Published in the March issue of 90 Minutes - India's very own football magazine.
It was the kind of self-deprecating humour the Frenchman often employs these days with the media, to remain likeable, as well as to remind them of his true worth.
During Wenger’s most glittering years as an Arsenal manager, between 1998-2005, he seemed unflappable, and unbeatable. His knowledge of the game and his methods for mastering it impressed, inspired and seduced players, managers, and journalists, who couldn’t have enough of him. They wrote down every word he said, almost looking to learn as much as they reported.
Fast forward seven years, and they still love his media interactions as much, but it’s more Schadenfreude than seduction that draws them to his press conferences. He’s now one of the most regularly-agitated Premier League managers on the touchline, and in many pundits’ eyes, the most deluded. The media which revered him, now pities him.
We all know how it’s got to this stage, but is Wenger really to blame for all that’s wrong with Arsenal Football Club? Hasn’t he done an adequate, if not admirable job at the club since they moved to the Emirates Stadium?
Nick Hornby, author of Fever Pitch, a memoir of supporting Arsenal FC throughout his life, remarked some years back that while Manchester United won titles by virtue of being a giant institution, Arsenal won them by virtue of Wenger being their manager. He’s not entirely wrong. In the last four seasons before Wenger ‘s arrival, Arsenal finished 10th, 4th, 12th, and 5th, hardly the record of a team consistently challenging for top honours. To put that into perspective, teams like Fulham, Everton, or Aston Villa have a similar record over the past four years.
Along with the handful of diplomas and degrees, the Alsatian brought with him revolutionary (at least in England) methods of training, scouting, stretching, dieting, and of course, playing football. He was not your average Premier League manager, and in many ways, did more for the Premier League in just five years than even Sir Alex had in 15, despite the latter still being the master at churning out title-winning teams.
Wenger, as an economist, realizes the value of every penny earned, saved, and spent, perhaps a bit more than the rest. When he came to Arsenal he knew that the Gunners didn’t have the spending power or the wage budget of the country’s biggest teams, so he took a different route. He concentrated on exploiting the inefficiencies in the transfer market, and still tries to do that today.
While the Premier League concentrated on overpriced and overpaid Englishmen, Wenger turned to the continent, as well as Africa, to get equally-skilled players on the cheap. His plan worked. On a fraction of the budget the likes of Manchester United and Liverpool had, Wenger put together a squad of world-beaters, with his vision culminating in an unprecedented unbeaten season in 2003-04. The supposed downside of it was that his Arsenal squad had very few Englishmen.
He was a ‘gamechanger’ in the Premier League, and his methods, earlier mocked, were gradually followed by managers throughout the division. However, it wasn’t to be as easy anymore. While everyone looks to Arsenal’s new stadium to reason why Wenger hasn’t looked as dominant as he did earlier, the answer perhaps lies elsewhere.
Two reasons explain the dramatic ‘fall from grace’ of Arsenal since 2004. One, Wenger’s success. Ironic as it may sound, Arsene Wenger became a victim of his own success. His fitness regimes, his respect for statistical data, and his mastery of the transfer market all led to his own downfall, as the other big clubs across England began doing what he did. Players became as fit elsewhere, statistics were analysed as much, and the transfer market inefficiencies evaporated. Wenger’s first-mover advantage was gone, and to make things worse, his rivals had more money.
The second reason has a lot to do with the next ‘gamechanger’ in England, after Wenger – Roman Abramovich. The Russian oligarch’s takeover of Chelsea brought about a sea-change in the league, especially the finances of it. The Blues’ pit of money seemed endless, as they hoarded star names and offered them huge pay-packets. While the Emirates Stadium meant that the Gunners couldn’t spend extravagantly, the turn of events at Chelsea meant that they simply couldn’t compete at the top.
What’s followed is a barren, six-year (and counting) trophy-less spell for London’s most decorated club, and increasing criticism of the Frenchman. While finishing in the top four is something Arsenal should never be satisfied with, it’s impossible to overlook the resources Wenger has at his disposal.
