Is Sven Serious When Suggesting Wenger To Be Next England Manager?
Richard | Oct 06, 2011 | Comments 0
In the wake of Sven Goran Eriksson’s opinion that Arsene Wenger would be the ideal next England manager, bookmakers have installed the Frenchman at odds of 25/1 to take over from Fabio Capello when the Italian’s contract is up next year.
Needless to say, few people will be in agreement with Eriksson’s opinion and anyone with a brain cell will not really believe this will actually happen, moreover there is no way that the Arsenal boss would even consider taking the post (fortunately for England fans).
There may have been a time some years ago when Wenger might have been the perfect choice but that was before his stubbornness to acknowledge when things aren’t going right, something that has result in the Arsenal trophy cabinet not being added to in almost seven years!
In his early years at Arsenal, Wenger strengthened the team he had inherited from Bruce Rioch and before him, George Graham. That team included one of the best defensive line-ups in the world let alone the Premier League, made up Tony Adams, Steve Bould, Nigel Winterburn, Lee Dixon and Martin Keown with David Seaman in goals; a defensive pool of players renowned for their frugality and stubbornness.
It is true that Wenger’s vision for the team was the biggest reason why they moved rapidly away from the “boring Arsenal” tag that they had become accustomed to, particularly under Graham. With Wenger at the helm, Arsenal became a much more forward thinking side and played a much more expansive game with the emphasis on pure passing football. He was helped enormously in this task by inheriting players with the quality of the incomparable, Denis Bergkamp as well as Ian Wright and Ray Parlour. They quickly became the team to beat in the Premier League, maintaining their status year upon year assisted by the purchases of amongst others, Patrick Viera and Robert Pires.
In those first eight years at Arsenal, Wenger guided the team to three Premier League titles and four FA Cup crowns, including the two Premier League and FA Cup “doubles” in 1997/98 and in 2001/2. It was the greatest sustained period of success for Arsenal FC in their history and perhaps it was at the end of that eight years that Wenger should have possibly been courted as the next England manager.
Since those halcyon days however, we have all watched from the sidelines as Arsenal, under Wenger, have slipped slowly but surely out of the Premier League elite and have done so while attempting to conform to a footballing strategy, that Wenger has insisted upon.
In seemingly no time at all, he has forgotten what gave him his early successes. This includes forgetting that football is a game where it is impossible to deprive the opposition of the ball for 90 minutes; it is a game where defence is every bit as important as midfield and attack. He has also forgotten that top quality specialist players in specialist positions are far less likely to make mistakes than those second rate specialists and those he has given makeshift roles too.
Under Wenger, Arsenal are now playing with a type of Kevin Keegan style suicide game plan, a strategy that has seen them leak 16 goals in just 7 Premier League games so far this season. And whilst Wenger is busy watching his side fall rapidly from grace, his friend and former England boss, Sven Goran Eriksson is tipping him to be the perfect man to replace Capello as the next England manager. Is this really so?
Can you really imagine Wenger in charge of England, sending out a team with a goalkeeper, two defenders six midfielders and two strikers against the likes of Spain or Germany in a World Cup match? It is hard to imagine and it’s hard to consider him as a serious contender for the jo, despite what Eriksson thinks.
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