Life for Arsene Wenger is a No Win Proposition

This season I joined a new Saturday league side, at a level just below combined county amateur level. As the season has developed I have found myself for whatever reason, looking a lot more at the decisions the manager makes, and how they are viewed by the squad and those involved with the club. It has been interesting to think about these same findings in relation to a far bigger scale, and higher level; namely as an avid Arsenal supporter.  As much of a regular home and away as budget and schedule allows, and an active user of social media, I have seen a much larger following judge the manager on lots of similar things and it has lead me to think in more depth about what the life of a manager is like and how in some respects in the modern era, they are always fighting a losing battle.

Firstly lets deal with ‘tactics’, a term used by so many when it comes to analysis.  In reality this term is very broad and there are so many factors that can mean it works or does not.   There are two ideal games to look at in Arsenal’s recent past to see why manager’s will only ever be one defeat away from the fire.  Arsenal carried out a defensive masterclass to defeat City, with so many praising the manager and players for the game-plan of sitting deep, soaking up pressure and springing counter attacks to nick the crucial goal.  We were subsequently lauded for the way we were winning games by adapting to concede more possession to draw teams out and all seemed good on the tactics bandwagon.  However, then came the Spurs game where we were 1-0 up in similar fashion to the Man City match, albeit the performance was not at the same level.  However, it was clear that the tactics were the same and had worked for the first 45 minutes in lieu of the fact we led.  Many were pretty happy at this point I’d imagine in terms of the fact we were succeeding with yet another ‘different’ away performance.

45 minutes later however and we had lost to that lot and the same tactics that worked so well before, didn’t see us through this time.  The daggers were out.  Suddenly the tactics had become too negative and invited too much pressure onto us.  The difference though was the way they were executed.  When you set up in that way it is all about how you manage the game in terms of relieving pressure at crucial times through possession football.  This was done to perfection at City, but fell down horribly at Spurs.  The tactics that so many had wanted for so long, and that worked so well at the Champions, are back to being, to quote a few things I’ve read, ‘not modern enough’, ‘never going to work for this Arsenal side’ and ‘not suitable for a derby’.  I personally would not have gone with those tactics as I feel we had enough to go at them while at the same time containing their attack.  We probably let them get their tails up too much but again this is all in hindsight and once we went 1-0 up and I saw the way we were set up, with City in mind, I saw no reason to not back it.  The best way for me to show the way a manager cannot win much of the time is this below:

The fickleness of a ‘fan’

Piers Morgan is a huge advocator of a change in manager, yet after the City win and a 1-0 half time scoreline, he couldn’t help but look at things in a positive manner.  His immediate emotion of the game saw him analyse it one way and was happy with how we approached the game.  Hours after the result however, and all this positivity has disappeared and he actually provides a perfect example of the next issue I want to raise, one I have seen creeping in a lot recently which is the way manager’s attitudes in the technical area are examined.

Often the place you see a manager at his most emotional and on occasion vulnerable, this has also become a side show through which managers are critiqued by fans, often illogically in my eyes.  For example Simeone is lauded because he spends 90 minutes ranting and raving, shouting instructions and showing passion.  On the flip side, Wenger often remains calm in his seat but not actually as much as some would have you believe.  It’s funny that with so many cameras about the place, if the game isn’t going well how the TV producers can quickly pick him up if annoyed in his seat.  Again this season I have seen so many people claim Wenger should show more passion on the touchline and shout instructions from the technical area more often.  He might not do it as much as Simeone, but he is out there during the game but is this a way to really judge a manager.  I suggest not, merely because we don’t know what messages are getting across whenever they are there.

