across the back four / midfield and no one wants to see bus parking coupled with hoofing.

 

If teams played to get the ball forward asap through either direct forward interplay or by measured longer balls to the AM / strikers then you'd end up with a decent entertaining end to end football.

 

I love to see decent interplay but it's got to be with the serious intent of getting the ball forward quickly.

 

I'd much rather watch 2 Chelsea type teams playing each other than 2 Arsenals.

[TheUltimateWinner]

Football evolves, the way you play football evolves, just look at some of the classic formations that used to be played, there was a time when most teams played with only two defenders!

 

Nothings wrong with football, the problem is he can't keep up with the changes and is being outshone by more adaptable managers.

[Captain...]

What a tit!

 

He showed the best way to counter counter attacking football last season at the King Power in the incredible 5-2 game where it was like a basketball game at times and thoroughly entertaining despite us conceding 5.

 

If a counter attacking team attacks they attack quickly in numbers and leave space at the back, but if the other teams win possession and then fanny about with it the counter attacking team has time to reset.

 

Think back to last season, when we would have 3 players on the halfway line "defending" a corner, it is risky, but the rewards outweigh the risk especially when you are Leicester. Counter attacking football has been around forever and comes in and out of fashion, it is not the end of football, and he is an idiot if he thinks people don't want to see 2 teams counter ATTACKING, because at least you see attacking intent.

 

Nowadays how many "possession" teams pass the ball out from a goal kick, great you can pass it about at the back for a bit, but at some point you have to play a risk pass so why waste 10 minutes when you can lob up a fifty/fifty ball deep into the opposition territory safe in the knowledge that if you do lose the ball, then they can't hurt you as they need to pass sideways 5 times before playing a forwards ball.

[davieG]

It was traditionally a very attacking oriented formation

 

GK

LB CB RB

LH RH

LW IL CF IF RW

 

Seems to me a current 343 is fairly similar to that old formation especially if the 2 wide midfielders venture forwards.

[lgfualol]

Get with the times Grandpa

[davieG]

Just now, lgfualol said:

Get with the times Grandpa

Is that aimed at me 

[Dan]

This is a nutshell is why Wenger is getting left behind. Style of football evolves. There's nothing damaging about that.

[gerrytaggart]

Wenger has become a joke over the last few years...shame really because he was once a great manager.

Too much moaning and blaming outside factors to be taken seriously any more.

 

 

[lgfualol]

9 minutes ago, davieG said:

Is that aimed at me 

No 

[murphy]

Wenger should be more worried that his failure is damaging Arsenal.

[Sol thewall Bamba]

Wenger is a loser in every sense of the word. 

[ealingfox]

The silly old prat is really getting on my wick now. He's an embarrassment these days.

 

Really sad to see that someone who should still be a figure of huge magnitude in the English game has gradually reduced himself to a comedy figure synonymous with failure. And that he has brought on himself through stubborness, arrogance and tunnel vision.

 

He's a bigger man than Mourinho but let's face it, Mourinho has been spot on in labelling him a small-time loser over the years.

 

I remember people on here disagreeing with me when I said before the start of last season that he wasn't a good enough manager to win the league any more. I wonder if they still disagree.

 

What is he even suggesting here? We all know by 'taking the initiative' he means having more possession. Extra point for having over 50%? It's nonsense in so many ways.

 

It says it all that Spurs and Arsenal seem to be the only two clubs that give a toss about this sort of thing. They really are more alike than they know. Loser clubs. Imagine saying only one team tried to win a game when your opposition has actually won it.

[VLC86]

He's an absolute dinosaur and a parody of himself. Blind to the fact that his style has failed them for ages, bizarre.

[Arriba Los Zorros]

I understand what he's saying, but it's up to him and other top managers to come up with a system that nullifies counter attacking.

 

At one point the style of Spain / Barcelona looked impregnable but it is know fairly well-known how to stop them. The same can surely apply to counter attacking.

 

If he's talking about purely defensive teams doing better without entertaining, well that's just not true, as you do still need to attack to win games.

 

Atlético are a strong case in point, defensive-minded yes, cynical at times, but they do (usually) go out to win games and win most games through finding other ways to win than passing through the eye of a needle.

[TrentFox]

The most over-complicated thread ever? Surely elite sport is about winning? Doing whatever you have to do, within the confines of the laws, to achieve that outcome. Presently, Chelsea are excellent at it. Arsenal less so. 

[Koke]

Efficiency > Attractiveness

Chelsea > Arsenal 

[ozleicester]

whiny little fvcker.. try winning the league 

[sylofox]

1 hour ago, DJ Barry Hammond said:

 

The intiative is using another teams strengh as their weakness. 

 

I understand the point Wenger is trying to make (if both teams sat back waiting for the other to counter, the game loses overall), but he's not made it very well and he'd do better concentrating on his own teams failings and learning from others successes.

 

Twat! 

 He's so right it's untrue.

 

I have never been so bored as I was watching the Madrid home game. Both teams sat back waiting for something to happen.

 

The mans a complete c0ck womble. he should spend more time working out how to win the league. No wonder they have been shite for years he spends more time worrying about others.

[Hammo]

Does he seriously expect people to sympathise with him? Sounds more like a desperate, jealous cry for help by someone who can't adjust his stubborn ways to move with the times.

[ge12]

It really is quite sad that a manager of Arsene Wenger's magnitude has, as other have said, almost turned into a parody of himself. I am no Arsenal fan but some of his teams have been fantastic to watch over the years, the invincibles team was one of the best I have ever seen with their combination of technical skill, power and a real nasty streak, strange that pretty much ever since then his teams have always lacked two of those elements.

 

He just highlights with this sort of attitude how far behind he has been left, and you can see why so many Arsenal fans are so angered/frustrated by him, they have a good number of morons but there are many decent genuine Arsenal fans out there who I actually feel a bit sorry for.

 

His Arsenal teams don’t even play particularly ‘attractive’ football nowadays anyway, I would certainly argue that all of the teams above them play ‘nicer’ football than they do bar maybe United.

[brookfox]

I'd suggest he spends less time looking at possession of a football and more time looking at the possession of trophies!