The Arsenal job needs someone with the kind of bone-deep composure that is born to only a few men and surely it makes sense to go for the candidate with the superior credentials?Apparently, Arsène Wenger does not want too much fuss. Wenger has not even held a press conference before what Ivan Gazidis, Arsenal’s chief executive, promised a couple of weeks ago would be a “send-off the world will take notice of”. Somehow, I wonder whether Gazidis was getting a little carried away. Arsenal have not even decided yet if they want a statue of Wenger when, frankly, one should have been announced on the day the abdication was announced. They will give away 60,000 “Merci Arsène” T-shirts but nobody...
Burnley’s visit to the Emirates on Sunday will be the last home game for the Arsenal manager, and some of his playersArsène Wenger had outlined the danger in the buildup to the second leg of Arsenal’s Europa League semi-final against Atlético Madrid. “The future of the club is not exactly the same if we qualify for the Champions League or not,” the manager said.The worst-case scenario duly played out. Arsenal’s 1-0 defeat in Madrid condemned them to a 2-1 aggregate loss and meant that for the second season in succession they will miss out on the prestige and revenues of competing in Europe’s elite club competition. Related: Arsenal v Burnley: match preview Continue reading...
Scene of some of the manager’s greatest triumphs has brought devastating lows more recently and Manchester United will smell bloodDeep in football conversation a few years ago Arsène Wenger outlined a theory he had about how the way managers talk about football can get into a player’s subconscious. This was not everyday football manager‑speak. “The way you speak out is seeds in the brains of your players,” he said. “It is subconscious, it is interesting. I am very interested in the subconscious force of the memory of a team.”In a nutshell the concept is about how strongly certain messages, or raking up of past experiences, can come out in the way a team plays. Related: José Mourinho admits to regrets...
Atlético Madrid were on the ropes but there was no knockout blow at the EmiratesIt is a lovely thought, Arsène Wenger burnishing his legacy by collecting the first European trophy of his career in Lyon next month, and for a while Arsenal’s manager could dream about that perfect send-off. Atlético Madrid were on the ropes, Diego Simeone was growling in the stands and for once it seemed that Wenger was not going to regret talking about a team with the potential to win the Europa League before this match.Yet the awkward truth for Arsenal’s eternal optimist is that the best teams show no mercy when the odds are stacked so heavily in their favour. This was an occasion that ought...
United miscalculated the Alex Ferguson succession and, as Arsène Wenger prepares to visit Old Trafford for the final time with Arsenal, his club has all that potential disruption to comeArsenal have only three away games left in the Premier League this season but happily there is still time for Arsène Wenger to return to Manchester United, the scene of many of the highs and lows in his extraordinary career.One suspects the image that will surface most often this weekend is the iconic one of Wenger banished to the stands in 2009, arms outstretched at the pettiness of it all after being told by match officials that kicking a water bottle in frustration was far too grievous an offence to be...