I base this quite a lot around personal experience.  Showing passion from the side of the pitch does not always guarantee a positive change in fortunes and attitude from the players, it can in fact have a negative impact in equal fashion.  I have witnessed an angry manager lose his cool with players when something goes wrong in a game and in the height of the emotion it can increase the spiral downwards for sure.  From the outside it probably looks like the manager of my team is just showing such a strong desire to win that it can only transmit to the players and make them play better.  However, as much as it can help, it can also infuriate the players and distract them from the task at hand.  Sometimes the best way is to trust the players you’ve coached during the week to be able to drag themselves out of it.  That is why they’ve been picked them to cross the white line and it might only need small encouragement, rather than constant instruction, to make a difference.  Unfortunately managers are now often judged for their actions during the 90 minutes and done so by many more people than their playing squad.  To me it feels like this is sometimes another attempt for fans to try and grasp any aspect of the game they can witness to formulate opinions and back up others.

The next aspect I want to look at is team selection. At times I have been intrigued, shocked and curious about my manager and the team he puts out.  Sometimes these surprises don’t work, sometimes they do but either way the manager lives or dies by them that is for sure. Now escalate that to a team with a fanbase in the millions, one which has those fans debating about every aspect of the club to the minutest detail. Before the game the amount of ways a line up is lauded, and at measurable levels criticised is crazy.  During the game this will then tilt either way depending on the status of the game and level of performance.   Post-match is when this can really escalate and again (most of the time) the exact mood of this relates to the result.  Even after a win, I can’t remember the last time a selection was accepted down to the full 11.  In this era, there is always something to be pulled up and often unfairly the judgement of a manager’s choice will boil down to how a specific player actually performed, drifting off the point.  Managers have a squad to pick from and there will be times that people don’t like the make-up of a specific eleven but too many times this has escalated into a massive issue for fans in relation to the manager.

This is a big stick used to beat the manager with and can cause some real malcontent amongst a fan base.  However what you have to remember is the manager spends all week with the squad and has to analyse so many different things, including, but far from limited to player morale, fitness, and opposition style of play.  Team selections are made for a reason and it’s easy to criticise after the 90 minutes are over. I see so many people claim X or Y should have started within minutes of the final whistle, only to have the manager explain fitness issues as the reason. Sometimes you get that revealed, sometimes not, doesn’t mean it’s not one of s few factors.  Hindsight is a wonderful thing in football and I myself have analysed after games and thought I knew better, both for my club and Arsenal.  Combine our sudden brainwave that we knew better alongside a lack of true insight and you can get quite a toxic debate ensuing.

This leads nicely on to substitutions, something Arsenal fans are obsessed with.  Wenger’s tendency to wait till later in the game leads to frustration at times, sometimes justly but you can see this negative attitude from the fans creeping into the actual judgement of the change itself.  This season alone I’ve been shocked at how vociferous fans are about the changes made.  There are so many aspects to a substitution and in general, the only things fans have are their eyes to judge.  Sometimes it is obvious when someone is struggling and you can justify why they should come off.  However, even then there can be other factors.  This is another aspect of the fan obsession to feel every aspect of the match needs immediate analysis and judgement rather than let it run out before making up one’s mind.

Cast your mind back to the Southampton league match at home this season.  Aaron Ramsey was struggling in the game and most people’s choice to come off but instead Giroud was introduced for the Ox.  Boos ensued which in truth is ridiculous but that’s another issue.  However, late in the game Giroud and Ramsey combined for the winner, bringing back memories of last season.  The manager had analysed the game to realise that he needed to free Ramsey up as we had little luck down their sides and felt it was worth leaving him on, instead adding Giroud to get the best out of him.  On top of this the Ox had been carrying a knock so was taken off for that.  Once again information that the fans didn’t have and failed to wait for before their malcontent crept out.  We won the game and the sub worked.  Sometimes subs don’t work but the point is once again there is so much judgement all the time that the manager can sometimes never please everyone.

Now I am not for one minute saying that everything Wenger does it spot on and I am sure some will choose to view this as a Wenger loyalist deflecting blame.  There have been times things haven’t gone right and as manager he has to take some part of the responsibility.  However, the point of the article is to try and show that fans judge people harder than ever and have the main tool of social media to do so.  However, despite what we may think, we still lack quite a lot of the main information needed to really gain a true insight into decisions.  Instead, we still want to provide opinions and this is often why managers, not just Wenger, can never truly win.