Arsenal managerial legend Arsene Wenger
It’s not been a good last couple of weeks for Arsenal. Out of the Champions League at the hands of European ‘bogey’ team Barcelona, out of the FA Cup at the hands of old rivals Manchester United, defeat in the final of the Carling Cup to upstarts Birmingham City and patchy Premier League results with draws against Newcastle and Sunderland. Not to mention an injury list that has contained, at various points of the season, Fabregas, Vermaelen, van Persie, three goalkeepers and now Djourou.
Manager Arséne Wenger must wonder what he has to do to win a trophy these days, because it’s not just this season where things have gone wrong. No, it’s been six long years since the North Londoners picked up any silverware and that, for a club managed by one of the best, is something of a disaster.
Yet Wenger remains in charge and it appears as if he’ll stay that way until he decides to give it up. The Frenchman does have a job for life at Arsenal, of that there can be no doubt. The real question is whether or not he deserves it. Six years without a trophy suggests it might be time for a change, but Wenger made Arsenal great and if Sir Alex Ferguson’s 20-odd years at Old Trafford has taught football anything it’s that you don’t dispense with the men who make you great.
Except Ferguson has never gone six years without winning something…
The success Arsenal enjoyed under Wenger was achieved through a combination of power, skill and a natural goalscorer. Today’s less successful Arsenal lacks both power and, unless van Persie is fit and well, a natural goalscorer. The skill level has been raised to levels unmatched in the Premier League. They are, without doubt, a joy to watch when on song. But they lack what it takes to win the League.
The fact that they have been dubbed “Barcelona Lite” is both praise and damnation in my opinion. They can play like the Catalans in periods of games, for sure, and who wouldn’t want that comparison? But they lack the confidence and winning mentality of the Spanish giants, they just don’t believe that their football, their talent is enough to win anything. And, of course, they’re not quite as good anyway – hence the ‘Lite’.
Wenger, then, has to accept that he needs to make changes. As much as his reputation and even position at Arsenal is secure, he is now in danger of appearing stubborn at best and blind to his own team’s problems at worst. Nobody is questioning Wenger’s talents as a manager but you do feel he needs to take a step back and see that the direction he is taking Arsenal is not going to be a successful one.
He has persisted with the beautiful football on its own for long enough. His transfer policy in the summer must focus on steel not silk and on goals not glamour. Arsenal’s squad is lightweight but the first eleven is only a player or two from making a genuine challenge on domestic and European fronts. Surely if Wenger expects to have that “job for life” at the Emirates he has to acknowledge these facts and act upon them?
If he doesn’t then it is possible that he will be removed from the managers position. This would no doubt cause uproar amongst the Arsenal faithful but even they will begin to tire of season after season of promise but no delivery. Without a holding, grafting midfielder of high quality and a striker with an unerring eye for goal (rather than the corner flag, Mr Bendtner) that is pretty much all I think they can look forward to.
They needn’t worry though. Wenger will be offered a role upstairs involving scouting and youth development more than likely. Job for life, remember, and one he would, I have no doubt, excel at.
