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Wenger’s Curtain Call?

Comment: 0 January 26th, 2012
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When people talk about Arsenal, they easily associate Arsene Wenger.

The French football manager has been a permanent fixture for the club since 1996, being the second-longest serving bench tactician in the Premier League – behind Manchester United’s Sir Alex Ferguson.

He’s had success in the Premier League, winning it on three occasions – 1997-98, 2001-02, and in 2003-04 where they went the undefeated in 38 games. He also won the FA Cup and Community Shield four times each.

Since then, the Gunners have fallen from grace. With minimal movement from the team, all signs point to Wenger.

His desire for purity in football is fast becoming his downfall.

A FAMILIAR STORYLINE

One does not have to look too far back to see that similar cases against Wenger have sufficed. Early this season, the Arsenal boss was under fire after selling players that everyone thought were key to the success of the Gunners.

Cesc Fabregas was Arsenal’s best midfielder while Samir Nasri was an excellent attacker. These two players were sold to Barcelona and Manchester City, respectively, without the Gunners gaining anything from the transaction.

Following the sales, a 2-8 drubbing against Manchester United helped spark immediate talks that Wenger wasn’t doing anything to help the club and had to be sacked as soon as possible.

Wenger asked belief from the Arsenal faithful and he slowly delivered with better form.

STUBBORN PERFECTIONIST

Wenger has always been against spending too much for players who are scouted to fill in the gaps that Arsenal have. He always believes that all players can be developed to become the perfect fit – buying them just isn’t an option.

At times when he succeeds, Wenger does a great job at it. The perfect example is when he was able to purchase Nicolas Anelka for £500,000. He was able to sell him to Spanish giants Real Madrid for £23.5 million. Subsequently, he was able to use that money to acquire Thierry Henry, Robert Pires and Sylvain Wiltord.

But since the glory days of Arsenal, they have yet to win any silverware. With different teams rising up to the challenge, people end up thinking that the problem is with Wenger himself.

The purity he boasts fiddles with hunger for perfection he tries to achieve.

UNWILLING TO SPEND

It is completely false to assume that Wenger and the management have not been paying close watch with the market. They have respective people that they have been keeping tabs with. Borussia Dortmund’s Mario Gotze and Cologne’s Lukas Podolski were early targets but with their respective teams claiming they aren’t for sale, talks on a purchase has ceased.

Wenger then set his eyes on Anderlecht attacker Matias Suarez but the manager is still waiting on the development of his initial targets before moving for the Argentine.

It is reported that Arsenal has around £35 million to spend on transfers for this January window but he claims that he doesn’t need new players so he won’t participate in the fiasco.

This is unnerving because of the lack of success in the club. When a team claims that they do not need anyone, they are assumed to be performing at maximum levels and producing fine results.

This isn’t happening at the Emirates Stadium.

QUESTIONING AUTHORITY

Though fans and critics want to give Wenger the benefit of the doubt, there is simply too much at stake. If they do not get to the final four of the table, they miss out on the Champions League. This will ultimately hurt their chances of luring people to join Arsenal. This will also hurt their chances in gaining more money for player transfers.

Fans are directly affected because they have to spend more money to watch the Gunners play. Ticket prices steadily increase and they want to get positive results with the money they’ve spent.

Wenger had the chance to sign Gary Cahill from Bolton for £16 million. He turned it down citing Cahill’s lack of power of recovery. Now that Chelsea has snagged him, people anxiously wait and see if they made the right decision in passing him up.

Instead of acquiring new talent, Wenger depends on moving players out of position until the respective people get back. Thomas Vermaelen is Arsenal’s centre half but has played on the left side due to lack of players. Wenger has used Francis Coquelin and Ignasi Miquel but has not found any stable success in either of them.

Shuffling line-ups can work in one or two games, but acquiring new blood to fill-up the spot is a better way to strengthen the squad.

THE SOLUTIONS

In order for Arsenal to achieve more, change has to be made from the management. The quality of the players that are on the pitch depends on the people they put in. Unfortunately, getting means spending money and Wenger should learn to be open to the idea.

If Wenger resists, then the 15-year relationship should come to an end. With a number of teams agreeing on spending, Arsenal should be able to keep up with the times. If it means that they find a manager that will share the same vision as the rest of the management and players, then it has to be done.

Finally, if they do not wish to make any changes, they have to be content with the fact that they will have to fight tooth-and-nail with every match they have in the league. Instead of battling for the title, they will instead fight hard just to stay relevant in the league – finishing in the top quartile of the table.

I doubt that they want the last option, so more important things have to be done.

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