da bwin： In practically every way possible, history is repeating itself at Arsenal. A mid-winter collapse has seen their Premier League title bid implode, heralded a seemingly inevitable elimination from the Champions League, and witnessed the FA Cup emerge as the only chance of glossing over another disappointing season. Groundhog Day has nothing on how predictably repetitive the twelve-month cycle has become at the Emirates Stadium, the current one set to end once again with yet another debate over Arsene Wenger’s future. This time, we’re told, it’s serious.
da dobrowin： Between 2007 and 2010, many Arsenal fans felt their side were on the cusp of breaking the cycle. The Gunners were playing some fantastic football, guided by some incredible emerging talents and recorded two third-place finishes in the space of three seasons.
During 2007/08, they finished just four points behind eventual champions Manchester United, who also won the Champions League that year, and just two behind second-place Chelsea, who also finished runners up in Europe. Certainly not bad going for a side that appeared a year or two off its peak.
But then came the exodus; over the course of the next few years, Kolo Toure, Emmanuel Adebayor, Gael Clichy and Samir Nasri all signed for Manchester City, Cesc Fabregas returned to Barcelona and captain Robin van Persie joined the Red Devils, after refusing to extend his contract in north London.
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As the Gunners regressed back into habitual fourth-placers, betrayal was one of the core arguments for Wenger apologists. Whilst critics pointed to his reluctance to spend in the transfer market, his repetitively poor results in the six-pointers and the overall lack of progress at Arsenal, those still firmly in the Wenger camp argued few managers would be able to cope with, anticipate or prepare for such wholesale, predominantly forced, departures.
They had a point back then, but now history seems to be repeating itself once again on Arsenal. Alexis Sanchez and Mesut Ozil are yet to extend their contracts beyond the end of next season, suggesting the Gunners will be forced to sell this summer, and rumours of Hector Bellerin either returning to the Nou Camp or joining the Pep Guardiola revolution at Manchester City just won’t go away.
Once again, the Arsenal team is under threat of being gutted, just a matter of months after many argued at the start of the season that this one of the strongest Gunners squads – if not the strongest – of the Premier League era. Once again, Arsenal appeared on the cusp – especially with their three biggest rivals, Chelsea, Manchester City and Manchester United, all appointing new managers in the summer – but once again, an exodus of their top talent has emerged on the horizon.
Of course, debates over player power, the financially-driven mindsets of the current generation of professionals and other criticisms of the modern game will come into the equation. But the same breakdown at the same club points to an underlying factor, and it’s impossible to look past Arsene Wenger.
Admittedly, there is a superficial notion of simply putting every problem at Arsenal on Wenger’s doorstep. The fact is, he’s been at the club so long that every issue can be traced back to him, rightly or wrongly, somewhere down the line.
But in this instance, Wenger is on the verge of twice failing to protect the club’s most valuable assets, and that can’t simply be due to opportunities to earn more elsewhere. After all, their trophy is what every player is judged upon when they retire, and if footballers were that money-driven – as we’re relentlessly told they are – they’d all be playing in the Chinese Super League. Forget about Europe and the Champions League, the Far East would be home to the greatest talents in the world.
“Speaking to Robin van Persie and other friends who had been at Arsenal before moving to winning clubs, they all found the mentality different. Robin said of United: ‘This place is built to win’. I don’t get the impression it was like that at Arsenal, and maybe the problem’s getting worse. For the past 13 years they haven’t won many trophies and that mentality of going out to win becomes more and more a thing of the past.”
Of course, success is what convinces players to stay put, which is what Wenger has largely failed to provide. But how Wenger’s managed his biggest stars, how he’s been unable to keep their heads from turning, must also come into the equation, in addition to how he’s stopped them from growing bored with life at the Emirates Stadium.
Top quality players want to be challenged and pushed, both as a team and as individuals, but there’s something worryingly comfortable about Wenger, and Rio Ferdinand’s comments suggest that may have been what pushed Robin van Persie in particular to the exit door.
With his contract due to expire in the summer, Wenger’ parting gift could well be the team in crisis he leaves behind, without arguably it’s three biggest talents in Ozil, Sanchez and Bellerin. That would be such an injustice when compared to what he’s achieved and built in north London. But if history repeats itself in this instance, as it has so many others at Arsenal, the Frenchman will only have himself to blame.
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