Adrian Wagenaar
Flash back 12 years to the double team of 1998 and check out the way the side lined up. Then we had a back four that could look after itself, moving up and down in complete synchronized unison, a natural leader in Tony Adams with replacements that slotted in seamlessly as and when required.
Arsene acknowledged this but decided to add another bank of centre backs to shield them completely and reduce risks still further. To call Petit and Vieira centre backs is hardly correct, although Manu had played there in a previous life and Patrick could play stopper with his eyes shut.
These two players played in front of our back four enticing the opposing midfield on to them and then a couple short passes and a ball over the top to Wright, Anelka or Overmars would see us score the perfect breakaway goal. Now we have a back four that needs all the help it can get, however Wenger's latest tactical move is to strip them completely of the only recognized holding player in Song.
The full backs are always over the halfway line and permanently out of position with the two centre backs invariable outnumbered and completely lacking any cover.
Arsene has cut adrift our centre backs and having suggested to us that Song could do the Gilberto job, throws a complete curve ball by deciding the player is now an attacking midfielder. Recent stats on Arseblog have shown that the further Song goes up the pitch the more he gives the ball the away - oh really, what did you expect? Higher up the field is Bergkamp territory and our Cameroonian is certainly no Dennis!
We line up nowdays in a 2-5-3 system where AW has previously stated that 4-4-2 or 4-4-1-1 is the best approach when competing to win the Premiership. We have changed from a counter attacking team to a possession side where defending is now a peripheral part of the team's preparation.
These are not complaints, more like observations of how much our manager has changed Arsenal's playing style and how the plan of outscoring the opposition is the only real tactic - a tactic that can come unstuck against any team with a Gung Ho attitude.
Wenger's preference for attacking football has now become an excess - an irrational excess because it cannot win the ultimate prizes. Under Wenger everyone has to be an attacker - total football - not really, more like total chaos when it goes wrong. Arsene's predecessor George Graham was Wenger in reverse, his preference was also taken to the extreme - all his players had to be defenders. Graham towards the end of his reign began to line up with a 8-1-1 formation and you could argue that his obsession with defensive football was more successful than Wenger's ‘storm the Bastille’ approach.
Graham with his smothering tactics won three cups, all GG's work with his players was when his team did not have the ball, juxtaposed with Arsene who only trains his players when they have the ball.
When Graham's Arsenal had the ball it was over the top for Wrighty - and George would challenge him if he didn't make the most of his team's brief spell of possession.
Ian Wright's reward for running himself into the ground for our sartorial Scotsman was to be discarded by Wenger just as the team were about to win the double in 1998.
Both these managers had a period when everything they did was right, Graham would have led Arsenal to an Invincible season in 1991 but for a half time injury to Bouldy at Stamford Bridge. So what happens to our managers who do get it right and how do they seem to go down completely the wrong road following a personal preference rather than what is best for the club?
I watched Bertie Mee - in the name of discipline, in my opinion - destroy the 71 team in a few short years. GG destroyed himself but had turned the free flowing team of 91 - 92, that had Limpar in a free role, scoring goals from the halfway line, into a team that drew all of its league games in Oct 1993 0-0 and failed to score in 12 league games that season.
Only Ferguson seems to know how to keep on winning year in year out, probably because he only measures success in trophies. We have had spells of great success but somehow our great managers seem to have a self destruct gene that kicks in after a few years - if football is art then I would call the past three seasons Arsene's ‘irrational period’.
If a 1987 George Graham took over today, in the first transfer window he would bring in a goalkeeper and a couple of defenders, then the second transfer window probably some defensive midfielders. The meshing together of Wenger's attacking ideals with the defensive ethos of GG would - in my opinion- bring the Premiership in a few seasons, I base it on what happened when AW joined and blended his ideals into George's legacy in 1996. Graham's strengths are Wenger's weaknesses and vice versa, it is such a pity that somehow we cannot take both these very successful, stubborn and obstinate Arsenal managers and blend them into a combination of both ideals in one person.
In my opinion, Graham and Wenger are from the same mould - two peas from the same pod, if from opposite ends of the spectrum and it is certainly a case of "their way or no way" as they pushed their ideals to the point of maximum frustration. As a fan who has been watching Arsenal for 50 years now I have had too many great memories to let Arsene's current foibles upset me too much. And deep down I have thought that Arsenal have always been a bit different to any other club and with our Frenchman at the helm we are sure to continue to remain a revered institution rather than just a football club.
What of the future? Well with a board of directors sitting on a healthy bank balance and with so many of our players capable of achieving huge selling-on revenues, nothing much is going to change - so keep taking your travel sickness tablets, step back on the rollercoaster and enjoy the ride under Captain Wenger.
