Kevin Whitcher
Hubris. Defined as excessive pride or self-confidence. Synonyms: arrogance, conceit, conceitedness, haughtiness, pride, vanity, self-importance, self-conceit, pomposity, superciliousness, feeling of superiority, (in Greek tragedy) excessive pride towards or defiance of the gods, leading to nemesis.
Pride certainly came before a fall in Munich last night, as Arsene Wenger was once again exposed as a manager who is incapable of organising his teams to counter the strengths of the opposition. Arjen Robben is lethal on his left foot, so one can only imagine the players were not instructed in advance to show him onto his right, which would explain Francis Coquelin’s rather strange attempt to prevent his shooting by doing exactly the opposite when Bayern scored their first goal.
I titled my piece on the Hull match after a Smiths song (Hand In Glove), so on that theme, I’ll stick with Morrissey and co for the following game. Equally suitable could have been The Art of Falling Apart, History Repeating or Go Now.
The best thing Arsene Wenger can do to salvage the situation is to come out and state that he will call it a day at the end of this season and let someone else have a go. That way, those that will still attend the matches between now and the end of May can get behind the team knowing the slow torture of repeated predictable failures is finally coming to an end, and just maybe a top four place can be salvaged. With a kind draw, there could even be an FA Cup to go out on a high. Although right now, people are wondering if, with Gabriel in defence, the Gunners might even go out to non-league Sutton United on Monday night.
Arsenal did stage a recovery in Munich after going a goal down, and a decent spell in the first half included Sanchez scoring from the rebound after a poor penalty was saved by Neuer. Both sides had some very decent chances in a cracking first half, and at the interval, there was at least some hope of coming away with a result. But shortly after half time, Koscielny did his hamstring, Gabriel entered the fray, and that was pretty much that for Arsenal’s chances. So much for “the best squad I’ve ever worked with” then. The Gunners were dismantled once their captain left the pitch.
The capability of Xhaka and Coquelin to counter Bayern’s midfield was questionable, and they were effectively a man light with Ozil showing his usual lack of interest in getting involved in the unglamorous stuff (unlike Sanchez up front). So Arsenal were predictably outnumbered. Francis Coquelin won a solitary tackle all night. But the selection of the wide attackers had me worried most of all. Walcott on the bench – good call. On his sofa back in the UK with his coffee-making machine would have been even better, but you can’t have everything. Yet, the Ox and Iwobi to cover the forward forays of Alaba and Lahm? And also assist their full backs against Douglas Costa and Robben? Come on. The game called for more experience – specifically Welbeck and Perez as the two wide players. The latter wasn’t even on the bench. Bayern’s second goal saw Lahm unchallenged as he put the ball on a plate for Lewandowski. You could feel already there would be more goals.
The Arsenal line-up were not playing as a team, with only selective players pressing rather than them operating together, much to the frustration of Sanchez. Thiago was bossing the midfield, and scored the third all too easily as Bayern cut the Gunners apart like a hot knife through butter. Bayern had two slow centre halves who were there for the taking, but Arsenal could not sort themselves out, were not playing like an effective unit, and gave their hosts far too much of the ball. The game was very open, which might have suited Wenger’s team under different circumstances, but the amount of space they gave to Carlo Ancelotti’s team was the kind of stuff you normally need a NASA telescope to capture. They were punished accordingly. In spite of conceding five, there is a case for David Ospina as being Arsenal’s best player, with the number of saves he made. It was that bad.
It was 4-1 after 62 minutes thanks to a deflected goal, and shortly after, Walcott replaced Iwobi. It was officially hide behind the sofa time. Going for a second goal to give his team some hope in the second leg, the manager put on Giroud for Coquelin. That meant the Ox dropping back alongside Xhaka, with the predictable result of a fifth Bayern goal as the Ox decided to show his skills on the edge of his own area instead of playing a simple pass out to the unmarked Gibbs. 5-1. The same scoreline as last year’s group stage match at the same venue. Arsenal’s lack of progress was there in the numbers, although this mattered more than a group game.
Even less surprising than Arsenal getting walloped was Granit Xhaka picking up a yellow card. He’s a player that has looked good on occasion, but last night, he looked out of his depth. Maybe the club should have tried a bit harder to sign N’golo Kante. The game was the story of the Emirates years encapsulated in 90 minutes. Brief hope, promises of something special before reality dawns and Arsenal fall way short. At 3-1 up, Bayern took their foot off the gas, but still scored two more.
Be careful what you wish for, those who prefer the manager to remain espouse. Really? Can it get any worse than this? Luis Enrique, who has won two La Liga titles, a Champions League and two Copa del Reys in his three seasons at Barcelona, will be dispensed with in the summer because of the four goal defeat in Paris. Roberto Di Matteo was sacked by Chelsea halfway through the season after he led the team to the Champions League because of his failure to get his team out of the group stage. Football is a ruthless business… everywhere but Arsenal. So complacency is king, “Mental strength” a fallacy trotted out by the manager. He is taking £8.3 million a year out of the club (officially) plus bonuses. Which indicates that his remit isn’t winning trophies but turning profit. It’s football Jim, but not as we knew it.
