Arsenal’s delusional manager Arséne Wenger criticised Manchester United for playing “anti-football” in the home side’s 2-1 victory over the Londoners at Old Trafford on Saturday. That – somehow – United had won by kicking the victims Arsenal out of the game. It’s a familiar refrain from Wenger, whose brittle team is so often beaten by opponents prepared to do little more than press.
Wenger’s argument was no different in 2004 when United ended the Gooners’ ‘unbeaten’ Premier League run of 49 games. He wasn’t right then; he is ever so wrong now. Wenger’s whinge is little more than smoke blown to mask his increasingly obvious personal and professional deficiencies.
Wenger’s ire was seemingly directed at Darren Fletcher, whose work rate and endeavour helped drag United back into the game. When has football ever been different? The beautiful game has always needed players prepared to put in a ‘reducer’ or two, break up opponents’ attacking play and win the ball back. Without it, football would be little more than basketball played with the feet.
But far from practising anti-football Sir Alex Ferguson is the father of modern attacking football. The man, who when it is really needed, will bet all on red, even when the odds are on black.
Think back to the 1998 – 1999 season. United’s ‘treble’ campaign. Yes, United boasted what is probably the best midfield quartet of the last 20 years. [Pop quiz – name a better one.] In Giggs, Keane, Scholes and Beckham, Ferguson boasted four world stars. But it wasn’t United’s wonderful midfield that won the club so many trophies – it was always Ferguson’s belief that his team would score one more than the opposition. One down in the final minutes of a European Cup final?. Throw on two more forwards. Still haven’t scored? Push the goalkeeper up front too. It was wonderful to watch. Truly a golden era.
Despite the ‘Europeanisation’ of Ferguson’s teams in the intervening years the man is still prepared to take the risks that other managers – especially Wenger – cannot. In May Rant praised the gambler Fergie, who had won United the title, despite Liverpool’s superior late season form, by taking huge risks when it really mattered. It was true in 1999 and it is true today.
On Saturday United’s team – playing badly – was prepared to battle and force its way back into the match. The sheer weight of will and expectation brought two goals. Arsenal could never have recovered from a similar position. Indeed, Arsene Wenger’s greatest strength and principal weakness is his religious belief that his team should always play the same way. Metronomic triangles whether the team is 1-0 up or 5-0 down. There is and has never been a plan b.
Wenger buys players with the same mindset. Andrei Arshavin, Arsenal’s gifted Russian forward, criticised the team’s failure to continue attacking when 1-0 up.
“I am upset with the result,” the Russian said.
“Yes, we suffered a first defeat, which, I think, should just give us additional strength. We will draw our conclusions from how this happened.
“Why did we lose? Once we scored, the team should not have retreated into our half, but instead should have continued to play our brand of game – to attack the goals of the opponent, rather than play to retain the lead.
“In the second half Manchester pressured us a little and this ‘little’ was enough to score two goals against us. After that we started playing again, but it was already not enough. Three points lost.”
Commendable maybe but it’s not as if United’s approach is the catenaccio so loved during the era of Italian dominance. Wenger’s inability to see the wood for the trees is at the very heart of his paranoia. Perhaps he is increasingly detached from reality? The Frenchman seems to believe he is on a higher plane. That is his team has a moral superiority.
Perhaps this is why the public and professional reaction to Eduardo’s blatant dive against Celtic last week was so strong? Wenger holds his team up as a standard bearer. It is not. But by these standards is he judged.
Yet, his team are no more a standard-bearer for attacking football than for footballing fair play. United has, in fact, scored more goals than Arsenal in 10 out 13 seasons that Ferguson and Wenger has faced each other since the former Monaco manager reached English shores. That’s 981 goals by United to 912 by Arsenal in the Premier League. And in the five years since Arsenal last won a trophy United have added three Premier League titles, a Carling Cup and a European Cup.
If this is anti-football, we’ll take more of it.
