Arséne Wenger, You Stand Accused – Part 1
ByAs another season concludes, the clouds gather over N5, less hope than before previous seasons seems to be prevalent this time though. It is hard to gauge the overall feel amongst fans, so extreme are interpretations of the status, potential and future of our club.
A full range of predictions are available, from Arsenal being well placed to be a super power for the next decade, through being a work in progress right down to the thoroughly disgusted and exasperated fans who feel that a substantial change is required in both the squad, but most significantly the manager’s position.
There are several charges laid at the door of Le Boss at the moment by those dissatisfied with his performance over the last few years.
I shall deal with them in a semblance of chronological order. I don’t imagine that there were too many dissenters around 2004, I think the rumblings seem to start at the end of the Invincibles side.
In the most iconic image of the season, Arséne Wenger remonstrates after being unreasonably sent to the stands at Old Trafford
Wenger – The Dismantler
I have read time and time again in the sports pages and on blogs the phrase “Wenger dismantled the Invincibles”. A hugely successful team, a team that made history of course, full to the brim of winners, of athletes, of strapping six footers. Of players that understood what it was to play for the Arsenal. And certainly they were.
However, Mr Wenger saw fit to take this team of men at the peak of their powers and scatter them to the four winds, to Spain, and Greece, and the west and east ends of London, the south coast, even put them out to pasture.
Is this really a fair charge? Even a sensible one?
In order to really analyse this criticism, let us take the main figures in that ’Invincibles’ side, case by case;
Jens Lehman
His time was up early in the 2007/08 season after a couple of costly errors saw Almunia given the goalkeepers position. Firstly, this was now three seasons after the unbeaten run, and Jens was now 38 years old, I think it’s fair to say that his time at this level of competition was drawing to a conclusion.
Given that in that season we put up a considerable title charge, I think we can say that (at the time) Almunia was worth his starting place.
Bisan Lauren
Sadly, Lauren’s time at Arsenal came to a close after a huge amount of time out with a knee injury, and left in January 2007 for Portsmouth. At the time Eboue had featured prominently in the run to Paris in 2006, and in my opinion looked a phenomenal prospect at right back.
Since then of course we have also had Bacary Sagna join the team, and he certainly has been solid, if not always hitting the heights of his first season.
Ashley Cole
There really isn’t much to be said here. I certainly don’t think Arsene can be held culpable for this departure in 2006.
Sol Campbell
Well, perhaps now he’s back and been a real injection of fighting spirit as well as putting in some outstanding performances (his goal celebration at Stoke will stay with me as an iconic Gooner moment, where the players and fans are in total empathetic harmony), this could be perceived to have been a massive loss.
However, at the time, I feel that the club treated him well. I’m still not entirely sure what was at the root of his loss of form, I believe he was having personnel problems. Gallas was brought in that summer, and at the time this seemed more than adequate replacement for a player who seemed to be on the wane.
Kolo Toure
A substantial profit has been made on a player who it is looking very much like we got the best years out of. A real Wenger find, a right midfielder transformed into a calm centre half, who never really asserted himself, but was a superb player to have alongside a more naturally gifted defender.
His timing & commitment could be outstanding at times, and he is a player I thought would finish his career at Arsenal. The big money came knocking, and the chance of a final payday as well as the disharmony with Big Bad Billy G saw Kolo skipping up the M1 with a certain Mr. Adebayor.
This of course has seen Thomas Vermaelen take over at the back, and he certainly looks like a significant improvement.
Freddie Ljungberg
Freddie is another player in this list, who was into his twilight time at Arsenal when he left. He participated in the first season at the Emirates, but had been injured consistently for some time, and had certainly lost some of his “mojo”.
Alex Hleb, was starting to produce some fine performances, and gave the side a capacity to beat a man in a fashion we have not had consistently for some time. A fabulous dribbler of the ball, although infuriating at times, between him, Eboue & Theo we had cover on the right side when he left in 2007.
