Should he stay or should he
go? That has to be the thought coursing through the cerebral cortex of any
Gooner who has suffered through almost a decade of false hope, failed promises
and missed opportunities. Arsene Wenger is a hero who should be hailed by all
Arsenal fans. He restored the old aura of winning and a new excitement to a
team known for its boring defensive performances (1-0 to the Arsenal) and ended
a seven-year drought without a title. But as the trophy drought draws toward
nine years and Arsenal’s title challenge again fades in the second half, it
might be time to evaluate whether it is time to part ways with a manager who
appears to be living on past success alone. And so, a tale of two Wengers …
The Rosy Beginning
The essentially unknown
Frenchman who arrived in 1996, turned more than a few heads in an English Football
League used to insiders. At the end of his second year in charge, the critics
were quelled, as he won his first of two doubles. He would follow that up with
near misses the next two seasons, before repeating the same feat in 2001-2002.
He won another FA Cup the following year, auguring the greatest achievement of
his career – the Invincible team that went an entire campaign without losing a
game (going 49 games in total before yet another loss to United). An FA Cup title
followed in 2005, with a penalty shootout win over United and the following
year Arsenal made it to the finals of the Champions League (losing 2-1 to
Barcelona after taking the lead in the first half, even though they were a man
down to a controversial sending off of goalie Lehman). During this period, he also
added the Community Shield in 1998, 1999, 2002 and 2004, and was hailed for his
innovative training techniques (including monitoring diet), his importing of
quality foreign players, his ability to transform players from potential to
world-class and for introducing a more attacking, technical game to the EPL. To
sum up, between his hiring in 1996 and the end of the 2004-2005 season (9
seasons), Wenger won seven major trophies and amassed four more, for a total of
11. If we include 2005-06 as a transition year, which included a second lost
European Cup final (added to the one in 2000, when it was still called the
European Cup) that is 10 years and 11 trophies – though really 7.
The Lean Years
Then comes the second half of
Wenger’s reign at Arsenal. That arguably starts in the 2006-07 season, when
many of his greatest stars have either left or are getting ready to leave and
David Dein’s problems with the board culminate in his departure in August 2007.
Viera is suddenly gone, Cashley Cole, Henry and all but a few of the players
that made Wenger so successful all leave in quick succession together with the man
that Wenger worked most closely with at the club. The young guards are left to
pick up the pieces as the team moves on to the Emirates and a period of the tightening
of the belt. Yet things don’t fall apart immediately. Arsenal actually vie for
the title in 2008 (where a late fade leaves them third) and 2011 (for a time),
they continue to finish in the top four every season and even beat one of the
best teams of all times 2-1 at the Emirates before losing in a heartbreaking second
leg. Wenger is actually hailed for pumping out profits every year and for
smoothing the transition to a bigger stadium that will guarantee the Gunners
long term financial stability. But fourth becomes their perennial position in
the league, they keep losing chances at silverware and a second wave of
departures occurs – with Clichy, Nasri, Fabergas, Van Persie and Song all
leaving within about a year. The replacements seem to be of diminished quality and
some serious flops emerge among Wenger’s choices. As the 2013-14 season begins,
many wonder if it will be the last of his 18 years in charge.
Yet the signing of Mesut Ozil
sparks hope that the Frenchman has finally change his penury ways and that the
future might brighten. After a stunning opening loss to Aston Villa 3-1,
Arsenal soon jump to the top of the table. A loss early in the Carling Cup was
disappointing (to Chelsea yet again), but the Gunners were leading their Group
of Death in the UCL and the League heading into a tough group of fixtures. Questions
still remained about the squad depth, particularly when Ox and Podolski went down
early with injuries that would keep them out for the first half, and the
failure to sign a striker. But hope rang anew. And then the first down period
of the season emerged in December. In quick succession, the Gunners lost a late
lead to Everton and settled for a 1-1 draw, lost 2-0 to Napoli in their final
group stage game (sending them to second in the group and to a knock out tie
against Bayern), got crushed by Man City 6-3, had a tepid 0-0 draw with Chelsea
at home and were suddenly out of the lead. But then another period of victories
came and suddenly Arsenal was back atop the league with the chance to forge
ahead.
As is too often the case with
Wenger teams in the past decade, however, they merely flattered to deceive.
