Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger is the manager with an enviable post, employed by Arsenal in October 1996, he experienced early success winning 3 Premier League titles, 4 FA Cup titles and 4 Community Shield titles up until 2005, from when he has experienced a decline in silverware and all round success at the club in recent years, drawing the insinuations from other managers in the league notably Jose Mourinho as the only top manager without pressure to win the trophy.In all the storm Arsene Wenger has stuck to his football philosophy and principles, described by many as a style centered on ‘building teams that combine the accumulation of silverware with a desire to entertain and attack’, ‘a purist, dedicated to individual and collective technical quality’, in contrast to other managers who employ a pragmatic approach to winning games.
Arsene Wenger is a known advocate of what he calls ‘a collective goal’ coming under fire from by former manager David Pleat who described him as ‘wanting to score a ‘nice’ goal,” instead of just pragmatically shooting the ball’.
Prior to the 2013-2014 season when Wenger won the FA Cup, he went on a long trophy-less spell sticking to his principles of free flowing entertaining football instead of the more pragmatic result oriented football to the displeasure of star players like William Gallas, Samir Nasri, Alexander Hleb, Gael Clichy and most notably Thierry Henry who sought silverware in other clubs.
In games against Manchester City last season at the Etihad and against Chelsea in this season’s Community Shield he employed the ‘smash and grab’ result oriented approach and got victory in both crucial games, beginning the question; Why does he remain a prisoner of his principles?
When obviously the more pragmatic approach could have earned him crucial victories and cut short his trophy-less spell.
Written by: Emeka Ohagwu
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