Most of us have not won the Nobel Prize, or run major corporations, or been elected leader of our nation. I certainly have done none of those things. Yet I do not feel that on that account that my life has been a failure, or that my family should have fired me and replaced me with a higher-achieving fellow with better taste in menswear. There are intangibles, and sentimental considerations. Football (or any sport) has very little room for sentiment, and that's understandable, but there's more to being a successful manager than winning trophies, even at the "big clubs." Arsene Wenger has been a great servant to Arsenal in many ways. His first decade brought the silverware, as he made dramatic improvements in every facet of the way Arsenal was managed. Some of these were copied by other teams; Wenger's analytical approach meant that he adopted some best practices ahead of the other English managers. He fostered an entertaining and winning style that relegated "boring, boring, Arsenal" to the dustbin. He made some prescient player selections. He built for the future by upgrading the training facilities. He developed players.
But this was not all that Wenger brought, by a long shot. His temperament is first-rate. He shows loyalty, both to his players and to his bosses. He respects others and has earned their respect. If you look at some of the many interviews he's done over the years, especially the retrospectives that so many are doing now, you get a better sense of his value as a manager and as a man. This (and Arsenal's incredible run of Champions' League qualifications) has kept his job secure through the silverware drought that ended with the FA Cup victory in 2014. A few random observations:
I can't recall Wenger ever complaining about the ownership. Every year, fans and writers say that he "won't spend." It's not his money. If Stan Kroenke told him he had £120M to improve the team, Wenger would spend it. Indeed, in some recent years money was made available, and he's spending it. The Board is protected by Wenger, who never lets on that he can't make these decisions without approval. He's not an idiot; he knew that more TV money was going to make transfer fees balloon, and he'd have loved to buy players before those fees doubled.
I also don't remember Wenger calling out players. The worst he'll say is that "the team lost concentration" at some point in the game. A Mourinho-like tirade about how his players let him down would be unthinkable. I imagine he's honest with his players one on one, and tells them where they fall short. But in public, he backs them up. If there are former players who have bad things to say about him, I haven't seen it. In one interview I saw, with Gallas, Campbell, and Wright, only one player could remember Wenger getting angry once at halftime. No hairdryer treatments for him.
He considers his job to be bringing out the best in people. He tries to build confidence along with developing skills and forging cooperative play. It works pretty well. His loyalty to the club is unequaled in the modern game. He could have left for other big clubs many times; he appears never to have seriously considered it.
Boy will we miss Wenger when he's gone. But his influence will endure, like Chapman's and Graham's, as long as Arsenal exists.
OK, so where are we now? It's congested at the top. Frankly, our form is not that overwhelming. We're quite solid, but except for one brilliant stretch, goalscoring is not what it ought to be. I'm mystified as to why Lucas Perez has not been given more of a chance up top. Alexis is better than Iwobi on the left. I'm not agitating for Giroud to lead the line, but as good as he is in the air for a small guy, Alexis is not a great target option.
I wish Coquelin luck with his recovery, but it's not a bad thing to give Xhaka and Elneny some minutes in midfield. When Ramsey is fit, he should slot in for Cazorla to keep him fresher.
I better wrap it up now. I could ramble on for a while, but it's late.
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