Anytime you talk about Arsenal, you have to qualify it with the paeans that Arsene Wenger so richly deserves. We did not see this sort of soccer in England as a system till he came on the scene. But Jason Burt clearly lays out the head in the sand mentality that seems to have taken hold of Wenger.
"Not really, we had no player we really wanted and for now we have no regrets," he said. "You cannot explain the own goal of [Gaël] Clichy by the fact we haven't an experienced player in midfield."
That Clichy's goal was not crucial to the scoreline seems to have eluded Wenger.
All these issues have been around for some time – the need for an experienced centre-half, for more power in midfield, for greater strength in attack – and they all came back to haunt Wenger on Saturday. Quite why he feels so strongly that recruiting would inhibit the development of his young players is only something he can explain. Buying one or two surely wouldn't stop the cream from rising?
My sentiments exactly. In fact, having a mix of experienced players can be beneficial in maturing young players more quickly. What we have right now at Arsenal is a stochastic process.
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