Whilst the sheer will-power of Ferguson’s teams can never be argued against, I think I will make an exception for the Arsenal game. I honestly thought we never looked like creating a goal, in the lead up to the Diaby goal.
However, any sympathy I may have had for Wenger (the chants directed at him, the manner of our win etc), completely evaporated with his bitter post-match comments.
He must be the most one-eyed man when it comes to facing facts with his team. Despite all the stick the press might give to Ferguson about being a sore loser, I have seen him being gracious in defeat countless times. You’d be hard-pressed to see Wenger say stuff like “We simply weren’t good enough” etc, even if his side suffer a 3-0 pummelling.
To be fair he did admit that his side was not good enough after the Champions League semifinal although he turned that around during the close season to state that his team is as good as United’s. Rubbish.
On another point, can we please get some more people to denounce these paedo chants?? Most of the hardcore follow the blogs and I doubt the day trippers at Old Trafford even know what the chant is. So making it clear that chants which reflect badly on our club should fix the problem.
Please allow me to post an Arsenal fan’s perspective (and one that I hope is not too riddled with bias)…
United have been the dominant force in the Premiership over the last few years, and apart from a good first two thirds in 07/08 Arsenal have been poor. This is why the managers have previously spoken of having more respect for eachother. Arsenal havn’t been on United’s level. This has obviously taken it’s toll on Arsene.
This also makes it double frustrating for Wenger, when after a tough week (with all the eduardo controversy, yes it was a dive, yes he should be punished, but why him? and why now?) he takes his young team (that was written off by pretty much every pundit imaginable during the pre-season) and dominates the game at old trafford. Yet because of a mixture of bad luck and individual error, the match is lost. Then there’s that whole farce with the 4th official sending him to stand with the fans (and we all know what they’re chanting).
Bottom line, he was frustrated. I personally really really wish he’d handle defeat better than he does sometimes, as the comments he made just sounded bitter. But I guess it shows his passion for the game, and hatred of losing.
I’m not asking you to love Wenger, or even respect him as I know that’s a tough ask. But just put yourself in his shoes, he is human after all.
All – I admire the way Utd play football and would rather see them win the league over Chelski or Liverpool – however Arsene’s point has been completely twisted by the press (as usual) so he sounds like he’s whingeing about Darren Fletcher’s approach to the game rather than the ref’s biased treatment of Utd players on the day.
His point was that Fletcher ran around kicking people without getting booked and that persistent infringement which breaks up play should be punished. That’s not the same as saying there’s no place for tackling in the modern game – it woudl be very boring without it!
The fact is Fergie usually gets his tactics right against Arsenal – normally by trying to break up play and stop the passing fluidity – usually this works but it didnt at the weekend. Arsenal were clearly the better team and the injustice of not getting the pen against Fletcher, Rooney diving himself to win a pen and then a comical OG was probably enough to send him over the edge! Dont forget it was a Rooney dive which ended the run in 04 too and the injustice is that Eduardo has been the one singled out for 1 infringement when Rooney, Ronaldo, Gerrard, Drogba etc – all repeat offenders – have got nothing. The 2 game ban is not important – the principle is – and Uefa have acted without considering the consequences and have even confirmed they will not be reviewing games etc but just looking at specific instances (i.e. picking and choosing) as they please! How can a sporting body be run like that – its a joke!!!
OK I’ve had enough of this Gooner nonsense that Rooney dived at the weekend or in 2004 or that somehow Arsenal were cheated out of the game by a biased referee. Almunia took Rooney’s legs. Fact. In fact every major TV & press outlet, including Arsenal.com agreed that it was a legitimate penalty. But I guess five years without a trophy, guided by a manager who has cocoon himself in a world of paranoid delusion can blur the vision.
Eduardo should be charged. He’s a cheat and the clampdown has got to start somewhere. My only regret is that Eboue isnt getting a two game ban as well.
