Arsene Wenger and the Art of Management

A lot of Arsenal fans of late (before the good run started) were calling for Wenger's head for being 'crazy', 'tactically naive' and a 'spinmaster'. All because he continued to encourage his team in the face of poor performances.

Just to put things into perspective, I am listing four situations and how they were handled by various managers.

Situation One - Martin O'Neill

Immediately after the 2-2 draw with Stoke, Martin O'Neill said something about the draw with Stoke being 'devastating' and how the team should have been able to handle it and did not.

Even after the 2-2 draw with Stoke, Aston Villa were still in a good position but the moment you mention something like 'devastating' in the press it's going to be splashed all around the papers and what kind of effect it has on the players confidence is anybody's guess.

Situation Two - Phil Brown

The moment the Hull team had their first really bad game against Manchester City, manager Phil Brown brought all of his players onto the pitch during half time and gave all of them a telling off in full public view.

It must have looked great to the fans seeing their team being told off for not putting in the effort, but look what happened to their form after that.

Situation Three - Alex Ferguson

Alex Ferguson said something to the press about 'reckless football', even after their 1-0 win over Inter Milan look at what happened to their form after that.

Situation Four - Arsene Wenger

Wenger kept talking about how the team were close and were playing determined football even after the 0-0 draw with Fulham which was actually equally devastating for Arsenal considering they could have gone eight points behind Aston Villa. Look at the results after that.

My point is Wenger has been called crazy for not criticizing his team publicly after a run of poor results and talking about how they will improve, but criticizing a team in the press is probably the worst possible thing you can do as a manager and it goes in all other management roles too.

I'm pretty sure that Wenger would be critical of the team's performances in the dressing room but I have never ever seen him to publicly criticise a player. He is always full of encouragement in front of the press because you never know what the press is going to make of any statement and how the player in question will take it.

It's still early days but the last few matches featuring consistent performances have given an idea of what the Wenger vision is all about.

If there is one thing in which the team has shown an improvement this season, it's the depth in the squad, and no it has not come in from new signings but just from young players who have acquired experience under their belt.

We are fighting on three fronts this season and I don't see anyone complaining this season about how we don't have the squad to fight on all fronts which definitely was the case last year...

And yes, it is going to get better.