Quote Originally Posted by Niall_Quinn View Post
I'm not talking about formation or tactics. I'm talking about the basics of football, something a good few of our players seem to struggle with - some of them struggle year after year. They are very noisy off the pitch but are close to silent on it. I find the blame everything on Wenger idea, from the finances to Theo Walcott's inability to pass a ball, to be ludicrous. If we are really going to look at what's going on at Arsenal then let's do that instead of honing in on one aspect and trying to contort it into every possible shape to fit every possible scenario. 4-4-2, 4-3-3, 4-5-1, we only have one striker! What difference does it make. The others couldn't reliably hit the ocean from the beach and I;d like to know why that is and why it doesn't seem to be improving. If Wenger sends the team out with instructions to pas to the opposition, make it as complicated as possible in the final third and lash the ball 30 yards over the goal at every opportunity then fine, sack him. Is that what he does?
NQ if your interested in seeing why things aren't working on the pitch then your going to have to start looking at each players strengths and weaknesses. Practice can only go so far and the one thing we need to realise is that certain players aren't built to play in certain key positions. If you can't dribble, you have no business playing on the wings and it's a waste of time trying to build on that skill set when that particular player has spent his whole life training in another position. What your suggesting is oversimple.

When we play Stoke City, do you think the manager is going to try and out play us and get his players practicing intricate passes and dribbling techniques? No. The sign of a good manager is working with the tools he has and putting it to good use. Certain managers know they have a limited lump on the field that will neve be world class but they can at least make them effiecient and useful for the team. That's all I want Wenger to do but this obsession with getting turning everyone on the field into a complete player is overindulgent. It's so bad, our defenders have to have some sort of technique and passing skill because Wenger won't allow them to boot the ball clear.

It's a jack of all trades but master of none type of situation. I'm not saying they shoudln't practice, just saying of you look at the strengths and weaknesses of certain players, you start seeing why they suck in certain positions. When you start looking at things like that, then you get on to formations and stuff like that. Don't dismiss that sort of thing. It's why the English league and national team has lagged behind for so long. There is a lack of respect for it and seem to thing everything boils down to passion and energy. I don't think we have a lazy team our there. It's just energy being wasted.