Match Reaction v Man Utd

[Syn]

You're making it seem like there is a patent rationality for what he does, I'm not sure that's the case. I'm not quibbling over the definition of logic, I'm saying his logic, isn't logic.

Agreed. I am saying that he doesn't do stuff without thinking (probably too much) about it. If it's over the decision to rest Van Persie, he might not even ask the player, but he'll look at his GPS tracking toy stats and decide. As expected, in his post-match interview, he believed that Oxlade "had started to fatigue". If you believe that, you believe taking him off for a top attacking talent (which he thinks Arshavin is) is the right thing to do. Logic can be totally separate from being right. Your logic could be flawless and you could be making the wrong choices every time. We all agree that it's not sensible to stick to pre-conceived notions about players and have pre-meditated tactics.

[Niall_Quinn]

Agreed. I am saying that he doesn't do stuff without thinking (probably too much) about it. If it's over the decision to rest Van Persie, he might not even ask the player, but he'll look at his GPS tracking toy stats and decide. As expected, in his post-match interview, he believed that Oxlade "had started to fatigue". If you believe that, you believe taking him off for a top attacking talent (which he thinks Arshavin is) is the right thing to do. Logic can be totally separate from being right. Your logic could be flawless and you could be making the wrong choices every time. We all agree that it's not sensible to stick to pre-conceived notions about players and have pre-meditated tactics.

Unfortunately Arshavin is still statistically effective in some areas, but you have to wonder if they even bother recording other data (like his tendency to complete dump the full back in shit). However Walcott must be in the red on every category. I can't see how even an automated, machine based method for team selection could get so confused as to be starting Walcott, ever using Arshavin or subbing Ox in that last game. It must be very fucked up software or the same algorithms the bankers used to make their loans.

[Syn]

Unfortunately Arshavin is still statistically effective in some areas, but you have to wonder if they even bother recording other data (like his tendency to complete dump the full back in shit). However Walcott must be in the red on every category. I can't see how even an automated, machine based method for team selection could get so confused as to be starting Walcott, ever using Arshavin or subbing Ox in that last game. It must be very fucked up software or the same algorithms the bankers used to make their loans.

Once a player has his trust, it takes forever for him to lose it. Used to be the case not long ago with Almunia. Once Wenger has it in his head that a player is good, game over for squad competition.

[Niall_Quinn]

Whatever it fucking is it doesn't work.

We need to get back to actually watching the players and using brains and ears and eyes to figure out whether they are playing well or are absolute shite who shouldn't even be at the club.

[McNamara That Ghost...]

Agreed. I am saying that he doesn't do stuff without thinking (probably too much) about it. If it's over the decision to rest Van Persie, he might not even ask the player, but he'll look at his GPS tracking toy stats and decide. As expected, in his post-match interview, he believed that Oxlade "had started to fatigue". If you believe that, you believe taking him off for a top attacking talent (which he thinks Arshavin is) is the right thing to do. Logic can be totally separate from being right. Your logic could be flawless and you could be making the wrong choices every time. We all agree that it's not sensible to stick to pre-conceived notions about players and have pre-meditated tactics.

If he does think so much about it, how come he always arrives at the same destination? When does it stop being logic and just become insanity as Einstein said? I don't see the logic in persuing with someone who has proven to be poor for so long. To me, it is possibly governed by something else - maybe it could be to give him as many minutes as possible as a means of advertising him for a sale. I mean, I am searching there but it is surely extremely tenuous logic to think "this time it's gonna happen!" when everything else points to the opposite being true, if he really is that smart. I'd say he's intelligent but not always smart.

[Syn]

If he does think so much about it, how come he always arrives at the same destination? When does it stop being logic and just become insanity as Einstein said? I don't see the logic in persuing with someone who has proven to be poor for so long. To me, it is possibly governed by something else - maybe it could be to give him as many minutes as possible as a means of advertising him for a sale. I mean, I am searching there but it is surely extremely tenuous logic to think "this time it's gonna happen!" when everything else points to the opposite being true, if he really is that smart. I'd say he's intelligent but not always smart.

I agree with it all. 'Smart' was not the right word but otherwise I hope I wasn't confusing. Many fans say in frustration that Wenger is thick, an idiot and so on. I think it's quite clear that Wenger is intelligent (which makes it more frustrating). He doesn't need to use big words to prove it but you can tell by the way he talks and how he describes things that he's got the capacity to take in far more than other managers like McCarthy and Warnock. Ask him about what happening in Ukraine and he might give you a decent summary. Ask McCarthy and he'll say I don't have a crane, I am a fucking clueless forklift driver that's somehow stumbled into a job as a football manager. (I know there's a difference in being knowledgeable and intelligent but still...). We had always been a team that played greater than the sum of our parts. We might not have needed star players but the teamwork and understanding was there to out-perform other teams. Right now we are playing at a level far below the sum of our parts. Even pub team managers like McCarthy don't let this much talent go to waste.

As I said after the Swansea game, I just don't know what to make of Wenger right now. Whether or not he's being logical but wrong, there is nothing logical about 'Arsene Wenger'. I just don't understand what's going on at the club. There appears to be very little direction.