Arsene Wenger – Too Much Of A Dreamer To Win?

Very few managers escape the wrath of the terraces. At some point, all of them get grief from supporters. Very few of them who do are arguably the most successful manager in a club’s history.

But then Arsene Wenger is well used to being in a gang of one.

For a decade, the Frenchman was untouchable. Doubles, cups, unbeaten away from home for a season, it culminated with the Invincibles.

If you’re going to peak, make it memorable. Like his one-time bitter rival, Sir Alex Ferguson, Wenger’s peak was unforgettable. Ferguson had the treble, Wenger, the Invincibles. Each of them unique; complementary. A fitting pairing for the Premier League’s defining managers.

Some will claim that Mourinho is equal to them; nowhere near to either, which is why his rivalry with Wenger is so bitter. The Portuguese wants Wenger’s job security; he craves the admiration the Frenchman receives.

 

Arsenal’s board and major shareholders love Wenger. For Stan Kroenke and Alisher Usmanov, the manager is the driving force behind the ever-increasing value of their investments. Not that either has ever ploughed any money into the club; no loans were paid off, and Arsenal continues to carry a mortgage on their stadium.

No, they both sit back, and look on in amazement but with approval, at how the Frenchman continually confounds his critic’s expectations of how the Arsenal squad will perform.

Not that it always goes to plan. As Chelsea, Manchester City, Manchester United and Liverpool fell away in 2015/16; Arsenal suddenly became title favourites.

They never quite shook off Leicester, who overtook them but when the two sides met at the Emirates in February 2016, a late Danny Welbeck winner gave Arsenal victory and closed the gap to the Foxes at the top to just two points. Three games later, it was ten. Arsenal slumped. Badly.

Familiar criticisms of Wenger surfaced. The side lacked mental strength; they were “too nice”; nothing which hadn’t been heard before. It’s a contradictory notion to some extent. As Tottenham Hotspur capitulated off the back of the 2 – 2 draw at Stamford Bridge which ended their title hopes, Arsenal kept their nerve, plugged away and got the wins which eventually capitalised as their north London rivals imploded.

Arsenal are no strangers to this situation. The Gunners have overhauled Tottenham on numerous occasions in the past, each time relying on a collapse in the formerly Middlesex-based team’s renowned mental fragility.

But are Wenger’s squads any better? Moving to the Emirates was understood to put financial constraints on the manager, and he responded by investing in youth.

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His scouting network scoured Europe and Africa and brought in the finest talent they could find. In a delicious turn of fortunes, he snatched some of the finest players from Europe’s biggest clubs for a fraction of their commercial value.

And Wenger put in place what he termed a “socialist” wage structure; the gap between the highest earners and the lowest paid in Arsenal’s squad was never allowed to be too wide. Jealousy would not be tolerated.

Which was fine – to an extent – when the players were young. But once they became stars, it was never going to keep them at the club.

Wenger pursued that course until it became blindingly obvious to everyone that it was a recipe for disaster. The youngsters upped sticks and left, for money and medals with most winning both once they left north London.

There was an irreconcilable difference between the way Wenger saw football and reality. He had to win the right way or winning meant nothing at all. The time when the pressure was off, from August 2006 through to May 2009, brought some of the most joyous football in Wenger’s era.

It almost landed the title. When Martin Taylor snapped Eduardo’s leg at St Andrews, the younger squad members were shocked. Arsenal dropped a two-goal lead and took a point.

When they needed their captain, William Gallas displayed petulance which still amazes everyone, by sitting disconsolately in the centre circle. Arsenal, from a position of strength, fell away to third place, having led the Premier League for most of the season.

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The biggest problem Wenger had – and still has – is character. As he entered his 60s, he found that he no longer wished to have the sparky characters, the strong-willed players, in his dressing room.

Instead, he wanted a utopian ideal where there was harmony and discord was banished. Opinions were welcome but only if they didn’t disagree with his own. The troublemakers were dispatched as quickly as their expensive contracts allowed.

All the while, Wenger and the Arsenal board pushed the notion that a top four place was something to celebrate. Almost as good as a trophy. And with that acquiescence, the directors conceded that the title was not an achievable ambition.

Famously, Sir Chips Keswick admitted that when Wenger has a footballing problem, the board stay quiet if he doesn’t know the answer.

And increasingly, it’s becoming obvious that he doesn’t have the answers. Arsenal play some of the nicest football on the planet. The passing and movement is easy on the eye; when it works, it is sublime but getting it work in the big games, the ones which set out your stall for the season? Arsenal habitually fail.

Not just in them; the easiest way to stifle Arsenal is to amass your ranks deep in your own half. Pass, pass, pass; the Gunners lack the thrust to puncture these tactics.

Wenger has lost the pragmatism which brought him his first double, blinded by the light of seeing football in a pure way.

Even the great Barcelona sides could grind out results if needed; Arsenal don’t do the ‘dirty work’ very often. They are ill-equipped to do so.

It’s interesting that many former players regularly cite the absence of a Patrick Vieira figure in the team as a problem yet to be solved. Not only for his actions and leadership on the pitch, but also off it.

And that’s Wenger’s folly, his weakness. In neutering the squad of personality, he robs them of the one characteristic which would land them the title.