Arsène Wenger overcomes resistance to change, Aitor Karanka wants fighters more than Stewart Downing, and José Mourinho has more pressing concerns than getting revenge at ChelseaOne of the many criticisms routinely directed at Arsène Wenger concerns his tactical conservatism and it is fair to say that he has seldom deviated from his preferred and predictable 4-2-3-1 in recent years. But on the back of a crucial drop in form Wenger has actually started the last two games with a new plan, playing 4-3-3 against Bayern Munich and Lincoln to address the malfunctioning midfield by adding an extra man. He thinks some of his midfielders, namely Aaron Ramsey and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, benefit from being in a three and perhaps it is...
Cowley will now focus on Lincoln’s National League and FA Trophy campaigns, while his Arsenal counterpart admitted there is no escape from criticismAs Lincoln’s players absorbed the experience by accepting the invitation to mingle with their counterparts in the home dressing room at the end of it all, it was important to make sure that City took care of some essential business. A member of Arsenal’s staff duly emerged from a cupboard with a broom, remarking: “They’ve asked for a hoover.” The broom was the best they could magic up at that moment. At Premier League level they are not used to requests from the opposition to clean the visitors’ dressing room. Whatever the circumstances, though, Danny Cowley insists on...
Left unchallenged at the club the manager continues to survive only because of former glories and careful husbandryThe football club Arsène Wenger might have managed – and still might – did him a favour this week. Just 24 hours after his Arsenal team stumbled out of the Champions League, defeated 10-2 on aggregate by Bayern Munich, Paris Saint-Germain stole the headlines by crumbling in the face of a Barcelona assault that amounted to one of the greatest sporting comebacks of modern times.By comparison with that feat of willpower and dark arts, the story of Arsenal’s surrender faded into relative insignificance and Wenger’s bitter criticisms of the referee will now be of interest only to the authorities. But they should refrain...
The future seemed bright after the 2006 Champions League final but since then it has been a sorry saga of lies, a soulless new stadium and an absentee ownerEight-two down on aggregate, 12 minutes more to play, thousands of disgruntled fans streaming from the Emirates Stadium. For the first time, I’m among them.Highbury didn’t die for this. It’s a phrase that became almost a mantra for Alan Davies’s popular podcast – The Tuesday Club – that ended last season, a group of lifelong fans left with nothing new to say about a club determined to bring fresh meaning to the phrase stuck in a rut. It wasn’t always like this. Related: Imagine the effects of letting Diego Simeone loose in...
Hiring the Atlético Madrid coach would be entertaining but surely Arsenal need a steady pair of hands rather than such a revolutionary regearing of this one-man club now Arsène Wenger’s time is clearly upWhen they start feeling sorry for you: that’s when you really need to worry. Towards the end of Arsène Wenger’s press conference after Arsenal had been swatted and ragged around the Emirates Stadium like a half-dead bird being toyed with by an indolent cat, there was a strange period where Wenger became unusually angry and incoherent.Mention was made of the “scandalous” refereeing decisions Arsenal’s manager seemed to genuinely believe were responsible for that supine 10-2 aggregate defeat by Bayern Munich. Now and then his voice clogged a...