Source: Team_Talk
TEAMtalk Tirade: Shut it Wenger
Arsene Wenger has already had a huge, everlasting effect on football in our country. For many, that effect has been a wholly positive one.
Before his arrival in 1996, Arsenal were a big, physical side famous for grinding out 1-0 wins, and the Premier League in general was full of targetmen, rough-house centre-halves and plenty of blood and thunder.
Wenger brought the likes of Thierry Henry, Robert Pires and Robin van Persie to our shores and went on to become the first ever non-British coach to win the double.
His methods were revolutionary, his side gradually began to play the sort of continental football never before seen in England, and the Premier League was undoubtedly a better place for it.
The league has gone from strength to strength ever since, the players are far, far better than they were in '96, and English teams are once again dominant in Europe.
You could argue Wenger is the best thing to ever happen to football in our country. However, Slaven Bilic may say the Premier League has lost its 'Englishness' and Wenger has played a massive part in that.
His Arsenal side are almost like a size zero model - they've given the media an unhealthy obsession with passing football and given supporters an unrealistic expectation of how their teams should be playing.
Wenger has regularly criticised sides that are more pragmatic than his, or ones that play defensively or use the long ball, and I genuinely believe he has directly alterered people's
perceptions of how football should be played.
And now Wenger seems set on removing that final piece of
'Englishness' from our game - tackling.
He accused Manchester United of using anti-football tactics against his side last month and now claims he is considering going to the FA with his concerns about 'tactical fouling'.
He believes players are too often allowed to get away with innocuous fouls in the middle of the park made to break up attacks and slow down the pace of the game.
Before considering his claims, you must look beyond his hypocrisy, forget the fact that Arsenal so often look short of a midfield destroyer and pay absolutely no attention to the Gunners' dreadful disciplinary record under Wenger.
You could then argue he has a point. There are undoubtedly fouls made that break up the opposition's attack but go unpunished and yes, it can be frustrating for the pressing side.
But we do not live in a world of fairies and gingerbread houses and the cold, hard facts are that the type of fouling Wenger refers to is part and parcel of the game. It has gone on for as
long as the game exists and every team does it, Arsenal included.
Referees perhaps aren't strong enough to deal with the tactic at times, but Wenger is not exactly announcing news of the Titanic sinking by informing us many officials are not up to their jobs.
There are plenty of worse crimes in football - diving for one, Mr Wenger - and there is absolutely no reason for him to get involved.
Every manager would love to play weak, spineless and entirely clean teams each week, but it's not going to happen any time soon and Wenger should concentrate on buying players that can deal with it and forget about trying to change the game for his own good.