Player wages have a telling effect on the outcome of a league season. The correlation is simple - bigger players want bigger salaries. It’s also why Arsenal loses its stars with alarming regularity. Arsenal’s is the fourth-highest wage bill in the Premier League, which means that logically, the Gunners should finish 4th. Wenger does that, almost by habit. He also guided the club to a 3rd-place finish in 2008 and 2010, reached the Carling Cup final in 2011, the FA Cup semis in 2009, and the Champions League semis the same year. It’s not all that bad. There have also been a couple of title tilts, especially in 2007-08, when they led the league for most of the season.
Fans and experts argue, quite correctly, that even with his limited resources, Wenger could have done a better job in these last seven years as Arsenal manager, which might be true. There are three areas, primarily, in which Le Professor could, and should have done a lot better, and all of them are core football management issues.
From a team that played power football, attacked with pace, used the width of the pitch, and had runners to run in behind the opposition defence, Arsene chose to switch to a possession-based passing game. That has probably been Wenger’s first mistake. While it might have helped the Gunners’ possession stats, it slowed their game, and reduced their efficiency in attack drastically. Gone were the days when the men in Red and White took teams apart from the very first minute. Instead, fans grew accustomed to increased sideways-passing, and a lot more focus on simply keeping the ball rather than doing something with it. Bottomline – Arsenal were a lot more attractive to watch six years back. Dennis Bergkamp was spot-on when he said that the team needs to develop more of a “winning mentality than a passing mentality”.
Secondly, Arsenal have had serious defensive issues for over five years. That is, in many ways, inexcusable. Any top-class manager would have realized, just as Wenger must have, way back in 2006-07 that the Gunners were struggling at the back, especially at setpieces. The same problems haunt the side till date, and they look set concede their highest number of goals in a Premier League season under Arsene Wenger this campaign. Surely the manager should have solved most of these issues by now, especially as the team’s defensive woes are more organization and tactical, rather than due to a lack of quality personnel at the back. Spending more money in the transfer market is a moot point, because as individuals, most of Arsenal’s first-choice defenders are top-class.
Thirdly, over the years there’s been a severe lack of motivation within the first-team. The mentality of the team has just not been right. Whether you term it a lack of character or a lack of professionalism, we’ve seen player after player coast through games, jogging when they’re supposed to run, rooted when they’ve had to leap, shrugging nonchalantly when they ought to be disappointed or angry. We’ve observed a real lack of fire amongst a lot of Arsene’s younglings, and at some level, he has to take the blame for not motivating them enough.
Does he deserve to stay, then? Given the situation the Gunners are in, there isn’t another manager in the world who could do Wenger’s job at the moment. The excess authority he’s had at the club in recent times means that he’s left his mark all over the club’s football operations, not just the first team, and making such a massive change in the middle of the season wouldn’t help Arsenal in any way. If anything, his position has to be looked at closely in the summer.
Plus, what’s most crucial is that Wenger is still motivated. He might annoy us all by saying that “third is a trophy”, but he desperately wants to win. Everything. His antics on the touchline and in press conferences are indicative of the fact that he hasn’t lost his appetite to win, but he very well realizes that he can only look to over-achieve. First can no longer be an expectation for Arsenal, at least in the immediate future. He might have achieved a lot more in recent years had he not made some of the above mistakes, but at the end of the day, he’s doing a decent job at the Emirates, at par with his resources.
Given the extent to which wages and transfer spending affect football in Europe, it’s not a surprise where Arsenal lie today. Arsene Wenger, more than anything else, needs to set some of the football aspects of his team right, as he’s handled the financial constraints put on him superbly (although he has been a bit too stingy for fans’ liking). He has to think long and hard this summer about some of the mistakes he’s made, and has to be prepared to correct them, even if it means adding another member to his coaching staff, which might undermine his authority. If he still refuses to set these wrongs right, the Arsenal board might have to take a tough call. Something must change, because with Wenger, over-achieving is almost an expectation.
If Arsenal had won a trophy in these last few years, it would be – as Nick Hornby put it – by virtue of Wenger being their manager. The fact that Arsenal haven’t, means that they’re doing pretty much what their business allows them to, and what their players are capable of. Wenger still tries to over-achieve every season, though. We just don’t know it.
