Originally Posted by
Ollie the Optimist
have you seen our recent signings? Thats surely the definition of strengthening the squad. In the last two years, he has signed, Ozil, Alexis, Gabriel and Cech. Thats three world class players and a good defender. He didn't even need to sign Cech (i wouldn't have said a keeper was number 1 priority this summer), but he became available so he has sent out Scesney on loan to get a world class keeper in.
You say he would have identified weaknesses and changed them if he was a good manager. He has. You don't sign Alexis, Ozil and Cech if you aren't trying to improve the squad. He has signed good back up players recently too in Debuchy, Chambers, Ospina and Gabriel. He didn't get lucky with making players world beaters either, he stuck by Ramsey and now he is one of our best players. He stuck with Giroud and was rewarded with 19 goals last year (and he was out for three months) Koscienly under his guidance has become one of the best defenders in the world, and Bellerin came in last season and was outstanding. Thats not luck, thats his management on the training ground to get those players to perform on the pitch. The only one i would say was due to luck was Coqulain and how he got his chance.
His tactics could be better, but if you look at the second half of the season, they were. The city game was the prime example, he got every decision spot on and we produced one of the best performances i have seen from us in years. The final he got it right again. We won big games in the second half because of his tactical decisions, the way he set the team up etc. Thats not luck. I think from january to the end of the season, we won the most points, yes its no good doing it for half a season, however one difference between that and the first half was the amount of injuries we suffered. I read somewhere that between the start and january, we lost over a 1000 days to players being injured, in the second half we lost just 700 as Shad Forsythe's methods started to work (they were never going to be an instant success). So we suffer less injuries and suddenly our form goes right up as key players all stayed fit. We lost Ozil, Giroud, Koscienly, Walcott, Ox, Ospina and Wilshere to long term injuries last year, all players who by end of the season were either first choice or pushing very close to being starters. This year, we also have a full pre season, only Sanchez isn't back training, but he's probably running marathons in Chile to get his fitness up.
So basically to sum up, your post is just the same old boring crap you just spout about Wenger without actually looking at what he is doing. He needs to now transfer the second half season form into the full season, and given we have less injuries, and a full pre season, there is no reason why we can't. However just to say he doesn't strengthen and relies on lady luck, is just stupid, wrong and boring. I would hope in the summer he does manage to get Benezma, that would be outstanding, but the squad as it is, can compete for the title. They showed it last year when they were all fully fit.
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