The Arsenal 'Invincibles' Team - Premier League Champions 2003 - 2004
Robert Pires
In my opinion, Bobby Pires is the only member of the ’Invincibles’ who left too early, directly as a result of club policy. So many times the season after leaving Highbury I saw the ball roll diagonally, and fruitlessly past the far post, exactly where super Bob would normally be gliding towards to steer it home.
His reception when we played Villareal last year was incredible and deserved and I feel warmer than those extended to Vieira and Henry for this reason. Both Henry and Vieira had courted moves, and this took a little sheen from their return. Tomás Rosicky’s addition to the squad tempered the loss, but Pires’s quality and value to the squad was a big gap to fill.
Patrick Vieira
I don’t think there’s much doubt that Patrick left at a good time, the previous summer’s wrangling over his transfer didn’t sit well, and although he has seen some success since he left, most people will agree his impact on games was diminished.
Who can forget the game against Juventus when he was disposed by Pires of all people? A sublime tackle that was the origin of a passage of play that led to Juventus chasing shadows before Cesc Fabregas slotted in a peach of a goal from just outside the box.
Gilberto Silva
After Pires, I think Gilberto Silva was the only other player who maybe would have been of benefit to keep within the squad. With the clumsy manner of the captaincy being given to Gallas coupled with the energetic rise of Flamini, I think his days were numbered at the club.
Dennis Bergkamp
Well, there was a wonderfully symmetrical sense of destiny with Dennis choosing to hang up his boots to coincide with the retirement of Highbury. Certainly his playing time was largely reduced, especially with Reyes still looking to be an excellent attacking player, and also Adebayor arriving and having a minor impact.
Thierry Henry
As with Vieira, Titi’s courting episode with Barcelona the previous summer had meant this wasn’t as crushing as it might have been. It even seemed the season afterwards that his presence had been a hindrance.
I remember on several occasions in his final year with us, he looked disinterested, although he was still producing the goods in bursts; his demeanour can’t have been a positive influence in the dressing room or on the pitch.
So overall after Vieira left having lifted the FA Cup, another 4 players left/retired in 2006, 2 in 2007, and by the start of the 2008/09 season only Kolo was left. Most of these players were the wrong side of thirty at the time of departure, and although valuable experience was undoubtedly lost, it is worth noting that after Henry left a substantial title challenge was registered.
I would say that the departures after the 2007-2008 season were more damaging in a way, losing Matthieu Flamini, Lassana Diarra, Gilberto Silva & Alex Hleb meant that only Cesc Fabregas remained of that midfield after Rosicky succumbed to the early stages of his injury problems.
I would never wish to seem that I am rewriting history, or bad mouthing former players who gave us all so much success, and played for the Arsenal with outstanding distinction. I am merely using these points to illustrate what I consider to be an injustice towards the manager.
Saying that he dismantled the Invincibles almost implies Arséne Wenger is some sort of saboteur.
The ’Invincibles’ team had peaked together for all our benefits, but sadly it faded together too, and the gradual disappearance was rather more organic than sometimes reported.
In the next instalment, we’ll examine the next charge laid at the feet of the Arsenal manaager, Mr. Arséne Wenger the Gambler.
Tue 13th September 2011; 19:45, Dortmund
Joe.
Great post and I look forward to reading about the next charge against Wenger.
I tend to feel that many people compare this current team to the invincibles yet it’s like comparing oranges and apples. The invincibles were at the peak of their game and in that sense more mature than this current side and I think it’s unreasonable to compare the two sides.
I also agree with you about Bobby Pires. I can never forget his dejected face as he took his seat on the substitutes bench at the Stad de France when he was sacrificed following Lehman’s red card to allow Almunia to come in. My first assumption was that Reyes was the one to be sacrificed, but the look on Pires’s face just told me he had played his last game for the Arsenal.
