Wenger Has The Class Of Oscar Wilde

This weekend was eventful. Very eventful. England lost to South Africa, but winning the World Cup would have truly been undeserved. The Springboks deserved their victory, but we all saw the passion the rugby team give compared to the football team. The country is proud of England for what they showed last night after their embaressing start to the World Cup. They were not at their best, but still managed to get to the final. Was it due to poor opponents, or luck? Both. But England weren’t complaining. I’m not in the mood to debate ‘England vs Rugby’ at the moment, I want to talk about something more important, so I will leave that for my next article.

Wenger has changed. Wenger done something we’ve never seen him do before; he made exceptional tactical subsitutions which changed the game for us. After 60 minutes, Wenger thought to himself, ‘Bolton are here for the taking. They have no manager and we are all over them!’. Then he told Pat Rice, ‘Time to bring Walcott on’. Pat replied, ‘Yes Sir, your wish is my command…. OI THEO GET WARMED UP YOU’RE COMING ON!’. What I just wrote is effectively not true, but something along those lines happened.

Wenger has never been a manager to make effective subsitutions; during the champions league final we had 8 whole minutes to throw the kitchen sink at Barcelona, but we did not. Wenger should have added an extra dimension to our attack and switched from 4-5-1 to 4-4-2. We had nothing to lose. We were a goal down, either two things were going to happen if he changed the tactics a. We would have scored or b. Barcelona would have scored. Losing 3-1 and giving everything to try and grab a goal would have pleased me more than sitting down the packed pub with my friends and seeing the most gruelling 8 minutes of football I’v seen as an Arsenal fan. Those 8 minutes seemed to last forever.

Walcott changed the game yesterday. He came on and we all saw his pace outlined on MOTD. Wenger must be applauded for that, because 1 year ago he would not have made that substitution. He would have sat there and remained stubborn on his tactics, opting to hold out and wait for a goal. This year Wenger has been more brutal then ever; he is dropping players that aren’t performing, he is selling players that are deemed surplus to requirements, and he is buying players to raise the competition levels for starting places.

Wenger reminds me of Oscar Wilde. Wenger has the class and wit of Oscar Wilde. He stood at the AGM meeting and made a remarkable speech without looking at his notes once. He answered all our questions without us needing to ask questions, because he knew what we wanted to hear and delivered it. Football has never seen a manager like Wenger, when he leaves I will cry and sob like a two year old because Wenger has given us the best football anyone has ever seen.

Arsenal compared to last season are a step above. When we miss a chance, we smile. When we mess up a pass, we smile. When we go 1-0 down, we smile. Why? Because we are enjoying our football. Arsenal play best when underdogs. When pressure is on Arsenal, Arsenal find it hard to perform. We were written off this season. We were told we would never win anything until Wenger bought experience. Thank fuck Wenger is in charge and not some idiot who believed all that.

However, all of what I’ve said is irrelavant when compared to my next point. It doesn’t matter how much of a genius Wenger was on Saturday with his substitutions, or how well we played. Arsenal needed a win after their two week international break to keep momentum going. A 1-0 win would have been enough. Why? Because after a break, the most important thing is to pick up where you left off. I said this in my article written just before the international break. I was right.

If Arsenal lost to Bolton, it would have changed our season. Momentum is a strong force which should not be messed with. We have now won 11 in a row in the league, even if we lose our game in hand, we have a 2 point league. That is a brilliant back up to have. I keep saying this, but this year we will win the league. We really will, and when we do, I will take a sip of my fine Chilean wine and laugh at all those who wrote me off.

Until that point, I will sit and write articles as if my life depended on it. Furthermore, you will read them as if you’re life depended on it.

Ramin