Peter Le Beau
Wending one’s way towards Arsenal tube after a match is usually a fairly painful process nowadays. There are hundreds of conversations going on with people in the long-accepted way that football fans do, interrupting people they don’t know to disagree or agree violently with them. What interests me is that, in the snatches of conversation, you hear people saying so many different things!
That is what makes solving the problems so difficult, because not everyone has defined them all properly. So what do I think they are, what are the most important ones, and can they be solved without major surgery? There are of course a few people (disparagingly called AKBs) who still refuse to accept that there are too many problems out there. They can’t be listening on their way to Arsenal tube! My analysis suggests these are the main issues that can be identified -
Wenger must go
This is probably the biggest area of controversy at the moment. In most situations at a big club like Arsenal, it would be impossible to keep your job after not putting a trophy on the table for the last seven seasons...and counting. But it’s actually more complicated than that. This man has built probably the best team Arsenal have ever had, arguably the best team English football has ever seen, and he has done it in an era where financial “mega-clubs” like City and Chelsea have had a huge advantage financially in securing the best players. He has made enough money for Arsenal to fund easily the building of a great new stadium and has still kept Arsenal in the Champions League every season. At the moment, however, we have a wage structure that stops us getting and keeping the best players and leaves us lumbered with the mediocre.
And if he did go, who is better? Wenger has been cut an enormous amount of slack by most Arsenal fans. The mate who sat next to me gave up on him several seasons ago, whereas I still know people who are only just coming around to the idea he needs to go. My position changed during the game against Stoke two seasons ago. A pathetic defensive performance (sound familiar?) was followed by a pretty dire attempt at recovery, and you had to feel that Wenger was losing his motivational powers as well as any tactical ones that he once possessed. He looks an increasingly tortured soul on the touchline - the most unhappy manager in the Premier League to me.
While you could argue that Arsenal still play lovely football, I wouldn’t agree. This season, their passing has no tempo and most of the danger (such as it is) comes from crosses to Giroud. Wenger was a genius in the transfer market and still generally buys well, but he is buying more dross like Gervinho and Santos, and Squillaci is one of the worst defenders we have ever had. Imagine him playing beside Sylvestre? No I’d rather not! Whether he has a cash mountain to spend, or he is protecting the board, the fact remains that Wenger has made a complete hash of the last two close seasons and hasn’t prepared us for the forthcoming season.
I think it is now realistic to say Wenger has definitely lost a lot of his powers - and it is very sad to see. He could be replaced by several candidates and, frankly for once the salary won’t be a problem. My preferred and realistic choice is Klopp of Dortmund, although I’d love to see Pep at the Emirates. Other realistic candidates are Rijkaard and Joachim Loew, the German manager. Even David Moyes might step up to the mark given a bigger budget -providing he is given one. Which brings us to the next problem -
The current Board
I’ve written a lot about the Board, and it’s sad when supporters read more about the Board than the players. Boardroom politics are things it is hard to get a handle on, and Arsenal are tighter than the politburo in giving out useful information. I crucified the Chairman in the last Gooner, and while his illness saddens me (and I wish him a full and speedy recovery), I stand by every word I said. Ivan Gazidis has brought an American-style spin-doctor style to Board communication that I am all too familiar with in my day job. He is good at holding the fans at bay, but there is a major breach of trust between the Board and the fans. Basically, if we have all this money to spend, why do we balance the books by selling our best players every season? Either Wenger is the world’s most obstinate man, or the Board are lying to us by suggesting that there is much more money to spend than there is. I think that an American sports entrepreneur like Kroenke is a bad owner.
He looks at the bottom line rather than the trophy cabinet, and the bottom line is rather good, even if it’s only like that because we bleed talent. Even in this crisis, it’s hard not to feel we are eyeing profits from the sale of Walcott and Sagna shortly. But if Walcott isn’t sold and just leaves, it will be even more catastrophic. I can’t help feeling that the Board have a contempt for the fans which is exemplified by PHW at each AGM. The most expensive tickets in world football don’t give you any greater access to truth and reason. This fundamental schism means that every Arsenal fan I know feels ostracised and not in touch with the truth about the club. That’s a very unhealthy situation.
The squad
This team is one that I have very little confidence in. While most of our first eleven have considerable ability, we have little squad depth, poor organisation in defence, little passing tempo, and who out there didn’t quake when 10-man Spurs attacked us at 4-2? What a ridiculous situation! In recent times, we’ve lost a 4-0 lead at Newcastle and conceded four goals in the first half to a team not far off Reading Reserves. We’ve given lamentably awful performances at Norwich, AC Milan and at home to Schalke and Swansea.
There are obvious problems. We only have one top goalkeeper and he is a work in progress. We badly need experienced back-up for him, someone who we won’t be terrified by if Szczesny is out for a long period that’s not Mannone, Fabianski or, judging by Reading, Martinez. Gibbs is our only good left-back and we miss Song much more than has been acknowledged. We have no shield in front of the back four and no-one to break play up. We lack pace in midfield, although Rosicky might help to rectify this if he can stay fit, and we have very limited attacking options. After RvP was sold, we needed to think of the implications, but we signed Giroud to replace him, not play with him. I like Giroud, but that’s a major downgrade and, frankly, Gervinho as a central striker is an insult to the name of Arsenal.
We are not helped by having some of the most fragile players in the league. We all know them, with Diaby the most obvious example, but are they really getting the best medical and conditioning treatment? The comparison with other clubs is most telling. Look at www.physioroom.com if you want more detail on the situation.
Lots of strands and lots of issues, and none of them looking very favourable. The short-term fix would be to get rid of Wenger but would this Board want an ambitious manager who is likely to demand backing in the transfer market and an overhaul of the club?
My view is not a popular one. I believe that this club lost a huge amount of its DNA when they fired David Dein from the Board. Interestingly, if he did return to a prominent role, he would almost certainly want to keep Wenger in situ. His return, of course, would only come if Kroenke sold out to Usmanov, and that is most unlikely unless the pressure on Kroenke becomes too intense, and sitting in Denver and seeing the value of the club rise each season, he won’t feel great pressure yet. It will only come if the team drops out of Europe and revenue starts to fall, but this Board won’t respond with a spectacular spending spree if it does.
I didn’t go on the Black Scarf march, and I generally worry about such things and their effect on the team, but unless we see change in personnel and attitude at Board level, nothing will change and that tide of conversation on the way to Arsenal tube will be ever more depressing!
