Arsene Wenger has not managed a club since leaving Arsenal in 2018, but he is still influencing football in other ways.
Wenger is now FIFA’s Chief of Global Football Development, in a role which could see him make some long-lasting changes to the game.
The Frenchman is Arsenal’s greatest-ever manager, and one of the most influential figures in the history of the Premier League, with his innovative ideas helping Arsenal win the league and FA Cup double in 1998, before winning two further leagues and six more FA Cups.
Wenger was hailed at the time for bringing new methods to the game, with his ideas on nutrition helping extend the careers of some of the older players he inherited, but his newer ideas are not being greeted with the same enthusiasm.
Arsene Wenger criticised by Jamie Carragher over proposed change to offside rule
Wenger has proposed a dramatic change to current offside rules after another season of controversy surrounding refereeing and VAR.
It is proposed that an attacker would only be offside if his whole body is beyond the line of the last defender. Tight offsides have been a problem with VAR, with Alejandro Garnacho’s disallowed goal against Arsenal this season constantly brought up by Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag.
Wenger’s rule would see attackers gain a significant advantage, whilst still requiring potentially lengthy checks over the margins of offside, and former Liverpool defender Jamie Carragher has slammed the proposals.
“This will be terrible for the game as teams will defend completely differently than we see now. Lots of lows blocks & teams being negative. How would you defend a set piece!! We don’t need more advantage for the attacker, the game is seeing more goals scored than ever!!!!” He posted on X.
Arsene Wenger’s offside proposals are bizarre
Unfortunately for Wenger, even his biggest fans at Arsenal would struggle to understand his new rules. After a high-scoring season, and one in which the Gunners recorded their highest goal tally in Premier League history, adding extra advantage to attackers will only make defending more difficult.
Carragher is correct that teams will likely drop deeper to deal with the additional threat, with games eventually carrying less attacking ambition, whilst set-pieces will have a whole new problem to deal with.
This criticism comes in the same week that Carragher claimed Jurgen Klopp was a better manager in the Premier League than the legendary Frenchman, but whilst he may be wrong about Wenger in that regard, he is right that his ideas over offside are fundamentally flawed.