Every managerial methodology brings strengths and weaknesses, and Arsene Wenger’s methods can sometimes be both simultaneously. Some will point to oversights in squad planning down the years; from going into a campaign with just three centre backs, failing to sign a top-class goalkeeper for too long or opting against recruiting a specialist holding midfielder. However, what looks like negligence can bring huge upsides. Wenger understands, possibly more than any other elite manager, that football is fantastically unpredictable and he doesn’t try to control the uncontrollable. This manifests itself tactically; Wenger’s football has best been described as ‘organised improvisation’.
However, he also creates an environment that allows the happenstances that football throws up to work in his favour. Year after year, an ‘internal solution’ seems to crop up out of nowhere; Francis Coquelin, Hector Bellerin and Alex Iwobi three recent examples. Arsenal’s long-serving boss leaves just enough wriggle room in his squads to allow this type of surprise to emerge, whereas others might go for the insurance for an extra summer purchase. At the end of EFL Cup week, we looked at three Arsenal youngsters who could make the jump to first team action in the next year to 18 months…