Is Barca’s win proof Wenger’s philosophy could work?
Henry's time did come afterall, so why won't ours?
I am sure I was not alone in having a thoroughly satisfying evening on Wednesday. After all the talk of trebles, quadruples and quintuples from increasingly arrogant United fans this season is was so refreshing to see them freeze like a rabbit in headlights and be utterly dismantled by a beautiful Barca side.
It was an awesome performance from Barca. I did fear United would win before the game purely because Barca only have one way of playing – they were nearly battled and fought out of the competition by the Chelsea thugs and I thought United would do the same.
Thankfully they didn’t and won the title in glorious style, a victory for football you could say. I couldn’t help but look at our own squad and compare our style of play with the Catalans.
Now I know some of you will think I have lost it but hear me out. At times, even in this torturous season, we played some wonderful football – especially with the little Russian wizard Arshavin in the side.
But all too often, especially away from home, the club can be out muscled and out battled – Was anyone surprised when we upset the Premier League odds and lost at Stoke in November for example?
It is something the media love to pick up on, saying we only have one way of playing and the players never look up for it when they travel to the likes of Bolton, Blackburn and Stoke.
Wenger, in his typical stubbornness, refuses to change the way we play and maintains his belief that a side can pass their way to the Premier League title .
As much as I enjoy the football, it is great to watch, I have to admit I have often called for Wenger to sign a few grafters to take on some of the Premier League’s more Neanderthal-like midfielders.
Now I know Barca play in a different league to ours and it would be interesting to see how they would cope up against Kevin Davies and the like. But they looked so dominant on Wednesday even the most aggressive of sides would have been passed to death.
In the wake of their victory does it vindicate Wenger’s tactics? Can a team pass their way to league and European glory?
True we need to add some quality to the squad – we all know what the side is lacking. But maybe Arsene’s vision of an all-conquering total football Gunners side could become a reality after all?
(Article by Tom Mallows)
Yes it can, we just need 1 holding mid, not a defensive 1, but like a Flamini funnily enough, but that episodes over now. and a few more players that can improve our strength in depth, Ade needs droppping and we need a prolific out-n-out centre forward. Thats all in my mind. then we will win things.
Barca have more match winners than Arsenal-xavi,iniesta,messi and a very disciplined back 4…Puyol kept Ronaldo in his pocket all night because of his positional discipline
yeah but wenger isn’t guardiola, he is not as good as guardiola and doesnt have the respect he does from his players
wenger is used as a stepping stone by players for that big career move for trophies
barca bring them trophies
‘he is not as good as guardiola’
What a twat!
No one ever questioned whether Wenger’s philosophy could work – what is put into question about Wenger is his personnel. It requires certain players in order for the passing game to work and Arsenal are trying to build that with a thin budget. If Wenger could spend as freely as Barca he could as well justified himself a long time ago. Everyone jumps on the bandwagon in fighting against Arsenal but no one ever takes a second to consider the circumstances that Arsenal operate under.
@sosooo
Hahaha Wenger is not as good as Guardiola. What a crock of crap from a moron – when Pep actually builds a winning squad instead of inheriting one and throwing boatloads of cash at it then let me know.
‘he is not as good as guardiola’ – arguably the dumbest comment i have heard all year
WC – thank you. You saved me from typing out my argument!
ok, prove it then
what has guardiola won compared to wenger and how long has guardiola been in charge
PROVE YOUR ARGUMENT LOSER!!!!!!! PROVE IT!!! NOW!!!!!!!!!!!
NOW!!!!!!!!!
there is a strong case to suggest wenger isnt as good as guardiola as the latter has won the CL and WAS a great player. AW has neither, so those who cant stand criticism should really grow up!
back to point tho…. barcas win proves it may work in the CL but it has already been proven it doesnt work in the EPL where there is little protection from referees with far more physical play.
sosoo ur a dick
and in addition, we have 1 cesc and they have 2 in iniesta and xavi … unles of course you feel song is up there with the greats (already) …. they also have eto, henry and messi. with all due respect and however much you are an AFC fan this is not like for like!
exactly, where is the justification that wenger is better than guardiola?
STAND BY YOUR ARGUMENT!
NOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I am waiting…
Could work with the right players as proven with the unbeaten side.
