Peter Le Beau
I’ve been thinking about Arsenal a lot recently. I think about them a lot most of the time but over the past few months my thoughts have become increasingly gloomy and pessimistic. I have for some time felt that Arsene Wenger needs to be replaced although I gave him support for a lot longer than many Gooners. My desire was for him to leave last May. It would have been a perfect moment to take his leave and I suspect he might leave to regret it if his legacy continues to tarnish, even though he will be considerably richer for extending his contract.
My big concern is that we may be watching the marooning of our club in a space that is almost uniquely our own. If you look at the Premier League it is fairly easy to pick three clear levels.
There is ‘the Top Six’, let’s refer back to them later. There are the ten or so very indifferent teams that are fighting relegation and all could find themselves in trouble and then maybe a few sides like Burnley, Leicester and Everton who won’t go down but won’t challenge for the Champions League or even the Europa League places either.
This top six, of course contains us... but does it really? The top six are really a top four or five in my view. Manchester City are clearly out on their own, United are tactically much better than us but far too boring to take on a team like City. Chelsea are a shadow of last season’s team but have shown at times in Europe and the Premier League that they are a quality outfit and Liverpool have demonstrated a quality of attacking football and an ambition in acquiring Van Dijk that way outstrips our own. They have got a ridiculously good deal for Coutinho and in signing Klopp have a dynamic coach whose big challenge is tightening up in defence. They have bought well in Salah, Mane and Firmino and if they could play as well at home as they do away would be near City. Then we come to the Tiny Totts, our neighbours. It’s hard to speak of them in glowing terms but I will try to be fair... reluctantly. They appear to be in slight decline and are heavily dependent on one of the most prolific strikers in world football, a player that will be hugely sought after in the summer window. This year injuries to key players have underlined the thinness of their squad and their move to Wembley has proved a problem. We beat them easily in November but hand on heart I would not back us to do the double over them this season. They are the nearest of the big six to us but there are only four places available for the Champions League unless we win the Europa League. While they retain Pochettino and Kane, with significantly increased revenue I fear they will finish ahead of the current Arsenal model. That gives me no pleasure to say but it is my honest feeling. Of course their empire could easily crumble and though not a one man team, it isn’t difficult to see a team with a relatively frugal wage policy losing several stars, but by the same token the move to new ground may elevate their status significantly.
Given the financial firepower of the top three and the ambition of Liverpool I find it sadly hard to see us overhauling them while Wenger remains at the helm. The innovator of 1996 has become the arch-reactionary of 2018, a man who sticks with the same people and same methods, year after year after year. Around him, other teams are developing more modern styles of play, have regularly improved their training and conditioning and spent considerably more money. Arsenal have the sixth highest spending on transfers in the Premier League in the last eighteen months and are in sixth place. The spend sadly correlates exactly to the league place.
My concern is that with a supine board and semi-engaged and highly unsatisfactory owner I don’t see things changing at Arsenal. My sense is that Gazidis is desperately trying to modernise the club but while Wenger stands in his way it will prove very hard to do this. If Kroenke continues to support Wenger and awards him yet another contract we may see ourselves in limbo, better than most of the league but getting increasingly far away from the teams at the top. I’ve not adjusted to Thursday night Football and I hope I don’t have to, but my sense is that we are marooned in a league of our own, finding it hard to attract and keep the very best talent.
My hope is that Sanllehi and Mislintat will soon be augmented by a top European coach but my instinct tells me Wenger will cling kicking and screaming to his post. As we saw in the summer, he has Kroenke’s ear and he is the only one who matters as the club is under his control. In 2004 Arsenal were in a league of their own. Alarmingly, fourteen years later we may be again, but this time it’s a league some way below the one that really matters.
In case you have missed it, the campaign to keep The Gooner going beyond the current season was launched last week. Please check it out if you did not see it then.
