Kevin Whitcher
There was something all too familiar about Arsenal’s sorry performance in the Champions League last night. Memories went back to the three goals conceded against Anderlecht and Monaco only last season. When Olympiacos scored within a minute of conceding Arsenal’s second equalising goal, I also recalled the naivety shown by Wenger’s team in the Champions League quarter final second leg back in 2008.
This isn’t anything new. Wenger took eight campaigns to reach the final of this tournament with an Arsenal side believed to be one of the best in Europe, a shocking underachievement. Since then, in a further nine attempts, he has made a solitary semi-final, and that thanks to a fortuitous draw in 2009. Nowadays, even luck in the draw doesn’t help, because the manager does not mentally prepare his players to achieve results in Europe.
Olympiacos didn’t play with the same openness as Leicester at the weekend. Surprise, surprise. The cost of their assembled team was less than Mesut Ozil’s transfer fee. So financial doping is not the excuse this time. No, it was bad luck, Arsene informed us. The Greek side had four shots on target and scored from three of them. Nothing to do then, with the poor marking from the corner for the first goal, the calamitous keeping of Ospina for the second or… well, I am lost for words at what happened for the winner. It was worse than a Sunday morning pub team.
Arsenal’s forward play is starting to come together, with the last three matches seeing nine goals. Walcott gets so many chances, he is becoming a goal per game man, on the same principle that a dunce will get one in four questions right on a multiple choice test answering A, B, C or D. And Alexis seems to have re-found his goalscoring touch. However, it is pointless if things are not getting sorted at the other end. Remember, before the Gunners scored at the weekend, Leicester could have been three up.
A good, organised defence is the basis for a winning team. Arsene Wenger’s early success was built on the back five he inherited from George Graham, who had enough nous and authority to instruct the midfielders in front of them what their jobs were. Under George Graham they learned how to progress in European competition, but when Wenger got hold of them, something was lost. There was a transformation to the back line that gave us the Invincibles season, of which Sol Campbell was a key component, with Ashley Cole having learned his trade alongside Tony Adams, and Lauren having attitude in buckets. Kolo Toure had his best years alongside Campbell and played with total commitment. It was good enough to win silverware domestically but ultimately fell short in Europe, even with Gilberto and Vieira in midfield (although the former notably absent in the game that saw the 2004 side eliminated).
Since the departure of Campbell and Cole in 2006, the baton has not really been passed on, in terms of the team’s good defensive habits. There was a brief period towards the end of the 2012-13 season when the team had to knuckle down and eke out results to have any hope of making the top four and changed their approach. Evidence that if need be, Wenger’s team can play result football. Yet, we get performances like last night where, with the manager himself admitting it was a ‘must win’ game (and it was, Arsenal will not beat Bayern and will be lucky to get a point from the next two matches), his team failed to ensure they did not concede cheap goals. They were brittle, as they have been so often in the past.
Yes, there is at least £65-£70 million that could have been spent on squad strengthening this summer (and the growing view on this is that the money in the Arsenal coffers is being used as security for Stan Kroenke’s sporting ambitions Stateside, with the manager complicit). But let’s be honest here. With a manager as hopeless as Wenger at preparing his side to win football matches (a big part of which is what you do when you do not have the ball), what difference would it make if the club had bought Morgan Schneiderlin and Karim Benzema? Under a different manager, a motivator, an in-game tactician, a lot. But under Arsene Wenger? And what is behind the decision not to play Petr Cech in a game of this significance. Barcelona may play their second choice keeper in Europe, but they have a front line of Messi, Suarez and Neymar. They too were a goal down at half time last night, but had enough quality to win their game.
Arsenal’s Annual General Meeting is on Thursday October 15th. The week before the home match against Bayern Munich. The timing is fortuitous, because Ivan Gazidis’ statement that Arsenal could match the German champions two years ago will not be as cruelly exposed as they might were the meeting to take place after the Champions League fixture. Still, before that there is the visit of Manchester United. Who knows what might happen then, because this is another in a long line of Wenger Jekyl and Hyde teams. World beaters one week, clowns the next. There is arrogance, but no consistency.
It was arrogant to select Ospina ahead of Cech for starters, but also arrogant for a team in European competition not to be defensively prepared and drilled to minimise danger. In Europe, Wenger passes up the opportunity to train in the opposition stadium and become accustomed to the pitch and the environment the evening before an away fixture. That is lack of preparation of the first order. No other team does it. And come the day Wenger finally hands Arsenal Football Club back (because trust me, he treats it like he owns it), I am damn sure his successor will get rid of this lunatic policy at the first opportunity, assuming Arsenal are still even in Europe at that time.
Olympiacos were more prepared, more switched on, more tactically astute and more determined. They deserved their win because they defended better and took more of their chances. The final two Arsenal matches of this group might prove interesting. Wenger will not want Europa League and attempt to ensure fourth place with his team selections. As the master of throwing competitions he has no interest in (the 2007 League Cup final, the 2009 FA Cup semi final) that should not be too difficult.
Perhaps, now, more of the loyalists who have remained convinced that Arsene is the best man for the job might have second thoughts. “I do not have to sit here and give you an explanation about every decision I make,” he told journalists after the game. In fact, he should, as the media is the source of information for the paying customers, the fans, who deserve an explanation. Yet Wenger treats fans with utter contempt, rather than explain himself. I challenged him after 2014 AGM on why he would not re-instate the end of season Q&A event with shareholders. He said it was because people are disrespectful, simply because one questioner used the phrase “geriatric” to describe Mikel Silverstre back in 2009. And you have to ask if the manager is accountable to anyone at the club. Is he going to be in Ivan Gazidis’ office this morning explaining his match preparation and team selection? No. And the reason why? Because Arsene Wenger is delivering exactly what Stan Kroenke wants. A profitable business with minimal risk. There is no longer any genuine sporting ambition at the club. Why else would they not use all the available resources to achieve success?
The team has not even played the strongest team in the group and there are zero points from two matches. Will the stadium actually have the temerity to turn on the manager if the team play as naively against Manchester United? That is about the only way one feels he would move on. Carlo Ancelotti is available, but would he take a job under an owner like Stan Kroenke? And of course, there is always Jurgen Klopp. Certainly with the amount of cash they have, the club could match the wage demands of some very high quality candidates.
I received plenty of texts and emails after the game, but I will leave you with the pick of them, first from the ever reliable Doktor Schneide…
Wenger’s European campaign pointless. Rather sums it up, really
And to finish on a positive note, one from Ian Henry…
At least now we won’t get knocked out in the round of 16
I am now on Twitter@KevinWhitcher01.
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