Gilberto was never going to recover from the double whammy of losing the presumed captaincy and losing his position to Flamini. I think it’s easy to under-estimate the impact of losing 75% of our 2007-2008 midfield after Hleb and Flamini went to pastures new, and Rosicky became a frequent flyer into the medical room. Cesc was the only remaining player of that lot, and even he was out for over 4 months after his clash with Alonso. Very few teams can survive when 100% of their preferred midfield goes missing.
I would suggest that all charges be dismissed as Arsene has no case to answer to. Therefore, Part II is not required.
If only, what if, etc., are questions that lead to nowhere because we will never know. Would Cesc Fabregas be the player he is today, if any of Arsene’s allegedly “wrong” decisions be reversed? We will never ever know. Case closed.
Great read!! is this a new blog??
Well argued, but I actually feel Pires’ departure had more to do with his substitution in the CL final than the club policy on over 30′s. That may have been the overt reason, but the real factor was the former. Pires has said it himself and even Arsene says that Pires has still not forgiven him for that one!
I agree with most of that. Le Bob had been a bit part player in 05/06 but still had qualities that we still miss today. For me the biggest loss from the Invincibles. Gilberto was getting a lot of stick for being too slow in CM. I would have liked AW to persuade him to extend his career here by reverting to CB.
What you are explaining is that football, for those clubs without a massive financial advantage (Chelsea/Man U) or huge cultural pull (Liverpool 1980s/Man U), is cyclical.
The break up you describe is accurate but the only alternative to letting those player grow old together & thus peaking together was to dismantle it before its ultimate achievement, the Invincibles.
We simply did not have the money to buy lile for like replacements, even if they were out there. I see no PV4s, DB10s or TH14s. Chelsea were buying the game changers for double or triple the real value.
That we have been cycling near enough to the summit to smell it rather than looking at it from the foothills, whilst growing the next generation, is remarkable. It is sad that the doomers cannot see this.
Interesting article, Joe, and I broadly agree with most of what you’ve written.
I strongly disagree, however, that Pires left the club directly as a result of club policy.
Robert Pires left Arsenal because he actively chose not to enter into a new contract with the club. And he has to take responsibility for his choices, decisions and actions, just as we all have to do in our personal and professional lives.
So let’s not continue the mistaken belief – widely held in the Arsenal blogosphere – that Arsene Wenger is to blame for “letting Pires go”
But why did Pires chose to leave Arsenal when he didn’t have to?
Because he was so upset at being substituted in the 2006 Champions League Final, and so pissed off with Arsene Wenger, that even if Arsenal had broken their policy for players over 30 years of age and offered Pires a two or even three year contract, he would have still rejected it.
The bottom line is that, in the mental state he was in at the time, Pires simply wanted out, to leave the club, and there would have been nothing that Arsenal could have done to change that.
It took Pires at least 18 months to two years to begin to come to terms with being substituted in the above game, and, although he’s less pissed off with Arsene Wenger these days, you can be sure that Arsene is not at the top of Pire’s Christmas card list.
Great article. We miss a Pires like player. I had high hopes that Arshavin would turn into that, but he has struggled. Nasri is also inconsistent. The quality is there – its the consistency of performance that is lacking.
I have no doubts that Arsene would take a hard look at some of the chaps like Diaby who have been flat track bullies and get a suitable replacement for them. Theo too has taken a long long time to mature and I dont think he is there yet.
The most heartening thing for me this season has been the form and approach from Bendtner, Eboue and Alex Song. All 3 have been booed in the past – but have turned the corner and are now more than useful squad members.
Hi Darius,
A thought about Anelka occurred to me yesterday when Chelsea sealed the deal of winning the title.
If they do “the double” by beating Portsmouth in the FA Cup final next weekend, will Anelka be the first player in English football history to have won the double twice, with two different clubs?
I can’t remember off of the top of my head if Ashley Cole might figure in the equation somewhere….was he in our “double” winning squad of 2001/2002, as first choice left back?
If so, both he and Anelka might be making history next weekend.
Magneto.
To the best of my knowledge, it’ll be a double double for Ashley Cole and Nicholas Anelka if Chelsea beat Portsmouth.
