When criticising Wenger, lots of goid points have been made back and forth...
But I could not see one very important point mentioned...
Since 2005, the squad was going through an overhaul process. However, this process was disturbed and reset multiple times due to key players up and leaving. First Hleb, Flamini. Then Nasri, Clichy, Cesc. Then Persie and Song. Each case leaving either after years of underperforming/injury or finally hitting the peak of their careers.
Hleb and Flamini were practically unknown before hand. At Arsenal, they immideately exploded on the scene becoming key figures of a newly-forming Arsenal squad. And what did they do right after getting a bit hot? Take off to Barca and Milan out of greed or ambition, moves that practically killed their careers. Very similar case for Adebayor. We all remember the gap his departure left in our front line.
Then reset again...You thought we had a good squad coming, but it got completely demolished due to player's lack of loyalty. Let's try this again.
Nasri, an unproven talent shining through, takes off to City along with Clichy. And we all know the Cesc saga as well.
Reset again.
Van Persie, who has barely contributed at all over the years sidelined due to serious injuries, repays Wenger's faith in him throughout all those injury-strucken years by forcing a move to the clubs biggest rivals after having 1 good season. And Song as well...Many years everybody questions his talent and if he's worth anything, but Wenger keeps his faith. And finally Song looks to come through as a great midfielder now who can even dribble, make great assists, and even get on the score sheet once in a while...And one good season, the stories come through of disgruntled training sessions and the eminent move to Barca which saw him nearly permanently benched.
Yes, Wenger is not fault-free in this era. Especially in letting still capable players like Gilberto Silva go just because of standardized 30-above contract rules and etc. But most of these transfers were practically inevitable as players forced their way out, with a even few of them leaving on frees!!! (Flamini, 1 example I believe).
Even Walcott was about to bail on a free on some rant about wanting to play CF which everybody and their mother knows is just silly.
Try having to rebuidl your squad 3 times over each time in a time of financial crisis with limited funds, a global economic crisis, and money-injected clubs stealing your players/transfer targets & inflating the value
and wages of players in the market.
It's easy to say Wenger was not ambitious
enough during those years. But no one can name another club suffering such player losses (yes, partally their own fault, but undeniably, mostly the player's fault). Not to mention the endless freak injuries and mishaps and goals (Eduardo, Ramsey, Walcott, Wilshere, Diaby, Birmingham FA Cup final, etc,
etc)...
Considering all the negative factors, the arguement is any other club/manager would have drowned against such tides. In fact, we saw clubs already do that against much smaller tides (Liverpool, Man U, etc).
IMO, Wenger's tactical ability has declined as the game has developed throughout the last 10 years. But in terms of managing a team, forming a squad, and being a leader and visionary he's as good as they come. And doing this all with class that he has, never putting the blame on his players who countless times let him down majorly...
I really congratulate him and his FA cup victory. I hope now Mr. Wenger focuses on making the 2-3 top quality signings the squad needs to close the gap a little between Man City and Chelsea.
