Wenger seems determined to stay but teasing fans about his Arsenal future following defeat at West Brom leaves him open to accusations of self-indulgenceArsène knows. But he’s not telling. At least not publicly. A manager who for years has guaranteed stability is now cultivating uncertainty. That is pathetic in both senses of the word, achingly sad but also inadequate.Wenger revealed after his team’s miserable defeat at West Bromwich Albion that he has made up his mind about whether to accept the new contract that he was offered months ago by the club to which he has been so integral for more than two decades that it has become, in its contemporary form, his life’s work. Whatever he has decided has...
Left unchallenged at the club the manager continues to survive only because of former glories and careful husbandryThe football club Arsène Wenger might have managed – and still might – did him a favour this week. Just 24 hours after his Arsenal team stumbled out of the Champions League, defeated 10-2 on aggregate by Bayern Munich, Paris Saint-Germain stole the headlines by crumbling in the face of a Barcelona assault that amounted to one of the greatest sporting comebacks of modern times.By comparison with that feat of willpower and dark arts, the story of Arsenal’s surrender faded into relative insignificance and Wenger’s bitter criticisms of the referee will now be of interest only to the authorities. But they should refrain...
The future seemed bright after the 2006 Champions League final but since then it has been a sorry saga of lies, a soulless new stadium and an absentee ownerEight-two down on aggregate, 12 minutes more to play, thousands of disgruntled fans streaming from the Emirates Stadium. For the first time, I’m among them.Highbury didn’t die for this. It’s a phrase that became almost a mantra for Alan Davies’s popular podcast – The Tuesday Club – that ended last season, a group of lifelong fans left with nothing new to say about a club determined to bring fresh meaning to the phrase stuck in a rut. It wasn’t always like this. Related: Imagine the effects of letting Diego Simeone loose in...
Hiring the Atlético Madrid coach would be entertaining but surely Arsenal need a steady pair of hands rather than such a revolutionary regearing of this one-man club now Arsène Wenger’s time is clearly upWhen they start feeling sorry for you: that’s when you really need to worry. Towards the end of Arsène Wenger’s press conference after Arsenal had been swatted and ragged around the Emirates Stadium like a half-dead bird being toyed with by an indolent cat, there was a strange period where Wenger became unusually angry and incoherent.Mention was made of the “scandalous” refereeing decisions Arsenal’s manager seemed to genuinely believe were responsible for that supine 10-2 aggregate defeat by Bayern Munich. Now and then his voice clogged a...
Arsène Wenger’s reaction to Sánchez’s behaviour was a halfway house that demonstrated Arsenal would be better off with a new managerEvery week seems to bring a new episode in the Arsène Wenger endgame. Calamitous results, the same old frailties, worn excuses and now it seems a training-ground row with Arsenal’s best player. Alexis Sánchez now looks very likely to leave the club after arguing with Wenger and his team-mates, a disagreement that led at least in part to his omission from the starting XI for the defeat at Liverpool on Saturday.This development really acts only as confirmation of what even the most amateur of body language experts may have suspected for a while. Sánchez has cut an increasingly irked figure...