Tweet
In a profession that adds 'the sack' to death and taxes in a list of the only certainties in life, it should perhaps come as no surprise that one of its most revered practitioners is starting to look like a man under real pressure.
It is in times of struggle that the loneliness of the distance runner is matched by that of the football manager and on Sunday at the Reebok the figure cut by Arsene Wenger was one of utter dejection.
Amid scrutiny over his core football principles he continues to bat away suggestions his philosophies are antiquated with the seasoned jauntiness of a test player, but look closer and there lies the haunted pallor of a man who knows he might get caught out soon.
When David Dein returned from a jaunt to Japan with Bruce Rioch's replacement back in 1996 the Evening Standard went with 'Arsene who?' as its headline. Before Wenger, Arsenal finished in the top four in 23 out of 92 seasons. Under him, it is 14 out of 14.
If anyone deserves respect in the modern game it is Wenger but the reservoirs of patience that have allowed him to build a club in his own image are running low amid some sections of the Emirates faithful, disillusioned as they are with constantly having to live today with only the promise that tomorrow will be better.
To some Wenger's ceaseless rhetoric about his side's youthfulness recalls Bill Murray in Groundhog Day, except this Frenchman's message is in real danger of being lost in translation in north London.
While Manchester United will likely win this season's title amid accusations of being one of the most average sides to be crowned champions in recent history, Arsenal can have few complaints having mastered the art of snatching draws or defeats from the jaws of victory in a manner that has exasperated even the Frenchman's staunchest supporters. Kevin Costner choked less in Tin Cup.
Rare is it that a discussion on a manager's future veers into dialogue about the very essence of sport when stripped back to a ball and field, posts and corner flags, but to assess the merits of Wenger and not address the ideals that govern his every decision would be asinine.
While Wenger's cutting edge methods in terms of coaching and diet revolutionised English football when he arrived in the capital looking like in Ray Parlour's words 'Inspector Clouseau', or a geography teacher as Lee Dixon opined, his refusal to act like a banker with the club's wallet is as old fashioned as afternoon tea.
Football's Vince Cable remains a lone voice in championing financial austerity when the rest of the Premier League's top dogs play the transfer market in a manner that would give Nick Leeson the sweats.
"To some Wenger's ceaseless rhetoric about his side's youthfulness recalls Bill Murray in Groundhog Day, except this Frenchman's message is in real danger of being lost in translation in north London."
Quotes of the week
There is undoubtedly something perverse about berating a man who refuses to spend lavishly in a recession but few Arsenal fans, indeed few neutrals, would have watched Tamir Cohen's late winner on Sunday and not bellowed at the TV 'For Christ's sake Wenger, buy an effing centre-half who can defend set-pieces!'. But is it really that simple?
Wenger would rather be a Siamese twin with Fergie than look for a quick-fix. He perceives problems as being inconveniences that can be ironed out on the training field rather than the boardroom; football as sport rather than business. Whether this is his genius or pigheadedness is open to fierce conjecture.
In his style he is an exact antithesis to Jose Mourinho. When the Portuguese went to Real Madrid he quickly recognised the canteen's sieve had less holes than his back four so he bought Ricardo Carvalho. The centre-half is the wrong side of thirty, Wenger would probably have taken him only on a hourly rate, but Madrid have conceded the least amount of goals this season in the Champions League, along with Manchester United. Mourinho builds sides, Wenger legacies. Guess which one has put silverware in the trophy cabinet already?
A criticism that has oft been levelled at the Frenchman, and none more so than this season which will almost certainly prove to be a sixth successive without silverware, is that his obsession with nurturing rather than buying talent is stunting the club's growth. Organic progression looks great on the balance sheets but supporters care more about trophies than shareholder dividend forecasts.
Wenger, though, will likely point his detractors to a conversation he had with a disgruntled Patrick Vieira back in 2004 when the midfielder was lamenting a lack of big money signings.
"You weren't world class when Arsenal signed you," he told his captain back then, and should Fabregas, Nasri or Van Persie do likewise over the summer he'd be within his rights to greet them with the same response.
A clearly intelligent man with a dry sense of humour, holding a master's degree in economics and fluent in numerous languages, Wenger's clarity of vision put him a yard ahead of English football's tracksuit managers on his arrival in this country.
Wenger was the first tactician to come from foreign shores and mention to his players that nailing nine pints after a game probably wasn't the best way to rehydrate the body, a neat irony given he grew up in a boozer and has said of his childhood: "There is no better psychological education than growing up in a pub."
Glasses have gone, principles remain
.But now when even old school luddites like Sam Allardyce can't make a brew without measuring the distance travelled and energy used on Prozone, a more even playing field has emerged with regards player preparation and psychology. Even Neville Southall could probably do a few laps without throwing up these days.