After winning seven straight in all competitions, Arsenal travelled to a
Southampton team in a tailspin and yet had to comeback to get a 2-2 draw. After
a win at Crystal Palace they were again flattened by a direct competitor for
the title, this time by Liverpool at Anfield 5-1. At home against a reeling
United, sans the Sir Ferguson who has cost Wenger more than a few titles and
cups, Arsenal again can only muster a 0-0 draw. The Gunners rebound to beat
Liverpool in the FA Cup, though they are arguably outplayed for much of the
game, before losing the second leg of the UCL at Bayern (2-0). Yet, after a 1-0
victory at White Hart Lane, the Gunners head to The Bridge with a chance to get
right back into title contention. For five minutes that is. The 6-0 thrashing
is the third of the season at the others in the top four and, as I’m sure many
of you are aware, that was followed yesterday by a game in which they were
outplayed by a team that had won 1 of their last 10, suffering a draw in the
last minute on a farcical own goal. And so the title race is done and now the
Gunners have to compete YET AGAIN for fourth place, with a game against City
before what looks like a season-deciding trip to Everton.
Sure Arsenal could and should
win the FA Cup this year, ending the drought, but it is yet another late season
fade in what is becoming a habit under Wenger. How much more can we fans stand?
The question that clearly emerges is how much blame should Wenger take for all
of this failure and whether there is some truth in Mourinho’s claim that our
beloved coach is an “expert” in it. On
the one side is stability and consistency and the record during the first half
of Wengers reign, his ability to find and cultivate young talent and the fact
that Arsenal always remain in the top four and generally (until the past month
or so) play attacking, beautiful football. Those are all on the plus side. But
let’s consider his shortcomings: 1. A stubbornness to change either tactically
or in the transfer window (as just one example, Arteta should not have played
against this Chelsea team and maybe a more defensive first 10 would have made
sense given their recent performances in big games), 2. Serious questions about
his fitness regime, as I’ve mentioned in previous posts, as the injury list
continues to pile up and players stay on the sideline longer than predictions
far too often (Ramsey is still 2 weeks away)., 3. Seemingly, an inability to
get his team motivated for big games or to keep their cool when things go
against them (in recent years), 4. Putting too much pressure on young players
that seems to stunt their development (Wilshere and Ramsey come to mind, until
the latter’s success this year and Ox appears to be hurting the team in big
games as well) and 5. Real questions about his ability to actually motivate his
team to win trophies (not fourth place “medals”). So let’s take one final, in
depth, look at the mmajor wins and losses of Wenger’s career at Arsenal where
one could argue that amount of talent he has had at his disposal should have
actually garnered more than 7 major trophies (see here
for nice season-by-season synopsis).
“Wins”
English Premier League Titles
(3): 1997-1998, 2001-02, 2003-04
FA Cups (4): 1998, 2002,
2003, 2005
Community Shields (4): 1998,
1999, 2002, 2004
Overall Record: 1001G / 572W –
226D-193L (57.4% winning pct.)
“Losses”
English Premier League Titles
1996-7: In race but poor
February leads to a fade to 3rd (sound familiar?)
1998-9: Lose title by one
point to United (and semi of FA Cup as well)
1999-01: Two years of second places
as major changes occur
2002-03: Second yet again,
though they do win the FA Cup this season.
2004-05: Unbeaten streak ends
and lose title to Chelsea. Last major trophy.
2005-06 to 2012-13: Finish
fourth in each year except 3rd in ‘08, ‘10 & ‘12
2007-08: In title race before
late fade (and lose to Totti in FA Cup semis)
2010-11: Faded badly after
being in race going into February
Paltry records against
Ferguson & Mourinho to boot
European Cups
2000 Final: lose to
Gattasarray in penalty shoot out
2007 Final: lose 2-1 to
Barcelona after taking 1st half lead
And losing in round of 16
four straight years (before that: QF, SF, QF, R16)
FA Cup Finals
2001 (to Liverpool)
Carling/Capital One Cup Losses
2007 (to Chelsea), 2011 (to
Birmingham)
Should Wenger stay for three
more years, or should we take a chance on a new coach now? It depends on who’s
available, but it would probably be hard for Roberto Martinez to turn the job
down and after the impressive work he’s done with Wigan and Everton, he would
be a nice transitional figure in my mind (with the potential to stay for years).
Jurgen Klopp would be a great choice as well, if available, and a few others
could step in and maybe change the team mentality and training regime. The
reality is that Wenger just doesn’t seem to prepare, motivate and create the
formations that win enough of the big games in the past 10 years and a change
at this point can’t hurt. If he stays for three more years, I’ll keep rooting
them on … but I’ll also keep that Gooner built-in sense that disaster looms around
the corner of any promising Yellow Brick Road.
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