GunnerDude
PV4 … say no more… if you get another one of those in the middle of the park instead of 3rd rate derivatives in song et al then yes it ‘may’ work.
i think the point is if you have a top notch MF anything is possible. so far we don’t tho…. as proven by our points gap this season. thats the bottom line, no excuses.
yet the unbeaten side didnt do jack crap in the CL
they had those players, big deal…still need the right manager to create a winning team
we had vieira, henry, adams and all those players at the same time and all we could muster was a UEFA CUP FINAL LOSS!!!!!!! FFS!!!
with the right manager, we would have won that too
guardiola IS better than wenger
proven.
judging by the silence, the truth hurt a lot
i personally think our team is more suited to the CL and MUFCs is built for the EPL.
both are v different disciplines. the CL being far more technical ~(~as demonstrated by MUFC and Barca in a footballing lesson).
that score would have been reversed if it were an ELP game in winter with and EPL ref…. messi would have been injured by the half time whistle to start!
I’m telling you my man, it will work. It will work soon enough. And in style.
Let Arsene Wenger try out his tactics. He is an absolute wizard.
ample time has been given to argue against guardiola v wenger
nobody has reversed the argument.
so it is now official. guardiola is better than wenger
ample time given
nobody could build a case so the discussion has now been closed
congratulations to guardiola
congratulations indeed
he got the trophy we have always wanted
the end.
ahh yes…the mating call of the loser
no argument so stay silent and pretend you win
well done
winner: guardiola
no argument against it
nice try though
good thing this is public so everyoen can see how nobody could argue against it
sooooooooo!!!! wenger has built a squad on his own which had no chance last season when our overall best striker and midfielder were out all season.(IMO Rosicky and Eduardo)
Take messi and iniesta out of barc and i bet they wouldn’t of won champ league. wenger didnt inherit 2 out of 3 of the best players in the world which helps. He did however build one of the best youth set ups and helped us move to one of the best stadiums in the world, don’t think guad did that. Fair play winnin it all this season but with what he has anyone managing in top 6 in prem would of done that i think. so so u sap go and play on the train track u sack!
How many titles has Wenger won in comparison to Guardiola sosooo you dribbling, pointless tosspiece?
kinda of like if you take cesc out of our squad?
stupid argument with no basis.
guardiola won a CL
wenger built his OWN squad to his OWN strengths and has not won the one competition he craves. he has LOSt the most european finals of any manager in the history of the game
thats your argument? weak…
next…
Wow! In the time I was making myself some food:
It is ‘now official. guardiola is better than wenger’.
By this reckoning, Hleb (champions league winner) is better than Bergkamp. You sir are a twat.
justifying not winning a trophy as an argument will ALWAYS BE THROWN OUT OF THE ARGUMENT WAR
nice try though
and wenger inherited tony adams
you saying he is crap now?
nice work and you call yourself a gooner?
How does another club winning a trophy justify AW signing crap. Earlier this season Diaby Denilson Song Eboue played in the same team together, on what planet does that make us anything like Barca? Rvp Edu and Ade compared with Eto Messi and Henry, please. Its also really sad that we have fallen so far that we have to be happy that United lose instead of us winning. If we had won the league and lost in the CL final AW would be making out he is the best thing since sliced bread, AF treated it as a failure, thats why he is a winner and we win fuck all.
Hleb is NOT a CL winner
he wasnt in the squad. HAHAHAHAHA!!!!
pls do some research before to avoid making a bigger fool of yourself
pls…you guys are awesome with these weak arguments
thought u said who was better MANAGER? wenger won a few fa cup a few leagues bit of carling cup and final and semis in champ league. gard walked into a side that needed a kick up the back side eto a slap and fatty ronaldhino to piss off, job done wow lot of work there!! all he needs now is some world class players not kids like wenger has, hang on a sec he has 5 or more world class players straight away, job done ; dealt with hushhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!
EXACTLY!
wenger BUILT THE TEAM TO HIS STRENGTHS!!!!!!!!!!!!! HIS STRENGTHS!!!
he CHOSE to sign diaby (enough to make you puke)
and this makes him better than guardiola who decided to retain a squad that WON NOTHING rather than kill it?
yeah signing diaby makes wenger amazing.
HAHAHAHA!!!!!!
NEXT!!!!!!!
Hleb received a champions league medal. You do your homework and see what Arsene has done for our club.
