It’s hard to look at the Norwich result and find any discernible positives from it. Granted, I didn’t get to watch any live action, but the post-match reception over Twitter was enough. Bottling an elementary away game to Norwich, crocking three key players along the way and failing to monopolize ourselves in one of the worst Premier League seasons thus far? It cannot get much worse than that.
Laurent Koscielny did his hip in the initial 11 minutes. For all of our lack of options in rotation, you’d be pretty thick if you thought central defence was an area we’re paper-thin in. Gabriel Paulista and Calum Chambers were both fully fit professionals who weren’t victims of overplaying, yet Wenger considered them an irrelevance. His insistence to regularly field the Mertescielny axis is flattering to both of them, but can’t possibly be conducive to their muscles. Wenger deliberately, consciously chose to overplay a key asset when he had the luxury not to. Witness him doing the same with Per Mertesacker, even though he has the options to change.
“Alexis Sánchez pulled his hamstring early in the second half.”
I’ve scarcely seen such a disaster mitigated this hideously. The reason the aforementioned sentence was quoted was because nearly every Arsenal fan feared saying those exact words, when they saw Wenger was killing his legs. Arsene should be cut £2m from his paycheck for that hazard alone.
The injury to him was so predicted, so avoidable and so Wenger. Since February, every mainstream media pundit has been drilling Wenger on pursuing with Sanchez. His constant and well-documented running around simply adds to the drama of the injury. Even anyone lesser qualified than a 5-year-old who followed golf would have known how to man-manage him!
By saying that he decided to play Alexis because Sanchez wanted to, Arsene is being preposterous. It seems unbelievable pointing this fact out, but Wenger is Arsenal’s manager. He hires players and he fires them, and he decides when they play. To even begin to imply that Alexis forced Arsene’s hand is, make no mistake, shoving unnecessary blame onto Arsenal’s possibly best player. There’s a word for it, it’s called cowardice.
Then came the knock to Santi Cazorla. Arsène Wenger said after the game that he thought Cazorla was playing on one leg, yet unbelievably decided to keep him on until the game ended. It’s borderline insane player management, but what else would you expect from a manager who plays people for 45 minutes even if they feel dizzy?
Arsene Wenger drove Jack Wilshere into the ground back in 2011. He forced Mesut Ozil to play through two scary injuries. He grossly overplayed Alexis, Coquelin, Santi and Laurent until they fell prey to his suicidal repetition. He’s doing the same with Hector Bellerin and Olivier Giroud too, if you haven’t noticed. These aren’t speculations, they’re indisputable facts. Facts to highlight the farce Wenger frequently plunges this club into.
Instead of using data to analyze the opposition and form a game-plan, Wenger simply bungs his best possible XI on the pitch, hoping for the best. When players get injured, reserves from the bench take over and are subsequently overplayed. It doesn’t take a genius to realize how static, stubborn and stagnant an approach that is.
Even when Wenger has the options he chooses not to use them, leaving talented internationals to rot on the bench, wrecking morale. It’s surreal how many times that sentence has been used in different variations on this blog. Just look at the ‘Arsene Wenger -> Player Management‘ tab on the blog and you’ll see.
Is there a case for blaming our medical staff? It’s possible. However, Shad Forsythe was one of the most sought-after fitness coaches who worked with Germans participating in the back-ends of the Champions League and league challenges in 2014, and made sure they won the World Cup in the same year. He’s established in most countries and has a lot of pedigree. It’s a suspicious coincidence that he tanked at a club supposedly dictated by Wenger, so I want to give him the benefit of the doubt.
I also cannot believe that there hasn’t been any strong insight into how we train. So many players tend to get injured whilst on the training ground, that it isn’t unreasonable to suggest there must be some correlation between the quantity of our injuries and the way we prepare and cool down.
And by the way, injuries have been a parasite to this club far more than one can remember. Even back in 2005 or 2006 we used to lose key men for long periods. It’s only since 2014 that the mainstream media has caught on to Wenger’s man-management ‘skills’, forcing the public to ask questions. But in all honesty, why would Wenger seriously care about those questions, unless the questioner has managed half a day in football?
It’s this arrogance that keeps the Frenchman so stubborn. Just because refusing to rotate back in 2004 reaped rewards (back when England was not as boisterous and we had stronger players, mind) Wenger seems to think that 11 years on, the same policy would reap the same benefits. If it ain’t broke don’t fix it, right?
The harsh reality is that Arsene Wenger’s ideology is broke. In fact, it’s probably done it’s hamstring and had five ACL operations by now. Similar to Wenger’s transfer policy, motivational skills and tactical approach, if our manager cannot adapt to new ways of fixing injury crises, then there is no chance his Arsenal shall achieve anything commendable.
-Santi [Follow me on Twitter @ArsenalBlogz ]
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