Any man who walks into the Real Madrid dressing room would be foolish to think that they are there to coach that group of players. Advise, guide, father, even pay lip service, these are the roles needed. Carlo Ancelotti was evidence of this, Rafael Benitez was not.
Dressing rooms of quality may exist season in and season out at the Santiago Bernabeu but not at other clubs and not at Arsenal. Generations may come along like this and under Arsene Wenger they have. The question is does the Gunners French coach expect to treat every single one in the same manner and is this why they looked lost again this week, against Manchester City.
When looking at squads that have so much talent like PSG and Real Madrid, it is easy to understand why the likes of Neymar or Cristiano Ronaldo would not particularly enjoy being told by Unai Emery or Rafael Benitez when to break, how to slip a defender or anything else for that matter. Is this right? Perhaps not but this is modern football and it only exists at the highest level. That doesn’t mean that there is a lack of coaching at the top either, look at Arsenal’s opponents Manchester City, who are so beautifully fluid due to their rigorous training and perfect execution of the most detailed instruction. In Italy, another one of the most eye-catching teams, Napoli, are drilled hard by Maurizio Sarri, a man who doesn’t care about the transfer window. He just wants to coach his players in his way, no matter who they are.
There are cases, as mentioned, when special generations come through and gel together so well on the pitch that they almost coach themselves. Arsenal found this in the 2003/04 season when the know fabled ‘Invincibles’ all tell tales of a self-motivating, superlatively stylish and heavily ambitious group who just needed sending onto the pitch. Arsene Wenger deserves credit for putting these players together and doing the job of mentor rather than coach in this era, it was the right thing to do, it worked, they succeeded but it hadn’t always been like this.
It is best not to forget that Wenger did at one stage used to coach Arsenal. Even Tony Adams, a critic of the Frenchman these days claims that ‘Arsene doesn’t coach anymore’. He certainly did at one stage, After the Gunners after all came out of the Graham/Houston/Rioch era looking like a fading industrial machine in an era of computers, Wenger took this group and produced Apple Macs whilst the Premier League were developing Commodore 64s. Admittedly he was psychologist, dietician and economist all at the same time but the transition from the brand of football played under George Graham, to the modern-day Arsenal, is all down to their then coach.
Using the term ‘then’ before coach, maybe sad but it seems to be true and it is also not just a failing that sits with Wenger. Carlo Ancelotti made the same mistake when he took control of Bayern Munich as he tried to be (what Gabriele Marcotti referred to a) ‘the galactico whisperer’ and it didn’t work. These players needed to be and wanted to be coached, they had just had ‘The Pep experience’ and they needed at least a transition, the players were famed for coaching themselves at this time and Ancelotti got it wrong. Look back to Carlo’s early days at Parma and you will see how he had changed, he was a coach then, even shunning Roberto Baggio once as he wouldn’t fit the system’.
Perhaps Wenger has made this same mistake? Arsenal’s players ran harder against Manchester City in their recent defeat, pressed more than in the Cup Final and showed a better attitude overall but to no avail. They also looked lost and without a plan and it is arguably because Wenger offers this talented bunch as much trust as he did the Invincibles. The fact of the matter is that whilst he may see as much talent in the group, they are not the same characters and cannot be left to their own devices, few groups can. Maybe Wenger needs to go back to his brilliant basics to achieve anything more with the group but the question is, can he remember how?
