Gabriel, Chambers and Cech are 3 of his most recent signings.
I generally agree he is more attach minded but he's signed a 'keeper and 2 defensive players in the last year or so.
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Gabriel, Chambers and Cech are 3 of his most recent signings.
I generally agree he is more attach minded but he's signed a 'keeper and 2 defensive players in the last year or so.
We're not talking about signings or recent signings. It's about development.Quote:
Originally Posted by Letters
I was responding to Zim's assertion that Wenger has "no interest" in defence.
And he's responding to what I said about developed players lacking defensive discipline. Keep up, lad. :lol: This isn't about signings.Quote:
Originally Posted by Letters
Our keepers were a disaster zone, he'd have been foolish not to sign a new keeper as they were costing us points, Chambers is a kid who let's be honest isn't great at the moment (not too sure what made us sign him as he wasn't one of the standout players at Southampton), I wouldn't call signing him as a sign he's trying to improve the defence more that he wants another project. Gabriel is good I'll give you that, but we were short of CB's so needed some cover.Quote:
Originally Posted by Letters
I'm not saying he doesn't sign defensive players, every team needs 4 defenders a goalkeeper etc etc more that it's not something he focusses on in training or in developing players. He made Gibbs a full back and the guy was a winger and can't defend for toffee and never has been able to and we've seen little improvement on that side with him.
I just don't think players defensive awareness improves under Wenger because he put so much focus on attacking, even our full backs have to roam forward and attack. The comment PNG makes about Ramsey and goals is testament to that, he could be a great all round player, instead his primary focus is goals.
Not sure that is true about our defence. Bellerin is one of most promising full backs in the league, Monreal is potentially the best left back and Koscienly one of the mostly highly rated CB’s in the league. Full backs from every team go forward on a regular basis, which is why in the modern game you need team mates that are willing to work back and there is no room for luxury players only willing to concentrate on attack. It’s the way of the modern game. And I will go back to your statement that you do not watch a lot of football anymore, so your judgement on this is not the most accurate.Quote:
Originally Posted by Özim
What we’re seeing at the moment is a team with no central midfield and a defence completely exposed with no protection because Ramsey and Flamini are not a pairing that works at all. A look at our goals against column shows we are as good as our competitors. As was the case last season. You may then go on to say Cech is the reason we don’t concede much and of course that is partly the case because every successful team needs a top class goalkeeper to succeed. Why? Because he’ll save his team mates arses on several occasions throughout the year. And let’s not forget Cech wasn’t here last season when our defence improved on the previous years mess. Since we’ve seen Bould join the set-up our defence has improved – hardly a coincidence and unless you are spying every week at London Colney, you have no idea of knowing how much work we do or do not put in on the training pitch defensively.
I think we're very much approaching this from the POV of the player, and what they regard as their best position - from that perspective then, yeah, you'd have to look at it and say that we're not really adding much to their games, or coaching any new abilities into them.
However, I'm not sure this is how Wenger looks at it - I think he sees it from a more functional, 'play to your strengths' perspective, and will try to find a player a role in the side based on what they're best at (which isn't always what the player thinks they're best at, or where they thought they'd be playing)? Coquelin's probably the most recent example, albeit a fairly subtle one - by all accounts, he was trying to play beyond his ability as a central midfielder, and was losing his way by trying to add too much attacking play to his game until Wenger took him to one side and told him to just focus on the defensive side of the job. Thankfully he took it on board, and he's now focussing on doing one job to a world class standard before he starts pissing around with anything else.
Generally speaking, I think the success stories are the players who are humble and honest enough to accept our assessment (or reassessment) of their abilities, and who embrace the role we give them. And the ones who fail to make any significant impact are the ones who never quite find a place in the side: either they never fully accept the job that we give them, and their ego (or entourage!) tell them that they're destined for other things (sadly all too common with a lot of these teenage millionaires); or they simply don't have any one skill or attribute that makes them anything special, and we never really find a specific job for them beyond being a bit of a utility man (there's still a good career to be had in that, but it probably won't be a glamorous one)?
How much of a player's development is in the manager or coach's hands anyway?
Surely the player needs to have the innate ability.
Are our players going elsewhere and then becoming real superstars? If so then maybe we are hindering their development. If not then maybe they're just not that good to begin with. And the reason for that is surely that at most clubs most young players fail to make it to the very top. If they did then the standard of the PL would surely be a lot higher than it is.
I think Theo, Cesc, Ox and Gibbs fully embraced Wenger's vision for them but in the long run I think it's stunted their development. Coquelin is an interesting one because he was on his way out the door until we had injuries.Quote:
Originally Posted by I am invisible
Who would we consider the success stories from our youth development? I'm talking players we picked up in their teens and really raw.
Let’s say they weren’t that good to begin with. How comes we dedicated so much time an energy to players that weren’t good enough? Why is it that we looked at Southampton’s academy and picked up Walcott instead of Bale? How comes Wenger thought he had his best team or was so confident these players would be great? Not saying it’s easy to project greatness but I wonder what it is we’re looking at when scouting and training players.Quote:
Originally Posted by Letters