Nigel Winterburn retired in 2000 (well, he went to West Ham for a bit), and Silvino had a very short spell at left back and was promptly off loaded by Arsenal after it was discovered that the Brazilian had a hot passport. It allowed Cole to creep in and own the LB position.
Great piece Joe, and what Wenger has achieved makes him possibly the greatest manager we’ve ever had, but I just question his judgement now. How can he sign Silvestre? How can he keep the faith with Fabianski and Almunia? When we lost 2-1 at United I said at the time if I was the manager I would have sacked Almunia on the spot for making such a ridiculous decision to risk bringing Rooney down. That was a big moment in a big game and he let us down. I was saying for a full 3 seconds, ‘don’t bring him down, don’t bring him down, don’t bring him down’, and he did. Imbecile. Big game players get the key calls right. I would also have sacked Diaby on the spot. That own goal can only have come from a lack of concentration. How can you have that attitude in a big game? It tells you everything you need to know about the player. Look no further than his Barcelona performance. As well, we were utterly outclassed by Chelsea twice. If we’d won those two games we’d be champions now. But RVP and Fabregas aside we don’t have big game players. We are not a trophy winning team. Why do we have Almunia, Fabianski, Diaby, Silvestre, Djourou, Traore, Vela, Eduardo and Denilson? None of them are fit to wear the shirt, but Wenger has stuck with all of them and that’s why I question him now. We are a decent side that’s true, but although we finished only 11 points behind Chelsea, I think we need a major change if we are to win anything. I would go with 4 new players down the spine of the team; Joe Hart, Haangeland, Yeahyeah, and Chamakh. I feel very very skepital about next season, to be honest, and I feel really sad to say it, but I’ve lost faith in Wengers ability to turn it around. I think he also doesn’t believe in himself as much. The fans are getting disgruntled and the pressure is really on him now. I can’t see fans accepting him after next year unlesss there is serious improvement. We don’t HAVE to win a trophy but we HAVE to look like we can. I don’t think we ever did this year. We hoped and we dreamed but we always felt we weren’t realistically good enough.
The invicibles is an era and like every good thing it comes to an end. Highbury is full of history and now we have a new stadium it is a start of creating history once more. Barca did not win anything for 5 yrs before the they became the super club of today. It took them 5 yrs to keep the core of the team they have now which we are doing. 13 yrs of CL football, new stadium, top 4 finish, financial security next would be trophies…and more trophies
Be patient grasshopper or should I say GOONERS
Darius,
I thought that might be the case. Thanks.
@ Darius your site is just great. can’t wait for the Part 2 from Mr. Millen
We had to cut the wage bill because of the new ground.
Wenger had no choice but to follow the path he has for the last 5 years.
We have now been through the worst of that period. It is amazing that through this Wenger kept the club where it is.
To judge this part of our club’s history properly will only be possible in 5/10 years. If we go on to win things with the current squad playing a large part and the stadium starts putting money back into the team, then this will have been a period of massive transition that have laid the foundations for much future success. It looks good so far.
Hey Joe good post
While I 100% agree that all charges against Professor Wenger should be dropped, I do think that some of the following summaries are a little anti-invincible, I do understand that the team were older, and Wenger began about creating an invincible team to last. BUT, I would have preferred to re-train a few players until retirement age, and then hopefully have them coaching here or at least have some input. The likes of Vieira, SIlva, Pires, Henry, Edu, Flamini, Lauren and even Cole were all allowed to leave before there time. I in no way think that this was Wengers fault or that it would be even possible to change a players decided mind and that as often is the case hands were tied but perhaps more could have been done contractually that would have saved money in the long run. This may be one reason that Wenger simply can not go out and spend lots of money to shore up our youthful team. I just wonder if we would be better with a good core of these players still about in some capacity.
Regarding current situations if we lose Gallas I think that we need to sign a ‘been around the block – strong tall defender’ no matter what anyone says.
