Is Wenger Over or Under Rated?

How good of a manager is Wenger? I have heard everything from he's one of the best managers in the world to he sucks. I can't think of another coach where peoples opinions are so split on him. I thought of this because Goal.com has an article of the 15 best/worst things in his career.

I will fully admit I don't like Arsenal, but I will be as neutral as I can as for some reason I don't really mind Wenger. His career is below.

Nancy-Lorraine 84-87- First job no titles
Monaco 87-94- 1 League title and 1 cup win
Nagoya Grampus Eight 95-96- 2 cup titles (one is like the community shield)
Arsenal 96-present- 3 PL titles, 4 FA Cups/ One Undefeated season (amazing achievement)

In total 27 years coaching and 11 trophies.

Now here's the weird thing, under here are some managers that have comparable stats or better and I'm not even getting into the national team coach's like Del Bosque, Hiddink,Scolari etc etc The weird thing is if Pep stepped down tomorrow I would probably rather have Wenger over most if not all of these guys. Are we conditioned to think he's better then he is? His numbers looked great 6-7 years ago but now there not that impressive plus the big glaring hole in his resume is the Champions league.

Mancini- 11 years-8 trophies Van Gaal- 20 years-14 trophies (CL) Goran Eriksson-34 years-14 trophies Ancelotti- 16 years-7 trophies(2 CL's) Benitez-14 years-8 trophies(CL) Capello-20 years-11 trophies(CL)

These are rough numbers I didn't count league super cups or Community Shields or anything like that just CL, League, League cup and trophies associated with CL.

So the question is why do we just assume he is better then most of these guys? Where do you rank him and do you hold it against him that he hasn't won a CL? Notice I didn't mention Pep, SAF, or Mo.

This is not a trolling thread, I'm honestly curious as to what most people think.

10 years ago he was under rated, but unfortunately Wenger has aged like milk and is starting to become a tad over rated, having said that hes still probably the man for the job at arsenal but tbh if he goes this season and next season tropheyless it maight just be then end of his time as a gooner

I agree, but that's what I think is so weird. If he were to flame out his next two years at Arsenal and get fired I think almost every big team in Europe would be lining up to hire him.

Hes nothing to me.

Not underated because everyone knows what hes done, and what hes not been able to do.

and not overated because, in what way? because arsenal have maybe kept him for too long?

fact is that he hasnt done anything with arsenal for 6-7 years. of course he has reached some things during that time, but hes won nil, and that alone makes me see him as just there...

hes wenger... aka current failure. thats it

dnmac4 wrote:I agree, but that's what I think is so weird. If he were to flame out his next two years at Arsenal and get fired I think almost every big team in Europe would be lining up to hire him.

This is because other teams realize some of the Arsenal players aren't as good as people think.

I rate him a a guy that knows how integrate young players into his system(not easy to do) but not more than that. I don't see him as a man manager that takes his teams to the next level either tactically or emotionally. Thats not to say he doesn't know tactics but I don't think he is a guy who prepares his team well for big matches. This is just my opinion looking from a far.

I don't think he's overrated nor underrated, unless you are in the group that says he is total crap or that he is the best manager of his generation, which most people are not.

I'm going to go with over rated.

Even though there's this voice of dissent that's growing trophyless season by trophyless season, there's still this perception in England that Wenger is untouchable. It's evident by how every pundit and so-called expert seems to vehemently disagree with any criticism that's levelled at Wenger, justified or not.

I believe that Wenger's past success and consistent results with Arsenal has left a lasting impression on a lot of people that's blinding them from seeing Wenger's faults as a manager and a person. The logic seems to be: "he's done it before, so why can't he do it again?"

The only way Wenger is under-rated is through people not considering a top four finish every season for fourteen seasons not good enough. Doing so is still a very good acheivement, but at the same time it still falls below the expectations that Wenger himself built during his time at Arsenal.

Wenger does still have a lot of disereable traits as a coach; he's loyal, works well with retraints and tries to play a brand of attractive football and I think one thing that should be taken into consideration when comparing him with other managers is that he's been at one club for fifteen years, whereas a lot of other coaches haved managed multiple clubs in different leagues. In my opinion, it's harder to maintain success with one club than it is to acheive success with multiple clubs and that for what Wenger lacks in silverware, there are still aspects of management that he does better than others.

