Arsene Wenger – A Mere Shadow Of His Former Self

Remember Arsene Wenger? No, not Saturday’s one.

I’m referring to the man with the intellectual image who simply electrified English football upon his arrival in 1996. Wenger modernised training and dietary methods and nurtured some of football’s greatest talents while ensuring his team played a flowing, attacking style of football which garnered plaudits from every corner of our game.

Now ponder the Arsene of today.

He is becoming the recurring joke of English football: fans are losing patience, the trophy cabinet is crushingly bare, their two most influential players have left and that 8-2 thrashing has prompted Arsene to invest in a set of players who may or may not live up to the mark. So will Arsene’s reputation be able to recover?

Let’s say Arsenal do not achieve what should be the minimum in Champions League football this season and come fifth or sixth: will football fans alike remember the trophy-alofting Frenchman or the man that we have been subjected to in the last few seasons, the man whose team lost its dignity? The scars of this slump are deepening – a loss against a club that is widely tipped to be relegated and four points from five games this season is damning.

And scarily, their performance against Blackburn on Saturday had all the elements of a typical Arsenal performance. A good goal put them ahead through the impressive Gervinho, yet Yakubu stayed onside and jabbed a quick toe-punt into the north-London goalmouth.

Defensive frailties compiled and after two own goals and an admittedly offside Yakubu tap-in, Arsenal were in a particularly perilous state.

Yes, they could feel hard done by; yes Blackburn’s third goal was offside. But sides like Arsenal, sides that should aspire to be top of the league come May, cannot alleviate their inadequacies on refereeing mistakes. Arsenal should have put another and another past Blackburn: suppress the hope of an already poor team and three easy points are there for the taking. Three points that could have lifted the pressure of Arsenal since their 8-2 thrashing and build a wealth of pleasing results on the back of a decent performance in Europe.

It seems the Gunners simply cannot comply. And while the players are at fault, Arsene must be largely at blame for not embedding a competent, never-say-die attitude into his players and his player’s performances. Mr Wenger has given us so many footballers, so many moments of skill and elegance. Like Ferguson and like Mourinho, though they all have their faults, he is a character in what can often be a game filled to the brim with bland, clichéd individuals.

There are those that offer no real insight to the game – those that rinse their pre-match conferences with hollow, substance-less comments. Arsene is a figure in football that is not only entertaining, but a true student of the game.

To imagine him leaving a tainted legacy is unfathomable. The memories of success will be bittersweet upon reflection: wonderful achievements yet harsh reminders of what once was, especially the invincible season which should have propelled Arsenal onto the path to Champions League glory. But it didn’t – it was nearly, it was if only, and that is scarily indicative of the club that once defeated everyone – and defeated them beautifully, I might add.

For far too many Arsene will not be remembered as the successful intellectual he should be but a mere shadow of his former self and, as the season gets fully into gear, it is his once-glowing reputation which is at risk as well as the danger of a seventh fruitless campaign in a row.