In every year since the stadium move, Arsenal have qualified for the Champions League and made it into the knockout rounds. So, 11 campaigns. In that time, Arsenal have won four knockout ties. Four ties in 11 seasons. They have progressed beyond the last 16 three times out of 11. For the record, the ties they have won were Milan (2008 – the last time Arsenal eliminated a genuine European giant), Roma (on penalties) and Villarreal (2009), and Porto (2010). Since 2010, the club have failed to progress beyond the round of 16 in seven attempts (let’s assume they do not beat Bayern 4-0 in the second leg). Granted, on five of the last seven seasons they have faced either Barcelona or Bayern. But hey, if you are serious about winning the trophy, you know what… you have to eliminate top sides at some stage. Arsenal even had the advantage of the second leg at home this season. But the manager did not prepare his team tactically for the opposition. Hence they were over-ran in midfield, hence the two wide attackers failed to support their full backs adequately and hence Francis Coquelin showed Arjen Robben onto his stronger foot for the opening goal. Arsene Wenger has never won a European trophy and that is because ultimately, along the way you cannot just rely on good fortune, but need some tactical astuteness to beat different opposition. Ozil should have been dropped for this leg with someone prepared to harry picked in his place.
The Champions League is the one trophy Wenger covets above any other because it is a glaring omission on his CV. And it will remain one because if he could not win it with the players he had between his arrival at Arsenal and his breaking up of the Invincibles, he never will. The final this year is in Cardiff, the scene of three FA Cup triumphs. Wenger may well be there, but only in the stands as a guest of UEFA. How much more humiliation can the man take? At £8.3 million a year to do what he likes, the fear is another couple of years’ worth.
However, the tide is turning. Even Martin Keown says the club need to work out an exit strategy. (Martin, maybe they already have. The directors have briefed people like you and their media voices like Jeremy Wilson and John Cross that there is a two year deal on the table, to make it look like it will be Arsene’s decision on when his time is called at the club – when, just perhaps, after last season’s Leicester title win they realized that they had to try something different. But everyone believes what they have been told.) John Cross has said “for the good of the club, Arsene does need to think about moving on”. This is sea change stuff we are talking here. With every no-show by his players, more and more of those who have retained faith in the manager are admitting that indeed it is ‘time for change’. They don’t want to lift banners in the stadium to humiliate the man, but inside, they know it.
It’s sad that it has come to this, but that is the nature of hubris. Arsene Wenger has never admitted that the continued failures to achieve the success the club have been set up for have been anything to do with him. There is always something else to blame – others spending more money, officials, the scheduling of the fixture list to suit TV, injuries, the supporters, the weather, players taking supplements, the list goes on. Never any personal failing, oh no. He is stubborn and proud, believing his way is the right way, yet failing to acknowledge it doesn’t work. He’s retained the same group of yes men around him on his coaching staff for years, because he wants complete control, feels he has no need of a second opinion, and does not want to be challenged by strong voices. So Steve Bould is reduced to putting out cones, Patrick Vieira waits for a call from the club when he retires and it never comes. Martin Keown has a positive influence on the defensive resilience in the 2005-06 season while doing his training badges, but when he gets some credit for it, is not invited to join the coaching set-up full time. A wealth of positive playing experience is available to the manager but he doesn’t want strong characters who might call a spade a spade and challenge the players to improve. So it’s all too cosy and comfortable, the players good enough to make the top four without exerting themselves as often as they might need to were they actually under pressure to do better. The players never fearing a rollocking from the manager. Nice work if you can get it.
One of the pundits or reporters on the TV or the radio (it might have been Pat Nevin) had a good line to the effect that Mesut Ozil is a symbol of the end of Arsene. Nice touch, but he hasn't got it when it counts. Imagine this bunch of players in the Battle of Highbury (younger readers, google it). As Michael Ballack described it, “they look like a bunch of kids”. This is what Arsenal have become under the current regime. Herbert Chapman would be spinning in his grave.
The club are trying to get to the end of the season to allow the manager a dignified exit. The only way that is going to happen now is for everyone to be told that change is on the agenda. And if they want to make it look like it is Arsene Wenger’s decision to call time on his own tenure, so be it. Just do it quickly. Because right now, the way the players are performing, it looks to me like a club in freefall. It won’t be as bad as the final days of Brian Clough at Forest, although in terms of the relationship with the supporters, there is a danger of it getting uglier if the dilly-dallying and “I’ll make my mind up in April” message continues. This was about as far as it’s possible to go from Arsenal’s first European trophy win against Anderlecht in 1970. The football club has become a laughing stock.
The board are sounding out candidates, we know that. So let’s stop the pretense, make it public that Wenger is managing his final games and try and recover what could turn out to be a shipwreck of a season, currently spiraling out of control. To quote Henry Winter, enough of this sleepwalking towards the abyss.
Ivan Gazidis in June 2013: “We want to be a club that is competing at the very top end of the game and that means competing to win the Premier League and competing to win the Champions League. We should be able to compete at a level like a club such as Bayern Munich. I'm not saying we are there by any means, we have a way to go before we can put ourselves on that level. But this whole journey over the past ten years really has been with that goal in mind which is why I say that this is an extraordinarily ambitious club.” A year later Arsene Wenger signed on for another three years after a winning an FA Cup by defeating European giants Wigan (on penalties) and Hull (in extra time). Ambitious or complacent? Let’s not make that mistake again.
Next up, Sutton United away…
The current issue of The Gooner (with a free 2017 Arsenal Legends calendar) can be bought online for £4.00 including postage here. There will be a new issue out for the home match v Bayern in early March.
