In reality, the mechanics of engineering a successful side run far deeper than knee-jerk amendments and little forethought is given to stability of keeping a settled side and the potential instability of unsettling it. For all of the stats which chart pass completion, shots on target ratio’s and win-lose percentages, it is virtually impossible to compile figures which would suggest a pattern of improvement or decline in relation to new signings or managerial appointments.
A pertinent reference that change is not always needed is in the upturn in form that Arsene Wenger’s Arsenal have overseen since the middle of September. After limited incomings and key outgoings over the summer, the Gunners faithful were baying for new blood and although a deadline day flurry saw fresh faces enter the Emirates, Arsenal have gone about reconstructing their season by righting the on-field wrongs which were costing them points earlier in the campaign.
Arsenal’s catastrophic collapse at Blackburn – arguably the lowest ebb’s of Wenger’s Arsenal career – fielded nine of the same players who little over a month later featured in the stunning 5-3 defeat of Chelsea, yet the two performances were poles apart in terms of an understanding and coherence bred from gradual progression on the training ground and implementation in games.
The notion of procuring better players to make a better side is borne from a computer generated Football Manager style fan involvement which caters little for the harmony and equilibrium needed for any team concept to flourish and instead presumes an upgrading of attributes will be the solution to any given problem.
There is a saying in politics that the man on the street can vote for who runs the country but should never be allowed to run the country himself, and with football fans constantly striving for the simplest solution, perhaps those sentiments should be extended to the nations favourite sport.
Written by John Baines for FootballFancast.com.
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