Wenger's trump card remains his ability to spot a player, which is nothing short of genius. Whether you love or loathe the man, no-one can dispute his ability to turn rough diamonds into polished gems. The problem is that by the time he's got to the buffering stage half of his squad have lost patience and are ready to move on, or are at least agitating for a summer of nauseating speculation, a la Barcelona's annual flirty pursuit of Fabregas.
The phone-ins have been jammed of late with supporters lamenting the autonomy Wenger wields within the corridors of power at the Emirates, with his cosy relations with the club's board ensuring the only thing he has to answer to are his own expectations. This could be about to change though.
Stan Kroenke might be the only American in the history of civilisation not to be born with a winning mentality but Wenger would be wise not to bet on it as he considers how to spend a purported weighty transfer chest in the summer.
There are those that feel six seasons without silverware is unacceptable for a club of Arsenal's stature but it's worth noting that without Wenger it's possible Ian Selley and David Hillier would still be running their midfield rather than Fabregas and Nasri.
An inclination to overplay at times is unquestionably an Achilles heel that has flared too often this season but as a shoal of football fans we are never more hypocritical than when lamenting Arsenal's style of football. En masse we coo at every Barcelona session of keep ball, every Xavi and Iniesta interchange eliciting a man love matched only by that which a 12-year-old girl holds for Justin Bieber, but heaven forbid Arsenal if they have the temerity to try something similar and not always succeed.
Given every other summer (if we're lucky) as a nation we collectively put our head in our hands to lament our antique brand of the Beautiful Game perhaps we should applaud Wenger's insistence that Arsenal play the ball on the deck, rather than subject them to our scorn whenever they fall short. Is it not better to dream big and come short than forever think small?
On the flip side, only a bed-wetter would label jingoistic a view that Arsenal's defenders would claim more clean sheets if they didn't find row Z such a filthy place to put the ball in the last minute when clinging onto a slender lead.
When you take emotion out of the equation, Wenger is grossly overachieving on a budget - at least in terms of transfer fees not wages - that is not much more advanced than some mid-table sides. The question is then not whether Wenger is doing a good job but whether he remains the right man to deliver trophies? And to that conundrum, there is no straightforward answer.
Wenger has always been ahead of his time but in perpetually planning for the future the present has caught up with him. And at the moment, it's leaving him and Arsenal behind.
http://www.skysports.com/story/0,195...898053,00.html
It is in times of struggle that the loneliness of the distance runner is matched by that of the football manager and on Sunday at the Reebok the figure cut by Arsene Wenger was one of utter dejection.
Amid scrutiny over his core football principles he continues to bat away suggestions his philosophies are antiquated with the seasoned jauntiness of a test player, but look closer and there lies the haunted pallor of a man who knows he might get caught out soon.
When David Dein returned from a jaunt to Japan with Bruce Rioch's replacement back in 1996 the Evening Standard went with 'Arsene who?' as its headline. Before Wenger, Arsenal finished in the top four in 23 out of 92 seasons. Under him, it is 14 out of 14.
If anyone deserves respect in the modern game it is Wenger but the reservoirs of patience that have allowed him to build a club in his own image are running low amid some sections of the Emirates faithful, disillusioned as they are with constantly having to live today with only the promise that tomorrow will be better.
To some Wenger's ceaseless rhetoric about his side's youthfulness recalls Bill Murray in Groundhog Day, except this Frenchman's message is in real danger of being lost in translation in north London.
While Manchester United will likely win this season's title amid accusations of being one of the most average sides to be crowned champions in recent history, Arsenal can have few complaints having mastered the art of snatching draws or defeats from the jaws of victory in a manner that has exasperated even the Frenchman's staunchest supporters. Kevin Costner choked less in Tin Cup.
Rare is it that a discussion on a manager's future veers into dialogue about the very essence of sport when stripped back to a ball and field, posts and corner flags, but to assess the merits of Wenger and not address the ideals that govern his every decision would be asinine.
While Wenger's cutting edge methods in terms of coaching and diet revolutionised English football when he arrived in the capital looking like in Ray Parlour's words 'Inspector Clouseau', or a geography teacher as Lee Dixon opined, his refusal to act like a banker with the club's wallet is as old fashioned as afternoon tea.
Football's Vince Cable remains a lone voice in championing financial austerity when the rest of the Premier League's top dogs play the transfer market in a manner that would give Nick Leeson the sweats.
"To some Wenger's ceaseless rhetoric about his side's youthfulness recalls Bill Murray in Groundhog Day, except this Frenchman's message is in real danger of being lost in translation in north London."
Quotes of the week
There is undoubtedly something perverse about berating a man who refuses to spend lavishly in a recession but few Arsenal fans, indeed few neutrals, would have watched Tamir Cohen's late winner on Sunday and not bellowed at the TV 'For Christ's sake Wenger, buy an effing centre-half who can defend set-pieces!'. But is it really that simple?