I know its half-term, but perhaps you were better off back in class.
wenger has won how many trophies in 4 yrs again? in a SQUAD HE BUILT to HIS STRENGTH and HIS CHOICES???????????
how many trophies?
yeah exactly…
guardiola wins again and he did it without CHILD TRAFFICKING!!!!!!!
YOU GUYS HAVE SOME REALLY WEAK ARGUMENTS…YOUR GETTING WORSE
NEXT!!!!!!!!!!!!
you ONLY receive a CL medal if your in the squad of 18 on the day
DO YOUR RESERACH!!!!!!!!
this is why Roy keane never got one officially
awful argument…the worst yet
NEXT
I really don’t know why i’m replying, but going by sosooo argument (if u would call it that) Federico Macheda is the greatest striker in the premier league, 2 goals in two starts…thats a great ratio, who cares if its just two starts…idiot
he will be in 2 3 years like song denil djourou etc etc; arsenal dont have any money, wat u want him to do u fuckin pratt? no money means no world class buys. henry wanted to go as he said in 2 3 years this team will be chal for everything i dont have that sort of time to wait and he right went to barc won in his 2 year. flam wanted more money we cant afford to do that as everyone else would want more. u really r a prick and u call urself an arsenal fan, jog on u mug!!
i was going to say that sosooo was borderline retarded.. but no fuck it! you must have been dropped on your head more than a few times since you were born! One season of greatness doesn’t make you great (adebayor case in point) and while guardiola has done incredibly, overall his feats don’t compare to wenger’s econimic, structural and overall success. Also don’t start questioning how good an arsenal fan someone is because they question your opinions you halfwit.
does anyone get the feeling his scum and doing this as a laugh?
well said chiswikgooner u ledge, wenger has done so much for our club peps just dont realise, we didnt win the league as manu have done for past few years, remember few years back when they didnt win for 3 years u know when ron and roon were growin up well its our time to shine this year and providing no serious injuries to the big guns and providin wenger gets to but 2 3 players in right areas plus arsh in all games ( he is world class) and as long as everyone put 110% in EVERY game we are sorted. roll on the summer!!!
Here is the only way to decide who a greatest manger is. Switch the managers around that see what the results are. Fact is Barca WILL retain the C.L with Wenger and Arsenal will be relegated in Pep was in charge. Its easy to win with a bunch of superstars on your team. Beating a person in race while driving a ferrari vs. a prius doesnt necessarily make u a better driver. There only two managers in the world that can WIN WITH ANY TEAM, ferguson and Wenger, possibly Mourinho cause he took a porto team to the final. The rest need a expensive squad to accomplish it.
soso u r a stupid so and sooo i bet u lick yer mums anus u twat
r u gunna reply or is yer tongue stuk
I know others have checked. Here is the proof Hleb won a medal:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gj9OyAs6RWs
3:28- c*nt. The commentators even mention the rules have changed.
he talks crap coz he has it on the tip of his tongue, btw whats yer dads knob taste like ?… yer dogs arse lol
yer a quick wife swap styley for a season wud show us guad is sososososos NOT as good as sosososso stupid says
so u r proved an edjut now F*** of u so and so
obi how can u say fact barca will retain it ?
dave was that targeted at me squire?
caus wit the team they have and wenger in charge only threat really is madrid and they are not as good as 3 years ago. i think thats wat obi sayin
Its diffcult to compare managers especially as one has been in the job for 1 season. The barca job is a different kettle of fish to the arsenal, you dont get 4 seasons without a trophy at barca. Its also easy to say that barca have good players already, they still need managing. You cant say that Pep is a better manager based on one season but it is a fact that he has won a trophy that AW has been trying to win for 20 years in his first season.
“Randy” – is your name actually “Randy” or are you just mimicking me?…LOL
No my names not randy, I just chose it to post today, sorry mate didnt see the name was taken already.
I think Sososososososage has gone back to the Lane.
No problem, I just did not want the many regulars mistaking you with their webmaster.
dave gunna, i’m not saying that barca will retain the trophy (the mighty gunners are taking it!), the point i was trying to make is that the table where flipped and wenger was the caretaker at Barca, they will more likely be at the same position or even better whereas Arsenal under Pep would cumble. It takes a special talent to build a super team out of nothing…impossible to accomplish as a rookie mangager
both cashley and icecream head have won trophies lately. Im getting mad.