As for the Champions League, I would not hold it against him if he does not win it in his career. He'd still be a great manager to me regardless.

Over rated imo

Great coach but seriously way over rated

I mean manager of the decade ffs

Do people realize when Arsenal started having a trophy drought? Right after the building of Emirates stadium. Crushing debt = selling of some players = no ability to buy any WC players = no ability to pay WC wages.

Year after year, Wenger is forced to play 17-19 year old kids. And when these kids reach their potential? The salary structure is so low at the club that Arsenal is unable to keep the players.

To me, Wenger is a genius just to keep Arsenal competitive while having huge limitations.

Under rated imo. It's not like Chelsea, Man U, Man City, Barca or Madrid where you can pretty much buy and pay whoever you need.

He isn't forced to play 17-19 year old "Kids"

Magricos wrote:He isn't forced to play 17-19 year old "Kids"

oh yeah, like when he had 5 million pounds to spend , he could easily go buy a 26 year old WC striker.

Javier Hernandez. Plus Wegner keeps on saying he has money to spend but is waiting for the right player.

Sportzcy Basically said it all but i'll add more to it

I don't know if he is under rated or over rated. Now a days no one really rates him anymore.

But what i will say is that I dont care if he has won 11 trophies in his career, I will never forget the fact that he transformed us from a mid table team to a powerhouse ( till pre 2007 anyways )

Im sure he would have won A lot more trophies if we were still in Highburied. He won a trophy in every single year since he arrived till 2005. Not a co incidence that we built a new stadium, re constructed our wage bill, had to sell before buy. And we stopped winning trophies.

Any ways i think anyone who calls him WC atm, is over rating him, but anyone who says he is garbage is under rating him.

sportsczy wrote:Do people realize when Arsenal started having a trophy drought? Right after the building of Emirates stadium. Crushing debt = selling of some players = no ability to buy any WC players = no ability to pay WC wages.

Year after year, Wenger is forced to play 17-19 year old kids. And when these kids reach their potential? The salary structure is so low at the club that Arsenal is unable to keep the players.

To me, Wenger is a genius just to keep Arsenal competitive while having huge limitations.

Under rated imo. It's not like Chelsea, Man U, Man City, Barca or Madrid where you can pretty much buy and pay whoever you need.

This.

Superbly put.

What RG said.

RG and Sportsczy said it. I'm a very big fan of Wenger and I think he is a top 3 coach today.

Over rated imo.

No one forced him to build a new stadium... just sayin'

Wasn't Wenger's idea to build a stadium that they couldn't afford. That was all on the board. A new stadium was a very good idea... but the budget was blown by 2-3x.

Wenger says what he says so that word doesn't hit the market that Arsenal can't spend with the big boys. Losing the "elite" brand is pretty catastrophic. He has to play a game of smoke and mirrors until, hopefully, the finances sort themselves out. Doesn't have much time left now.

Hard to judge Wenger. He has had to coach a team without resources, hell even Porto has spent more money on players than Arsenal over the last years. Yet he's constantly been on the top 4.

Nonetheless, I feel 6 years without winning a trophy is a small failure. Even with his resources.

excuses excuses...wow at the people saying hes forced to buy youngsters when he can loan in or keep some of the veterans that they sold they would be a much more stable team if they kept some of the players they sold...wenger has both brought arsenal to the heights and imo currently bringing them back down...

nichabr wrote:excuses excuses...wow at the people saying hes forced to buy youngsters when he can loan in or keep some of the veterans that they sold they would be a much more stable team if they kept some of the players they sold...wenger has both brought arsenal to the heights and imo currently bringing them back down...

Wenger says what he says so that word doesn't hit the market that Arsenal can't spend with the big boys. Losing the "elite" brand is pretty catastrophic. He has to play a game of smoke and mirrors until, hopefully, the finances sort themselves out. Doesn't have much time left now.

Loaning is what small clubs do

Also, what quality players can you loan? Wenger opted for buying youngsters with immense potential instead

Good to see all the responses.

The one thing I will disagree with is the forced to buying youngsters thing people are saying.

It's a policy that has worked for him, but he doesn't need to do it. He could easily use the same money and buy veterans. Like Ox-Chamberlain, he could use that money to buy a veteran, now they wouldn't be world class but the youngsters isn't either yet. It's a philosophy thing and it's weird I think it has helped and hurt Arsenal.

He's a prisoner of his own policy basically