Wengerball was the best I've ever seen Arsenal play. Awesome with real dominance in possession. However, I remember teams parking the bus against those teams and whilst we always created chances, there were more than a few times that we simply couldn't find a way through and sometimes lost due to overcommitting. A reliable rounded striker and a bit more craft in midfield might have unlocked this Newcastle side
I think there's a big difference between the freedom Wenger engineered for Cesc and the defensive responsibility Ode and the entire team seem to have. The two can't be compared because this team can't match the Cesc era for ball possession and until they come close and we have a top scorer, this will be a problem to overcome.
As a coach, these are the games where we rely on the individual quality of certain players to get you through a tough game. Football is like that sometimes and no matter how great you're playing, you just won't find the finishing touch as a team to score. This is where Wenger had players like Henry, Bergkamp, Pires, etc, to pull the team out of the funk. Unfortunately, Arteta doesn't have the depth in that kind of quality. We dominated the game and didn't score. It happens, we didn't lose, we move on!
Agree and even with those greats, we sometimes came up short. It happens. We just need to try and reduce the amount of times it might happen
Cesc was more of a box to box player than Ødegaard is though. With the exception of a couple of seasons where he played almost like second striker because that's what the team needed, he was covering every blade of grass for us. Interestingly with more freedom came more responsibility. Cesc had a far greater burden on him in terms of how reliant the team was on him for success than Ødegaard. If Cesc didn't play well, we didn't win. It was that simple. Ødegaard can play poorly and we can still get results. He's had less than stellar games this season that we've still won comfortably.
I hear you and I feel Cesc and Wenger were the perfect match at the perfect time. Wenger's teams were a reflection of him- total football. This team reflects Arteta and current Pep-some flair but a lot of control. Cesc as a creator is our best ever and Ode in a more defined role isn't allowed to showcase his best attributes. He's equal parts Flamini and Cesc atm but put Nasri or Rosicky next to him and he'd be better. As "bad" as some of Cesc's team mates were, they were still better than some playing out of their skin now. Agree that Ode should be able to take the game by the scruff of the neck more and drag the team along. His failure to do so is maybe due to a lack of personality and dressing room politics. We may never have another Cesc but if we did, I feel he might fail the beep test atm anyway.
It’s a nice idea, but “intensity” without a defined system is just a bunch of headless chickens running around…
But that’s the reason we had become so predictable and could hardly beat any Top teams in the EPL or CL.
That team was up against the best ever united and Chelsea teams. It would have been a miracle to win the league at that time, coupled with the fact that the only time we could sustain a title challenge, our best striker got his leg snapped in half by a maniac.
Wengerball just mesmerised me. We did not win any trophies with that second team that wenger built but I was always satisfied with the beautiful stuff we always pulled.
That’s all true but it was not good enough a reason to stop us from beating Birmingham in that Cup final. A reason enough to become more street savvy like all the other big team at that time. I even remember after United beat us in certain game, fergie during his post match interview was defending Wenger and Arsenal in a very pitiful manner. Same with when Bayern beat us badly, their manager was talking up wenger in a pitiful way. Even Pep did the same thing when Barcelona beat us.