Who’s “icecream head”?…LOL
right soso gone to bed and i think im gonna get ready for the athletic madrid game last one season, fare well arsenal supporters, sosoo dont die now will you…..
hleb- ice cream incident.
THE TOPIC WAS: Is Barca’s win proof Wenger’s philosophy could work?
could it work? yes ofcourse it can work, if he gets it right…..but he isn’t!
football is very simple it’s about scoring goals as efficiently as possible and keeping the ball out at the other end….simple. Anything inbetween is purely entertainment or lack of it most cases. arsenal play entertaining football but we don’t have the know how to put the ball in the onion bag efficiently enough, look at the chelsea game at the emirates for instance, 1st 20mins all arsenal missed all of em they have one and two chances and score both lol….could you see barca fluffing those many chances in a game? or against chelsea NO! and look at our defence…..ARSENAL’S DEFFENCE CAN CONCEAD TO ANY TEAM AT ANY TIME, 37 LEAGUE goals conceaded in 38 games….is shocking for team that considers themselves a force in europe, and i haven’t included there champions league and f.a cup goals…YOU CANNOT BUILD A HOUSE ON SAND.
Quite simply, no. Barca have a better youth system (though we’re catching up) and they play a different formation and they play for each other (their movement off the ball is incredibly intelligent and allows players to always have support) and work really hard and defend from the front (Messi, Henry and Eto’o have made more fouls than any other Barca player except Dani Alves). However I still think Wenger’s philosophy can work, it has in the past and it has worked at times this season as well, the problem being that our players haven’t been able to implement the system very well (just look at last season, in 07/08 we played incredible football for most of the season but injuries and refereeing decisions combined with fatigue meant we couldn’t reach the finish line).
Maybe the question has come from someone that is too young to remember that Wenger’s approach HAS worked. Invincibles. Cups etc. Few barren years, granted, but the evidence is already in the cabinet at the Emirates.
There is no question to answer here because we have won the league several times with arsene and this has been our style of play…though we hard some physical players like viera but our style has always been the same…so it annoys me when people come up with stupid arguments..the truth is we are the arsenal and we shall never change.
The current team needs just a few bodies to compliment our style..thats it.
Soso u r just an idiot. Hleb did win the champions league. Guardiola has won three trophies he many more did wenger win? Guardiola inherited the squad bar a couple of signing that cost the arsenal squad put together. N stop pretendin to b a gooner we know u support spurs.
atually J-rock, sorry but you’re slightly wrong about our style of play always being the same, from the wenger day walked in until 2004 invincibles we were a counter attacking side, and we we’d look for the quickest direct way to open you up along the ground, since the inclusion of cesc fabregas have we started attempt playing the barca way is possesion possesion possesion. We used to be able to go from back to front and score in 11 seconds we can’t do that now….no way! and in our style now what’s difference between us and barca? the work rate! the instructions from the manager and barca players such as messi iniesta and xavi go past one or two players and then pass when the opposition go into park the bus mode….other than arshavin no1 else in our team can?
The silly argument that Guardiola is better than Wenger (because Pep has done the treble in his first season) mustn’t be taken seriously…Barcelona has had this style of football since more than 15 years…it is not because of Guardiola….and Messi, Henry, Eto’o & Co have been there since more than two years…
I think that the Arsenal style of playing is important for the spectacle of football, and without teams like the Gunners and Barcelona, football would be a very bored show…
If Arsenal would have the budget of ManU, Chelsea, Liverpool, ManCity, Real Madrid, Barcelona, surely they would be one of the top three teams in Europe, because Arsene knows how to make great teams, like the ones of 1998, 2002, 2004, 2006.
The best managers of our time, in terms of apporting to football in this decade, are (regardless this achievements):
Sir Alex Ferguson
Arsene Wenger
Guus Hiddink
Carlo Ancelotti
For this type of play to work,Arsenal must fight fire with water and not fire.Why?Teams like Stoke,MU,etc have pinpointed at the gunner system by going at the fulcrum; the midfield. If it’s lightweight the gunners will loose.Even my 80 yr old grpa could tell see the difference between a huge imposing midfielder compared to our float like a butterfly midfiled except that it has no sting.
