Arsene Wenger has proven to be one of the most shrewdest managers to have graced the English game, but his current Arsenal side are in a total shambles as shown by their recent Anfield exploits.
A lot was made of Liverpool`s two cup exits handed out by Arsenal earlier in the year, but Liverpool ripped Arsenal apart at Anfield and showed that when it comes to the games that matter Arsenal dont come close to the Merseyside men, and remember this was Arsenals most important game left in the season, a chance to cement third place in the league.
As Liverpool's new owners Tom Hicks and George Gillett looked on, they must be thanking their lucky stars for inheriting one the very best managers in world football today. Rafa Benitez with the midweek game with PSV in mind rested some key players so it was a below strenght Liverpool that took to the field against Arsenal. But even without his full firepower on display the tactical battle between the two managers was fully reflected in the score. Arsenal were totally outgunned by Liverpool`s midfield and simply could not deal with Crouch, not only his three goals but his overall play, it was probably the beanpole strikers finest game for the club so far.
It was a great performance by Liverpool but the scoreline does not tell it all, this was close to the easiest three points Liverpool have picked up at Anfield all season.
Wenger has some serious work to do to turn his young guns into a team capable of winning anything.
Wenger has to be admired for building the teams he has over the years on a shoestring budget compared to that of Man Utd or Chelsea`s, his capture of Anelka for 500,000 pounds and resale two or three years later for 22 million is surely the greatest bit of business by a premiership manager so far.
Wenger has built a team of youngsters for the future which is the best way to compete against Chelski`s rubles, but his problem is the team is too inexperienced and that is starting to show in the results now.
Alan Hansen once famously said of Man Utd, you cant win anything with youngsters and he was proven very wrong, but that was a team that included the experience of Roy Keane and Peter Schmeichel, that is where Wenger`s team is missing out, with Henry sidelined there is no real experienced leader to help the younger players out. Wengers second problem is he wants to play beautiful attractive attacking football, as all teams do, but most teams try and find the balance between attractive football and winning games. Wenger seems to be more focused on the team playing nice rather than picking up the three points
During the Liverpool takeover Wenger stated that if he was offered 100 million to buy new players he would refuse it, grand words for sure and im sure every neutral would love to see a team built from little money overcome the megabucks that is Chelski and Man Utd, but it just does not work like that anymore, Romans Rubles have changed the game forever and Wenger should be demanding more cash for players to challenge the top clubs and if you think about how much cash his dealings have brought into the club coffers over the years, it should not be a problem.
Wenger is a very idealistic manager and once again he has to be admired for trying to play entertaining football and for trying to beat the money clubs by his shrewd dealings, but there comes a point when it must be asked is his idealistic approach doing more harm than good to Arsenal football club.
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