Ed, while I agree with a general clampdown on diving, I think the way Eduardo’s dive was handled by UEFA was rather arbitrary. Diving is always going to be a very subjective thing, Eduardo’s was blindingly obvious, but the question is, there were a zillion games in the qualifying rounds of the Champions League and I find it hard to believe that there wasn’t a single dive in those games. It’s just the ceaseless bleating of the Celtic fans (speaking of which, Mowbray defended McGeady’s dive in the weekend) that caused UEFA to act in the manner they did.
I am all for devising a way to stamp out diving (although it’s an impossible dream), but I have my doubts over the competence of the UEFA officialdom.
I agree UEFA is being totally arbitrary. But a clampdown has to start somewhere. It’s a bit like when Rio got an 8 month ban for an offence that previous guilty parties had just been fined for. Officiating bodies ought to have a clear policy but they never do – it’s made on the fly.
I agree, one of the few other teams that I admire. But this whole shielding the “kids” act and not being able to accept that there are parts of football he does not understand yet has gone too far! It’s as if football is meant to be one touch passing with no defenders, and no one else but his team know how to play the “beautiful” game! I think it’s high time you jumped off of that High horse of yours, Arsene!!!
The headline is, as so often happens, taking Wenger’s comments totally out out context. His anti football reference was to the fact that Darren Fletcher can rack up the highest amount of fouls by some margin (was he trained by Scholes?) and still get away without a booking. He feels unpunished fouling is more anti football than diving. You may not agree but that’s his view. He’s only doing what Ferguson and most top managers do so often: taking the heat away from his players who threw a totally winnable game away.
trust me if we (united) played like that every week we would have much smaller crowds and none of hose trophies. sorry but a below average article there mate.
Think you can write better. Submit 500 words to editor@www.nqatpod.com and if it’s any good I’ll post it up.
whgunner, Rooney was fouled, clearly! He did not cheat unlike the swan lake impersonation by Eboue!!!
For Christ’s sake, when are Arsene Wenger, Arsenal and Gooner fans gonna grow up? You lot are the biggest bunch of sore losers in the game.
1) Almunia’s foul on Rooney WAS a penalty. End of story. Look at the replay. Rooney is dragging his left leg behind him trying to slow down and avoid Almunia. His shoulder don’t heave like a player’s does when he dives. His chest isn’t thrown forward either, as it would be if he’s trying to launch himself. And look at how he’s sent flying after Almunia tackles him. That’s NOT a dive.
2) Yes, Arshavin was fouled by Fletcher. But this isn’t the first time a penalty hasn’t been given for a foul in the box and it won’t be the last either. Look at how many unpunished fouls happen during a set-piece in the box. You won one through Eduardo’s CHEATING in the Celtic game and wasn’t awarded one here. Sounds like poetic justice to me.
3) Claiming that Arsene was misquoted by the media is a convenient excuse isn’t it? Nobody but deluded Gooners are buying it though, sorry. The fact is, Arsene lost a game he should have won and is doing anything but accepting the blame. It’s funny that Arsene never talked about anti-football when he had the likes of Viera or Martin “The Missing Link” Keown in his team. He just can’t face the fact that his team may be talented, but are ultimately just a bunch of wet-behind-the-ears pansies who don’t have the stomach for a battle. If the game was all about juggling the ball and doing fancy tricks, we might as well get a bunch of sea lions to perform on the field, don’t we?
So, please. Cut the bullshit and get on with your season.
A dive is a dive. That Rooney did not dive is a fact. Eboue dived. Perhaps, Wenger should ask that he be banned, like Eduardo was for a very obvious dive, instead of accusing MUFC of anti-footbal and Darren Fletcher of fouling Arsenal players to break up opponents’ attacking play and win the ball back. Perhaps Arsenal’s team should be treated like ‘old china’ and kept in a showcase for all to see. The ball is round for all … play the ball … stop accusing teams, players, managers and referees. Whinge by all means but do in the confines of your bedroom. Be men!