There once was a T-Shirt that said – ‘Comical Wenger says we can go the whole season unbeaten. I was just a season too early!’ One 20 September 2002 Arsene Wenger had the audacity to suggest his Arsenal Squad could remain the whole season undefeated.
“It’s not impossible as AC Milan once did it but I can’t see why it’s so shocking to say it. Do you think Manchester United, Liverpool or Chelsea don’t dream that as well? They’re exactly the same. They just don’t say it because they’re scared to look ridiculous, but nobody is ridiculous in this job as we know anything can happen.”
He was of course a full year off. But he did that and he gave Arsenal supporters an indelible memory that will be forever ingrained in Arsenal’s history books and that of the Premier League.
But that as they say is history. We are near 13 years since that amazing feat was concluded and well, Arsenal look no nearer to winning a title than it ever has since that glorious season.
The question is then – is it time for Wenger to go?
Before I answer that, let me say I am an ardent lover of Arsene Wenger. Whilst I came to Arsenal in that glorious year of 1989, my ability to track Arsenal improved during the time that he was our manager. No, he’s not the only manager I know of Arsenal but his tenure fills most of my time being an Arsenal supporter.
In that time he has delivered 3 league titles (one undefeated), 6 FA Cups, 2 doubles and a run an unparalleled run in the Champion’s League. Let’s not forget 20 years never finishing below that group.
The pièce de résistance being the supervision of the creation of our new home the Emirates.
Suffice it to say he has given a lot to Arsenal and will always be remembered for that. Any talk that these last barren years will somehow diminish or tarnish his legacy is premature and frankly ridiculous. When you look around Arsenal today AND in the future, Arsene Wenger will be remembered in almost every facet of the club.
However, in spite of all that, no matter how much I love and adore the man, I am not blind. I see a club that for all its potential continues to fall flat. It continues to have lofty goals but continues to miss those goals.
And while there should be blame placed at the board and at the players, the manager is the center-point of all that goes on at the club. When season after season, players coming and going, the one constant is the manager.
When the mentality of the team is questioned year after year and the problems are identical, there is only one constant – the manager. Either he is bringing in players who don’t have the mental ability to compete in the league or the way he desires to manage his team doesn’t set them up to compete during the rigors of a full premier league campaign.
We can look at all the extenuating circumstances as to why Arsenal fall short and yes, they shouldn’t be ignored. Injuries, financial restrictions, and others do play a part but they are only a part. The other more constant factors, like inability to consistently beat the other teams at the top of the table, the inability to close out matches, etc – are all within the manager’s control.
You may argue those last two points and you may argue the mentality point. But when they happen consistently, year over year, you can’t ignore that or chalk it up to just the players or the board.
The arguments against replacing Wenger are money. You only need look to the northwest to Manchester United to see the fallow years that followed Alex Ferguson to see that replacement of a club icon can lead the team down a road they aren’t accustomed to.
Additionally, people raise the specter of – who – would replace him? Both are fair points but on themselves they shouldn’t be a reason for not making a change because one way or the other we are going to be faced with this prospect.
I look at a man who clearly believes his way of playing and philosophy will see him through the rises and falls of a football year. I don’t buy into the common thought that he doesn’t want to win. I’m sorry but you don’t stay in these kind of jobs if you don’t want to win no matter what some want to think.
But I do wonder that if in spite of it all, even with an ever bright competitive fire if his way of doing things just don’t jive with modern football.
Wenger believes in his system. He is married to it. He believes that if his players know and understand the system then how the opponent plays is irrelevant. But as football has changed and the younger managers have moved to being more tactically astute and have found repeated flaws in Arsene’s systems you wonder if he has the ability to change in a way that meets this new paradigm?
We wrote last April in “Bad Genius. Is Arsene Wenger’s Brilliance His Downfall?” that many people, like Wenger, who are highly intelligent tend to be unable to change. That their genius gets in the way of their improvement. Take the story of Ettore Bugatti who when confronted with the fact that he continued with cable actuation brakes (designed by him) long after other cars had hydraulic brakes, Bugatti is said to have replied, “I make my cars to go, not to stop.”
I wonder if as Wenger looks at his teams he says they can play the way I want and there is no need to address what my opponent. When I look at us defend for instance (watching the last match versus Chelsea) I think Wenger would take Bugatti’s quote and say, “I make my teams to possess, not defend.”
Now, while I think it is time for Wenger to go, I can’t buy into the vitriolic way some choose to voice their opinion on the matter. Yes, fans have a right to voice their opinion, but using xenophobic slurs, profanity laced rants via faux-TV platforms, etc not only is boring and stupid, its disrespectful of man who essentially has moved the club to the stage it’s at.
I won’t get into “Wenger-must go” rants on social media. He’s our manager right now and as such deserves our support. It doesn’t change my feelings on the matter but like I continue to support the club, I continue to support the players and managers who at this time have the honour of representing our club.
But the next chapter of the Arsenal story is ready for a new writer. Wenger has given his successor a wonderful story to build off of. Dear Arsene, I love you and all you have given us, but it’s time to let someone else take the writing from here on in.
