Wenger must find a new Adams

Steve Stammers13 April 2012

There was a time when the phrase 'under the influence' and the name Tony Adams would mean lost days. Times change.

Now, it is the influence Adams exerts inside the Arsenal dressing room that is important to manager Arsene Wenger.

And that is why Wenger, while conceding that Adams's retirement from international football is a blow to England, has privately celebrated the fact that his captain has put Arsenal first - and why he will deplore news that Adams may stop playing football all together after next season.

Quite simply, Arsenal are a much more solid unit when Adams is playing. He has qualities of leadership that are hard to replicate, and while Patrick Vieira is certain to wear the armband one day, the fact is Arsenal struggle when Adams is absent.

Adams is the heartbeat of the team and when the England squad meet for their next international, he will be enjoying the kind of rest and recuperation a 34-year-old body needs in the highly demanding climate of English football.

Wenger is under no illusion as to Adams's importance.

"He has the kind of tactical knowledge that reassures everybody," said Wenger, who has Adams marshalling his defence tonight for the visit of Bradford.

He added: "I hope that I can get 20 per cent more games from Tony now he's stopped at international level. He will get a good break.

"Tony has said that he will look again when his contract is finished in 18 months, but with fewer games, the decision could extend his career as a player.

"As well as the physical factor, there is the mental factor for him when he left here to go with England.

"You are under pressure and then you are under pressure again immediately when you come back.

"He will now get a mental breather." What Adams will also have is more time on the training ground and less in the treat-ment room.

Wenger has never needed convincing about the qualities Adams brings to the team as a player and a natural leader. A succession of video tapes, closely scrutinised before he took over at Highbury, revealed that when Arsenal were successful Adams played a crucial role.

However, it is the way that Adams handled himself off the pitch in dealing with his alcoholism that has made an equal impact on Wenger.

He acknowledges that his tried and trusted methods of match preparation and training would have meant nothing without Adams's efforts to curb a dependence that threatened to wreck his life, never mind his career.

Wenger admitted: "When I arrived here, he changed his way of life. If he hadn't, his career would have been over with or without my influence.

"The biggest part has been played by himself and he has shown great strength of character. He has tried to redress his personal problem.

"His body shape has also changed. I sometimes look at photos of Tony 10 years ago and I look at him today. He looks more like an athlete now than he did then because he has done what was needed to redress his life."

It could be argued that such a heavy dependence on a 34-year-old central defender is an indictment on the English game.

As Wenger observed: "I think he is still one of the best defenders in the country." But he was quick to point out that the shortage of natural successors is a problem facing clubs all over the Continent.

As Uli Hoeness, the distinguished general manager of Bayern Munich, said before the Champions League game with Arsenal this season: "My job is to look for new players and the hardest to find are good, young defenders.

"What Leeds paid for Rio Ferdinand killed us."

He is unlikely to get an argument from Wenger, who added: "All over Europe it is a problem. Inter Milan have Laurent Blanc, who is 35. AC Milan have Alessandro Costacurta, who is 35.

"Juventus have Ciro Ferrara, who is 34. All these are big clubs.

"They are not clubs who cannot say that they can't buy because they don't have the money."

That puts Adams in some fairly select company and it is true to say that he is becoming something of an endangered species.

While Wenger and his fellow managers struggle to overcome the dwindling number of natural defenders coming through the ranks, the Arsenal chief can at least rest easy during international weeks from now on.

True, he will still have concerns about the well-being of his sizeable French contingent and his still formidable English crew, but his captain will be back at London Colney fully rested for the battles ahead.

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