I am usually against signings and would prefer to bring through the fantastic youth that we have. But if billy departs, having Djourou, Vermealen, Silvestre, Senderos, Campbell, Song and in part Eastmond, Nordtveit and Bartley to choose from (if we keep all of these) will never be enough to last a full season. I think that the youth squad delivers fantastic new players promoted every season to all advanced positions on the pitch but defence is a position that needs a bit of toughness, that doesn’t always come with youth.
Out of all of those players listed only TV stands out as a player who will be able to play in that position for the most part of a season, Song is arguably as good or could be as good as Gallas in that role, but we would want him in midfield. Other than that they are either just recovering or to young or too old to be expected to be part of a consistent defensive partnership.
Chamack a new experienced defender with our teams natural improvements and reserves promotions I think we could go onto the title.
re-train??? I meant retain.
Firstly, many thanks to everyone who’s commented on this piece.
Some very interesting points raised in response too. Regarding Pires not signing the extension, I think his frustration of only being offered a 1 year deal was cemented when he was substituted in Paris. He was certainly hurt afterwards, as illustrated by his comments in the press leading up to last years return with Villareal. But then, we are only hurt when we care about something, and I think Bobby is one of those ex-players who remains a fan. It is also worth noting as well I think , that when Pires came to the club, his first season was a long way off the standards he was to later set. I mention this only with regards to our new trend of comeback kings; Hleb (to a lesser or greater extent), Eboue, Song and so on. I am curious to see which players from the current batch of pantomine villains du jour will be inspiring comments like “well, I wasn’t a big fan of……but, I’ve got to say…….”. Theo Walcott? Diaby? I know I was less than pleased with Eboue after his red card at White Hart Lane last season.
I agree with Els’ point about the loss of Edu, who would have been an excellent player to have held onto, although at the time he left, he wasn’t likely to get ahead of Vieira or Gilberto Silva in the first team.
With regards to players like Almunia & Silvestre who may feel ar enot up to the standard for Arsenal, I think these are side effects of the system and style of man management at the club. And that is a very subtle, patient build up of confidence, rather than a dictatorial or obviously inspirational approach. We all know that Arsene is not one for ranting at half time, and he has given interesting reasons for that. I think this has two consequences. Firstly that the players find it hard to recover from set backs (this includes the Invincibles). Secondly, that we see a slow turn around of players. I think the case of Almunia is a good example. I think Wenger will have identified goalkeeping targets, it is clear from the “injured wrist” that Almunia is being given a cover story for being dropped in my opinion. However, no matter how much we want to hear that Arsene will be signing a new ‘keeper, the first news we will hear about it is that we’ve bought one. I don’t think it would be wise to come out and say we’re on the look out, to avoid an unecessary price increase, and also to avoid damaging Almunia’s confidence just in case he ends up still at the club at the start of 2010/11. Perhaps that being a little over sensitive to the players, but that’s how I interpret the situation.
This level of patince can be (and is) very fristrating for fans however. I do think it’s worth bearing in mind previous successes though, Pires, Petit, Toure, Eboue, Song and even Tony Adams himself have all benefitted from the managers patient approach, and we as fans have benefitted as a result.
As a final point regarding those players who are on the fringes of the first team who have been critisised this season (Denilson, Traore, Vela), there is always an element of luck with which players will make it at the top level, I would be interested to know how many players fail at each level of professional football compared to how many who suceed. Perhaps none of these players will become Arsenal legends, or regular first team players, but given this recent history of reversals in fortunes and performances, I do think it is worth considering before welding the axe.
Great post Joe. Good points well made.
some interesting comments, but who is this dan hare, what a crettin! if you left things to him the whole club would go down the pan in a matter of days!!!!
Great post Joe, looking forward to part 2.
Id also be really interested to hear from anyone who does think wengers time is up to suggest a better replacement? Bearing in mind we simply dont have the hundreds of millions that would be required by any of the so called top managers.
You only have to look at liverpool or even leeds to realise how dangerous and irresponsible short term spending is
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