Whether results are good or bad, we fixate on the idea that managers are accountable for what happens on the pitch. But how much can they really change after the whistle blows?This weekend, in keeping with most others, a much-scrutinised if seldom enlightening ritual will have been enacted once more: the post-match managerial interview. It’s a strange phenomenon, if you think about it, but coverage of a football match without quizzing the manager at the end would now seem as unnatural as the police not questioning the prime suspect in a crime.It has become an integral part of the mechanism that bestows upon managers a position somewhere between a god and a fool, depending on the result. But once a...
Post-Wenger era at Arsenal gives the semi-explored player the chance to become the complete midfielder under EmeryHow can I begin anything new with all of yesterday inside me, a wise man once wrote: not talking about Arsenal in the post-Wenger days but still kind of talking about Arsenal in the post-Wenger days.Most likely it won’t hit home until the first Premier League match at the Emirates next week, one of those August days when the grass is a wild lime green, when results and goals pass in a sun-drunk daze and football feels like a dance or a lark or a bit of fun. At which point there might be the first pang. Related: Joey Barton: ‘I’ve been through many...
The sun shone on the departing manager at Huddersfield and in the 22nd minute he received a standing ovation from the entire crowdThe final bow was a grand sweeping gesture, with the kind of flourish that would not look out of place on a Broadway stage. Arsène Wenger emerged for his last Premier League act, strode through a guard of honour, made a right turn towards the corner of Arsenal fans and when he arrived in front of them he bent that lean frame in acknowledgement of one hell of a story.Then he turned and skipped merrily back towards the dugout. Wenger is not renowned for his skipping. But everything feels different now. Fans who had not so long ago...
As the Arsenal manager takes his leave, writers for Arseblog tell Donald McRae, a fellow Gooner, about what it feels like to be losing such a key part of their lives after 22 yearsArsène Wenger’s head fell off and rolled across the glass table before plunging on to my living room floor. Last week, an hour after Arsenal had lost to Atlético Madrid, to ruin the fleeting dream of Wenger’s final match as manager being in the Europa League final, I had lifted up the old bobble-head and prepared to move it back to the window sill.As a family joke, and a worrying sign of my lifelong support of Arsenal, I had been given this wonderfully naff homage to the...
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...