GermanF1 - Which manager would you prefer?
Arséne Wenger built a strategy for a successful club in the mid-2000s which was blossoming to perfection; they would continue to bring in relative unknowns on sustainable wages, improve them and keep them at the club on the basis that while the wage may not be the best, there would be few places where success was more forthcoming.
Unfortunately for Arsenal, just as the Arsenal team was peaking, along came Roman Abramovich to throw tons of money at Chelsea, and catapult them to the title. Initially, there was no real drama. They finished second in the league in 2004-05 and won the FA Cup, not doing so well in 2005-06 in the league but reaching the Champions' League final. The team that started that day and the bench:
Lehmann; Eboue, K. Touré, Campbell, A. Cole; Pires, Gilberto, Fábregas, Hleb; Ljungberg; Henry
Subs: Almunia, Senderos, Clichy, Flamini, Reyes, Bergkamp, van Persie
They matched Barcelona in Paris but lost due to tiredness caused by Lehmann's sending-off on 18 minutes. However, suddenly the grass was greener. Vieira had already departed for Juventus and Cole was off to Chelsea that summer. Arsenal also approached this juncture with a new stadium to pay off, further diminishing their financial competitiveness.
For a while, it was possible for Wenger to replace these players from the reserves and to continue to sign promising players from elsewhere (Walcott, Nasri, Sagna). Rapidly, it became impossible to replace players at the pace they were leaving, but the final nail in the coffin was Abu Dhabi's funding of Manchester City, meaning even more Arsenal players had the opportunity to leave.
If Chelsea and Man City had not come in with all that money, what would the Arsenal first team look like? I have a
prediction educated guess:
1. Cech (French league young player - right up Arsenal's street)
2. Sagna
3. A. Cole
4. Flamini
5. Kompany (Similar career path to Vermaelen)
6. Vermaelen
7. Walcott
8. Nasri
9. Van Persie
10. Wilshere
11. Hazard (I don't think he'd have gone to Lille and brought back Gervinho if this was on!)
I still think Fábregas would have gone to Barca, but I think Wenger is more a victim of circumstances out of his control happening at
exactly the wrong time. Man U managed to ride out the storm, but Liverpool also fell to the money of City/Chelsea leaving them unable to replace Xabi Alonso and forcing Mascherano and then a succession of others to leave the club.
I honestly believe Wenger has been so unfortunate, but I don't believe that he should start to "chase the dream" and end up following Leeds United's path. With the stadium paid off and an excellent commercial structure, I don't believe the gap is insurmountable should they find the right young players and particularly if they can keep Wilshere and Walcott at the club.
I don't believe, however, that any manager would have done a better job.
