Wenger going gets tough

After six promising and exciting but ultimately barren years, Arsene Wenger has come to a managerial fork in the road.

And deciding which path to take is probably the most important decision of the Arsenal manager’s career and one that may ultimately decide his legacy.

With defeat to Bolton Wanderers last weekend realistically ending the club’s hunt for silverware yet again, Arsenal in general and Wenger in particular need to take stock and decide where they go from here.

Down one path lies the continuation of Wenger’s policy of counting on youth, trying to mould a team from talented youngsters and hoping one day soon they deliver the goods.

There is, of course, a lot to admire about this plan, most notably the financial stability it has brought to the club. Wenger does occasionally spend a bit, but nothing like the silly amounts of cash splashed out by some of their rivals.

This approach also means a team can grow together, developing into a cohesive unit with each player totally familiar with how their teammates play.

In that way Wenger is able to take young players, indoctrinate them with his football philosophy and know that each and every member of his squad knows what is expected of them at all times.

But, and this is a big but, that’s only an admirable policy if it actually works. And it quite evidently isn’t.

After, understandably, dismantling the great team of half a decade ago, you would expect a year or two of rebuilding to be needed. However, it has now been six years and that process still seems to be ongoing.

Which brings me to the other path Wenger can choose to take. And it is a path I am fairly sure the club’s new owner will be keen to push the Frenchman down: the spending path.

I’m not suggesting Wenger will be encouraged to go on a Manchester City-like spree in an attempt to buy the club some success.

I’m sure Stan Kroenke didn’t have that in mind when he bought the club recently and I’m sure Wenger wouldn’t be comfortable with that course of action.

But I am suggesting that this alternative path must involve more than just the occasional purchase of good but not great players.

The current Arsenal team isn’t too far from completion, as this season has shown. But it is still crying out for a world class defender, a defensive midfielder and maybe a striker that can remain injury-free for a few games in a row. All three should preferably be English, to give the team the spine it lacks.

And top-class English players don’t come cheap. If Wenger, egged on by Kroenke, does decide now is the time to spend and not hang around waiting for youth to grow into the job, then they need to be looking at spending at least £60-£70 million on those key players this summer.

Of course, Wenger is nothing if not hard-headed. I have my doubts he will go down this spending route, preferring to stick to his chosen path and try to paper over the cracks.

But I genuinely think that would be the end of his dream if he does.

From what I have watched of Arsenal over this season, they are not going to be able to compete at the very top until they back up the kids with players who have been there and done it; experienced lads who know how to hang onto a lead and when to go all-out attack.

The next few weeks will give us a decent indication of how Wenger intends to approach what could, almost unthinkably really, turn out to be his make-or-break year with the club.

If the spending starts in earnest we will know he has realised his way may not have been the right one. If it doesn’t, we will know he has staked his reputation on giving his kids one last chance to come of age.

I know which route I think he should take. And I am sure many Arsenal fans will agree with me on this one.

Just the ticket

If you are like me, then there are few things in life you will find as irritating as getting a parking ticket.

That little bit of paper stuck under your wiper just eats away at your soul, especially as you know it means a chunk of the money you are earning that day has just evaporated.

But parking tickets are not that much of a problem if you happen to be a professional football player. And even less of a problem if you happen to be slightly unstable Italian striker Mario Balotelli.

The Sun newspaper last week revealed that Balotelli has, since he signed for Manchester City last year, amassed a quite impressive total of £10,000 in parking fines and had his Maserati impounded 27 times.

The striker, who has been on one long series of misadventures in his short time in English football, has received an average of three parking tickets a day since arriving at Eastlands.

According to sources, the player will get in his car and drive to a restaurant a few streets away and then park on double yellow lines. Just out of sheer financial arrogance.

And it gets worse.

Apparently, on one occasion he was pulled over by police, who found he had £25,000 in cash on the passenger seat. When the policemen understandably asked why, he replied: “Because I can.”

I appreciate that Balotelli is hardly a role model football star and it would be unfair to tar all professional footballers with his warped brush.

But it does give an indication of just how detached from reality these people can get if they don’t have their heads screwed on properly.

Balotelli earns more than £100,000 a week, so to him, a £10,000 bill for parking tickets is a mere drop in the ocean. It’s a price he’s obviously happy to pay for the luxury of parking like an idiot.

But I am sure that sort of extravagance and excess doesn’t sit well with some Manchester City fans who spend a big chunk of their hard-earned wages going to watch their team. And parking properly in the process.

Obviously, I am not entirely sure how parking laws work in England but surely there must be some way for the authorities to clamp down on Balotelli; a way in which his blatant disregard for the law can be used to justify taking his driving licence off him.

Yes, he would just get a chauffeur (something the club should have thought of imposing on him earlier) and there won’t be too much inconvenience caused to his lifestyle.

But from the little I know about this type of person, taking away the thrill of driving his powerful poser car might just be enough to make him think twice about his actions and get him to change his lifestyle a bit.

Who am I trying to kid…?

Your say

“I’m sending this e-mail to point out the “very hypothetical situation” you referred to in your article last Sunday. Basically you mentioned that if the top three teams win all their remaining matches and Manchester United lose against both Chelsea and Arsenal, they’d all end up with the same amount of points.

True. But may I point out that this is not only very unlikely to happen, but close to impossible.

Time to get your calculator out.

If the top three teams have a 70 per cent likelihood of winning each of their remaining matches (it is lower than 70 per cent, but let’s give you an edge), and assuming there are five games to go at the time of printing, then there are 13 games versus ‘lower’ teams and two direct encounters.

“The probability of the top three winning all 13 games is 0.969 per cent. On top of that, United have to lose both direct encounters for your scenario to occur.

“Given an optimistic (for Arsenal and Chelsea) chance of 40 per cent for United to lose a direct encounter, then the final likelihood of the outcome you mentioned is 0.969 per cent x 40 per cent x 40 per cent = 0.155 per cent.

“So the outcome is not only very hypothetical but at best is 0.155 per cent likely to occur.

“At the point of five matches remaining, I had written an article for Significance (the official magazine of the Royal Statistical Society). In it, the probability of United winning the league was calculated as over 90 per cent.

“However, I did not take into consideration their direct encounters, so it should be lower. Notwithstanding, the league may go down to the wire, but it is very unlikely to do so.

“On another note, can you please dedicate an article to AC Milan’s imminent Serie A win?

“As an Inter fan, any measure that might hinder AC Milan’s path to glory would be greatly appreciated.” Dominic Cortis, e-mail.

“I am an ardent Newcastle United fan, and have been for the past 57 years (I’m 67). I am one of those who was really angry when Michael Owen left, or rather by the way he left.

“After the money Newcastle paid to get him and the salary he was earning, without being able to give back to the club the desired output, I really believe he should have offered to halve his salary, and after relegation he should have tried to help the club regain their rightful place in the Premiership.

“I had great respect for him, but now for me he is nothing more than a rat that took the dough and ran. As it turned out, we did not need him, the club saved thousands of pounds and we still got promoted.

“As you know very well, over the years Newcastle fans have been tolerant towards their former players, and they even cheer them when they come back to St James’ Park with their new club to play against us. But not Owen, because of the way he treated us.

“He should have shown more respect to the club and their loyal fans.” Louis Azzopardi, e-mail.

sportscolumnist@timesofmalta.com