Now if AW were to add in the sting/poison to our midfield that would be intersting.
funny how that guy disappeared after someone proved hleb got a medal
i’d like a cm to either compliment song and fabregas or cover for song when he needs a rest. and i’d like ade out and a decent striker in.with rosicky and eduardo coming back properly next year our attack and midfield gets two top players. alkl we need then is our cbs to do the job and our dm to keep up the good work if it’s song and i think we have what it takes.
there’s not a massive ammount missing from our team and i think rosicky and eduardo are two very big players who will make a massive difference even if we got no one else.
barca hav individual hgow can keep the ball beter than we have, i mean we had players wh could like hleb rosicky but now the likes of walcott, denilson, diaby etc need to learn how to keep the ball better
This Guardiola guy is really something. He got rid of deadwood like Ronaldinho upon becoming manager. He even won the CL minus 3 first choice players.
no point comparing the style of football – there’s no right/ wrong – if we don’t have the right level of players like barca
how many mis-passes barca did (usually), and count how mnay denilson does per game; and btw, i dont give a damn about denilson being 16 or whateve in some theoretic stats model for researchers
This sosooo guy I believe loves Arsenal and Wenger. He is only letting out his frustration of not seeing us winning the Champion League trophy but instead Barca. He is not being anti Wenger and Arsenal.
Yes, Barca won playing the beautiful game but close attention should be paid the the defensive spine of that team. Toure YaYa, Puyol, Pique, Marquez and Keita can all mix it up and many of them can play multiple positions in Central Defensive Midfield or on the Back 4.
Of course their budget is higher than ours, but the point remains Barca was able to play the beautiful game because they had rocks in the middle. Also, look at how well YaYa, Puyol et al play the ball into the attack.
Arsenal lacked that this year. So yes, Arsene’s style can win. It already has….when there was grit and glue like Viera, Campbell and a young Kolo Toure or Petit up the gut.
Right now, Arsenal has the attacking options to play that kind of footy but not the depth and skill defensively.
The difference between the cl and the epl is in the refereeing.In the cl the slightest touch could be grounds for a yellow or even red card. In the epl it’s all right if you go in with studs showing and the ref will say don’t it next time.
Until such time as the refs in the epl are unafraid to dish out cards/punihment even if it involves the red faced cunt’s team,Arsenal will have problems which btw went back to Veira’s time.
In the first few years when PV was here he was deliberately/maliciously fouled and the ref did not /chose not to take action.
We are the pass masters of the EPL. If we think about it there was a preview of the CL final the week be4 when we played MU at Old Trafford. We passed them off the park and controlled possession. Had chances to win but lacked sharpness in front of goal (particularly VP. A bit of tweeking this summer and we will be right there.
Ay guys, theres this thing about Barca being porous in defense. NOT TRUE!
Their game is more obvious when it comes to attacking but another BIG reason manure were outplayed is that Barca players all seem to have an appreciation of the defensive side of football as only this way you can have the ball back to launch an attach. Example, Etoo, striker, he did a whole of trying to stop ANY development of play even from Manures 18 yard box. Xabi and Iniesta create and attack better than anyone from midfield, but more intersting was how they closed any little gaps that could be open for attack. Yaya though is the official defensive guy. Puyong was a beast, the guy sold back back to Barca by Manure gave them nightmares and made a wonder stoppage of either Rooney or Ronaldos attempt. I could go on, but it seems evrybody wants the ball, knows were to be at all times when an attack is imminent, then once they have the ball. Sit back and enjoy!
Admit, those boys made me appreciate football more than before, but more importantly, they gave me a reason to understand Wenger a bit more, only that our players ignore defence and leave it to those players that have a D in the name of the position they play, unfortunately, they arnt many, and worse still, half of them arnt very good
yes but it needs more techicals
I have to admit that I do not have time to read the whole article but reading the heading alone is enough for me to comment on the whole article. It seems Barca win has left all of us so excited that even a fly can cause ejaculation. How on earth is Barcas philosophy equatable to Wengers? While Wenger is happy and more than willing to buy rejects from top clubs like ManU (Silvester a case in point)Barca is in no business selling their top players. Where is Thiery, Hleb, Viera? Please calm down and think before making unwarranted comparisons or conclusions.
the famous tottenham hotspurs went to rome…. oh no it was manure lol