Manchester United U21s 3 v Arsenal 2 - Match Reaction

[Kano]

Agreed - and what's more I think this explains why we are falling behind in comparison to younger, hungrier and more tactically astute managers. The extra money in the EPL means that margins are being narrowed. Traditionally lower placed teams are scouting players who are technically better in comparison to the top teams; all teams now are well on top of fitness/nutrition etc - and while we used to be at our best in later stages of games because of our superior fitness we are now encountering teams who can press like mofo's and put us off our pasing game right to the final whistle. The biggest factor, though is that we now have managers who are adept at spotting the weaknesses in other teams and whose players buy in absolutely to their managers' philosophy and tactical approach. Spurs and Leicester are flying high not because they necessarily have the best players (although both teams have benefitted from having strikers on phenomenal form all season), but because they have a game plan that their teams believe in and stick to - to great effect. And this breeds the confidence that has predictably leeched out of our team since mid December. The fact that Wenger cannot see how the game is developing in this way - when this extraordinary season has thrown this tactical approach to the game into sharp relief - is a reason in itself why his time is up.

To be fair, only one younger manager is superseding Wenger at the moment, the other four teams immediately around us are all led by men of a similar age. Even Mourinho and Koeman are men in their early 50's. If Fergie was still around that would add to the list of aged managers, I'm not sure it is age, more adaptability to new thinking that allows a manager to keep on at the very top. And money hasn't made too much of a difference when you look at West Ham's, Leicester's, Watford's or Southampton's spending over the past year or two. Speed, pressing and counter attacking across the board, descended from Bielsa's style onto Pep, Simeone and Klopp has hit these shores in a big way now. It's no surprise that the two teams sitting at the top of the league employ that style and haven't spent a fortune getting there either.

For all the frusrating faults and lack of progression with the resources at his disposal, Wenger has managed to keep himself above an endless stream of younger managers over the years. So as dated and frustrating as his approach is at times to us all, he has been wise enough to manage that. But of course what Wenger has lacked for some time is he ability to maximise the talents of the players at hand.