Wenger would rather be a Siamese twin with Fergie than look for a quick-fix. He perceives problems as being inconveniences that can be ironed out on the training field rather than the boardroom; football as sport rather than business. Whether this is his genius or pigheadedness is open to fierce conjecture.
In his style he is an exact antithesis to Jose Mourinho. When the Portuguese went to Real Madrid he quickly recognised the canteen's sieve had less holes than his back four so he bought Ricardo Carvalho. The centre-half is the wrong side of thirty, Wenger would probably have taken him only on a hourly rate, but Madrid have conceded the least amount of goals this season in the Champions League, along with Manchester United. Mourinho builds sides, Wenger legacies. Guess which one has put silverware in the trophy cabinet already?
A criticism that has oft been levelled at the Frenchman, and none more so than this season which will almost certainly prove to be a sixth successive without silverware, is that his obsession with nurturing rather than buying talent is stunting the club's growth. Organic progression looks great on the balance sheets but supporters care more about trophies than shareholder dividend forecasts.
Wenger, though, will likely point his detractors to a conversation he had with a disgruntled Patrick Vieira back in 2004 when the midfielder was lamenting a lack of big money signings.
"You weren't world class when Arsenal signed you," he told his captain back then, and should Fabregas, Nasri or Van Persie do likewise over the summer he'd be within his rights to greet them with the same response.
A clearly intelligent man with a dry sense of humour, holding a master's degree in economics and fluent in numerous languages, Wenger's clarity of vision put him a yard ahead of English football's tracksuit managers on his arrival in this country.
Wenger was the first tactician to come from foreign shores and mention to his players that nailing nine pints after a game probably wasn't the best way to rehydrate the body, a neat irony given he grew up in a boozer and has said of his childhood: "There is no better psychological education than growing up in a pub."
Glasses have gone, principles remain
.But now when even old school luddites like Sam Allardyce can't make a brew without measuring the distance travelled and energy used on Prozone, a more even playing field has emerged with regards player preparation and psychology. Even Neville Southall could probably do a few laps without throwing up these days.
Wenger's trump card remains his ability to spot a player, which is nothing short of genius. Whether you love or loathe the man, no-one can dispute his ability to turn rough diamonds into polished gems. The problem is that by the time he's got to the buffering stage half of his squad have lost patience and are ready to move on, or are at least agitating for a summer of nauseating speculation, a la Barcelona's annual flirty pursuit of Fabregas.
The phone-ins have been jammed of late with supporters lamenting the autonomy Wenger wields within the corridors of power at the Emirates, with his cosy relations with the club's board ensuring the only thing he has to answer to are his own expectations. This could be about to change though.
Stan Kroenke might be the only American in the history of civilisation not to be born with a winning mentality but Wenger would be wise not to bet on it as he considers how to spend a purported weighty transfer chest in the summer.
There are those that feel six seasons without silverware is unacceptable for a club of Arsenal's stature but it's worth noting that without Wenger it's possible Ian Selley and David Hillier would still be running their midfield rather than Fabregas and Nasri.
An inclination to overplay at times is unquestionably an Achilles heel that has flared too often this season but as a shoal of football fans we are never more hypocritical than when lamenting Arsenal's style of football. En masse we coo at every Barcelona session of keep ball, every Xavi and Iniesta interchange eliciting a man love matched only by that which a 12-year-old girl holds for Justin Bieber, but heaven forbid Arsenal if they have the temerity to try something similar and not always succeed.
Given every other summer (if we're lucky) as a nation we collectively put our head in our hands to lament our antique brand of the Beautiful Game perhaps we should applaud Wenger's insistence that Arsenal play the ball on the deck, rather than subject them to our scorn whenever they fall short. Is it not better to dream big and come short than forever think small?
On the flip side, only a bed-wetter would label jingoistic a view that Arsenal's defenders would claim more clean sheets if they didn't find row Z such a filthy place to put the ball in the last minute when clinging onto a slender lead.
When you take emotion out of the equation, Wenger is grossly overachieving on a budget - at least in terms of transfer fees not wages - that is not much more advanced than some mid-table sides. The question is then not whether Wenger is doing a good job but whether he remains the right man to deliver trophies? And to that conundrum, there is no straightforward answer.
Wenger has always been ahead of his time but in perpetually planning for the future the present has caught up with him. And at the moment, it's leaving him and Arsenal behind.
http://www.skysports.com/story/0,195...898053,00.html
Paul Marin -19 is one thing, 20 is a whole other matter. It gets even worse if they win the UCL. *groan*. 
05/18/2011.MU fans naah cough, but all a unuh a vomit?-Lazie 1/11/2015
Comment