Wenger, what Winger?

Wenger, what Winger?

I want to talk like a wicked pundit. A winger wins you championship it’s as simple as that. If you look at the great championship winning team and you take off their best winger they become ordinary. Chelsea lost Robben and never won the league again and the only time they got a great run last year was when Malouda started to play like a true one. Manchester United lost Beckham while Giggs started to feel the years and they became casual until both Ronaldo and Rooney started to pour in some truly great wing performances. Liverpool challenged when they had Riera. AC Milan has never been the same since they lost that Serginho bloke. Barcelona sold Giuly and struggled until Dani Alves came alone as one of the best wing back of the game combining well with Messi. Without great Overmars or Pires seasons we have seemed hopeless.

It’s easy and quite simplistic to draw the picture like that but it can show us how important a winger is if you want to put your hands on the championship. I believe to be a great team you need one great winger at least. Of all the players Wenger put on the wings and they are a lot only Overmars was born to play the role. Pires did better than everybody else but only because he was a special player. Both Pires and Ljungberg were attacking central midfielders who were used from the wings. They both succeeded only because they had the attributes. A winger needs to precise, aggressive with the ball, to dribble, to assist and to score but more than anything to define the space in which the team plays. A winger needs to know when to narrow or to widen the attacking surface. They both excelled at that with great acceleration.

Of the current lads Arshavin looks like the safe bet for a truly great championship winning winger. Rosicky is as closed as you can get but Wilshere looks like a born winger and I hope he won’t be changed into a central midfielder or a half striker. Nasri can be a decent one while Walcott goes from sublime to mediocre between two actions. It’s not bad to help players learn their trade from the wings but only you always have to make sure you don’t have a mediocre player at each side of the field. Arshavin, Rosicky, Nasri, Walcott and Wilshere sould be the first choices wingers and bringing another would definitely not hurt our championship aspirations.

Now let’s compare our wing situation with those of our main rivals. Manchester United are left with Nani, Park Ji Sung, Rooney who’s gunning for a striking role and Giggs. Liverpool have Benayoun, Riera, Kuyt and Babel to call while Chelsea have Malouda, Joe Cole, Ballack or Belletti to use. Real Madrid may be able to use Ronaldo, Robben, Kaka, Sneijder or the likes of Van Der Vaart, Higuain and Drenthe. In Messi, Henry, Dani Alves, Seydou Keita and Iniesta Barcelona does not seem to lack options neither does Inter Milan with Mancini, Quaresma and the likes of Milito and Balotelli. I think Barcelona and Chelsea still look seem to have the best options if you consider their side backs. We may not be far but would need Arshavin to deliver and the rest to step up big time.