Transfer trauma

Kings

The two longest serving managers in the Premier League currently – Arsene Wenger and Sir Alex Ferguson – have had a huge influence on the way the game has been played in the highest echelons of English football, leading their teams to consistent success every year. This season, however, they have both found their teams deep in trouble – Manchester United on the European stage and Arsenal in the Premier League. The January transfer window is the only opportunity for teams to shift things around mid-season and pimp their teams for the last half of the title chase. Both managers have not indulged themselves in the window owing to a lot of players being cup-tied, but things may be different this time around.

With the transfer season creeping up on us, there would be no better time to analyze the ways they have gone about conducting their teams this year. Arsene Wenger, the perennially pragmatic professor, has always looked to nurture his younger players and tends to tighten his purse strings every transfer window. Ferguson, on the other hand, has had a good balance of youth and experience in his squad, which has been a major factor in him leading the team successfully to so many trophies over the years.

The numbers though may give a different perspective to the whole story.

My defence, my defence, a kingdom for my defence

Wenger has often been criticized for his poor skills in picking out good defensive players. The famous Arsenal back line – Adams, Bould, Dixon and Winterburn – was inherited from George Graham. Without them, Wenger would be lost, his critics have stated. Let’s see whether the numbers back that up.

From Wenger’s first season in charge (96-97) till the last season when he used the legendary Arsenal back line as the regular starting defence (00-01), Arsenal conceded an average of 32.6 goals per season compared to United’s 37.6.

The next few years, Wenger’s team was near unbeatable, characterized by ‘The Invincible’ season in 03-04. The team also tied the record for the most consecutive wins on the trot - 14. The back line took on a very different shape, though, with Campbell and Toure holding fort in front of Lehmann’s goal. They fared worse than the earlier four, conceding 34.2 goals per season, which goes on to suggest the attack was doing better than before. Manchester United improved their numbers to 34.8 goals per season on average in this phase. With Vieira departing and Henry following suit a season later, this phase marked its end in 05-06.

The last few years have had Wenger under the knife, surgically torn apart for all his faults by the media and by a divided bank of fans. In this time (from 06-07 till now) Arsenal have conceded 37.4 goals on average per season. Higher than in years past and alarmingly high when you see that United has given away a measly 27.6 goals per season.

It seems clear that Arsenal’s defensive duties have fallen by the wayside, while United has built a stronghold around Ferdinand, Vidic and Van der Sar. The goals conceded per season provides for some poor reading for Arsenal fans, the last four seasons, reading (latest first): 43, 41, 37 and 31. The lack of a good defensive name apart from Sagna, and in recent times Vermaelen, has handed Arsenal’s cooked derriere straight to the media.

Wenger cannot wish away the numbers and facts that stack up against him, especially when we use his most famous rival or competitor – Ferguson – as a benchmark. There are no loopholes here, not even the Le Professor.

The Emirates factor

What is Wenger harping on about when he talks about a top four finish and reaching the Champions League knockout stages, season after season? Those things are nought but the least expected of the great English top four. But it seems that the construction of a 60,000-plus seater can have an effect on how things are run.

Since the move to the Emirates stadium, only twice out of six seasons has Arsene Wenger spent more than he brought in for Arsenal while the corresponding number before the switch was a staggering nine out of ten. That one of those seasons was one where United’s noisy neighbours practically donated millions to Arsenal for the services of Adebayor and Toure makes the distinction all the more lucid.

In the last five years, Arsenal has spent the least of the current twenty teams in the Premier League, with Wenger bringing in over six million pounds to Ashburton Grove in that time. United rank 8th in the same list. Before the move, Arsenal had spent an average of 5 million per season while after the shift Arsenal has earned 8 million every year. Ferguson, on the other hand, has spent 9 million per season in the Premier League, helped out a bit by the Cristiano sale.

At the end of the day

The media will always write what it wants to and though there may be a lot of truth to what it writes, some vital parts may be twisted to gain attention.

Credit to the always excellent http://www.transferleague.co.uk for the numbers