Pain In The Arsène – Part 2

Okay folks as promised the second part of this article is forthcoming, and considering I have not been mobbed by Arsenal fans baying for my blood, perhaps some of the Emirates faithful agree with me and my thoughts from part one. Either that or the 3-0 win over Bolton last weekend has helped matters.

Speaking of which, I do believe congratulations are in order to Robin Van Persie as his brace during the game helped to post 100 goals scored for the Dutchman at Arsenal. Again as I mentioned in the previous part, should Arsenal lose Van Persie in a similar fashion to recently departed Cesc Fàbregas and Samir Nasri, I think it is safe to assume it just does not bare thinking about for Arsenal fans. But anyway back to the matter at hand of the Arsenal inquest.

Arsène Wenger’s has often shown to have this quest of proving a point of achieving success in a certain manner. Trying to demonstrate that achievement can be done with the promise of youth, and without the gleam of proven star names. Providing a platform for the young and unearthed diamonds to be given their chance, and abiding to a certain tradition of building a football team rather than buying one, is a really commendable act on Wenger’s part.

A position that to some degree is absent in the grand scheme of things in many other industries, but that is another point entirely. However, in football I do believe it is really a shame that in this sport, finance governs success. But has Wenger’s stance compromised the club’s quest for trophies in recent years? It is hard to argue otherwise especially when allied to the fact that this standpoint has suited the Arsenal board. With Wenger working on a shoestring budget by comparison to the club’s fellow top teams whilst saving the club money, it has given the brass at the club full licence to be less than proactive in business-related endeavours.

Nonetheless, other ideals Wenger has installed must be questioned on. Is the need to have a hard and fast attitude to judge players over thirty at the club on their age, rather than their current ability to perform a fruitful position for the red and whites? He might not be a current favourite with Arsenal fans, but is William Gallas that much inferior to the current defensive centre-backs that Arsenal regularly employ as his replacement? And lastly why haven’t any of Arsenal’s revered past players not been offered a coaching role or executive position within the club?

I often could never understand how someone of Dennis Berkamp’s football prestige and experience, was not offered a coaching or adviser position within the club after he called time on his playing career. He is the current assistant manager with Ajax, yet if he is good enough for the famed Ajax surely he was and is good enough for Arsenal? And how can Patrick Viera, a man who currently holds the title of Football Development Executive at Manchester City, not be taking up such a position at the halls of Arsenal’s stadium where he has legendary fame? Surely such figures would have benefited Arsenal’s young guns over the last six years by passing on their successful experiences, and respected statuses within the club?

One definitive factor that has always sent me into a spin regarding Wenger is how he brought an air of picking and choosing what competition to focus on. Obviously without doubt, a domestic league championship and Europe’s Champions League are the two biggest prizes a club look to obtain this side of the world. But with so much competition for these coveted prizes, there is no guarantee of glory in putting all your eggs in one basket so to speak.

If you compare Wenger to long-time rival Alex Ferguson, the Manchester United manager wants to win everything available and keep the trophy count ticking over. Yes he may tinker with personnel in certain areas, for perhaps the supposed lesser matches. Examples may include the early stages of the League Cup, but once it gets to ‘squeaky-bum-time’ as he calls it, he goes in all guns blazing. While Wenger would not take the same attitude when put in the same situation. The 2007 League Cup final is a prime illustration when Arsenal faced Chelsea and left a few of his top guns so to speak, such as Thierry Henry out of the team line-up in wanting to give others a chance.

On that occasion Wenger’s actions are laudable indeed, particularly when a certain 6-3 away day result was achieved a few rounds earlier against Liverpool (oh the pain still remains). But the accomplishment of winning or giving yourself the best possible chance of winning, is no better experience for a talented but young squad of players. I should say there is a good friend of mine who is an Arsenal fan, and no doubt is reading this and is probably sick to death of me repeating this point ever since the defeat in the final, but I do believe there is a strong truth in this. Winning trophies breeds a winning mentality, no matter what age you are. Who knows where Arsenal could have been with silverware gleaming in the trophy cabinet.  

From my perspective it was in this same year of 2007, where today’s cracks started to emanate from. The summer transfer window of this year saw the club’s lynchpin Thierry Henry leave as many thought this would be the end of Arsenal as a top force. But in fact the team grew from strength to strength, and it is strange how when Arsenal were last written off like they have been currently, was the beginning of the 2007-2008 season.

Despite the claims for the doomsayers, Fabregas came to boil as the main man at Arsenal and world class player. Emmanuel Adebayor was establishing himself as Arsenal’s top gun up-front, and the team was playing some sublime stuff. Does anyone remember Adebayor and Fabregas’ goals against Tottenham at White Hart Lane? An interesting thought to bring up in light of the upcoming North London derby.

You maybe wondering so where do today’s problematic areas surface from that season. But the 2007-2008 campaign soon all unravelled, and in my opinion most stemmed from Wenger’s almost arrogant attitude when his team faced Manchester United in the quarter-finals of FA Cup. A half-baked team fuelled by a half-baked attitude towards the game from Wenger saw his team defeated 4-0. Disappointing but not terminal, but the real knockout blow would come in the next game when Arsenal faced Birmingham.

Yes, those with a good memory will recall that this was the fixture where Eduardo broke his leg. Arsenal threw away a 2-1 lead in the dying moments of the game when now the  recently departed Gaël Clichy conceded a penalty, which was despatched by Birmingham. The Arsenal captain at that time, Willaim Gallas lost his rag and sat on the pitch when the players left the field as the game was over. Arsenal simply has never recovered from that game, despite good moments since. Lingering frailties seen from that game are very much entrenched within the Arsenal setup during a season. Promising up until March, yet when the big games come thick and fast and the scent of silverware is in the air, the season merely unravels. Perhaps I maybe wrong, but Arsenal fans and keen football followers, would I be wide of the mark in saying this?

As stated previously, I am a massive fan of Wenger and I think he has been brilliant for Arsenal Football Club. He has changed the club’s image from top to bottom from an ultra defensive team, to an exciting dynamic outfit that at times takes one’s breath away when they are really in the mood. The most hardened of football fans would only disagree with this, and the fact that Wenger has brought a refreshing influence to British football.      

Based on history, success, fan support along with finance, Arsenal rank only behind Manchester United and Liverpool respectively as England’s top tier clubs in my opinion. For Wenger, the club’s board, or more likely both to allow a situation where the club only has one world class player in Robin Van Persie and perhaps Thomas Vermaelen when fit, quite frankly something is drastically going wrong. 

As a Liverpool fan I always detested the way that a club of Liverpool’s nature, almost entirely relied on Steven Gerrard and Fernando Torres being present and performing well to post any kind of result for a prolonged period of time. Often felt that, that in itself was a disgraceful situation the club found itself in, given the status it holds in the sport. Since the dark days Rafa Benitez and Roy Hodgson respective reigns, the club look to be heading in the right direction with the squad being improved.

With sound squad strengthening and loosening the ideals on the club, if anyone can turn Arsenal’s troubles around I do not think you will find anyone better than Arsène Wenger. Maybe a touch profound, but football is like anything else in life. It only takes a moment for the supposed murky periods to lift, and celebrate the triumphant moments. The 2005-2006 was dire by the club’s standards under Wenger, until Henry’s solo goal against Real Madrid in quarter-finals of Champions League sparked a return of form for the club. We all know how that ended, an appearance in the final itself.

With the new signings which it has to be said was acquired hurriedly before the summer transfer window closed, and with the 8-2 defeat at Old Trafford fresh like a open wound, perhaps it will act as a catalyst that the club seem to need both in and around the club to ride this rocky patch.