
Originally Posted by
Syn
I’m sure before the game started Wenger was planning to take Oxlade off after around 60 minutes. I can understand him thinking that before the game because we’ve seen ourselves that Oxlade sometimes did tire in the second half of the Carling Cup games he played in. As a manager you have to react to what is happening on the pitch. Oxlade wasn’t tiring. In fact he was full of confidence and getting better as the half went on. But this OCD condition to make his pre-determined substitutions blinded him of what was happening on the pitch.
I still think Wenger is a very smart man. His choices are backed with sound logic. The problem is that his assumptions are wrong. That is why managers with a fraction of his intelligence are out-smarting him.