导出博客文章With no trophies and Tottenham set to finish above Arsenal for the first time in
21 years, pressure is building on Arsene Wenger like never before. Is his time
up? Adam Bate looks at the reasons for his success and why there’s little reason
to expect a repeat… One of the key moments for Biff Tannen in the Back to the
Future series was when he got hold of the Grays Sports Almanac that revealed the
winners of every forthcoming sporting event for years to come. Tannen was
transformed into a visionary, armed with the information that his contemporaries
craved. Success became a formality.Perhaps thats how it felt for Arsene Wenger
when he arrived in England in the autumn of 1996. Hed been a top-class coach in
his native France, of course, but in the Premier League his encyclopedic
knowledge of superior markets and ideas dwarfed that of his new peers. As an
intellectual Gulliver in Lilliput, it didnt take too long for his impact to be
felt. By his own admission, Wenger was left bemused by the fact that he could
assemble an entire squad for the price quoted to sign Graeme Le Saux from
Blackburn. And so, he did just that. Nicolas Anelka had already been acquired
for less than £1m. Patrick Vieira joined from AC Milan for just £3.5m. And that
was just the transfer market. Wenger says his past successes mean Arsenal fans
expect trophies each year On the training ground, the focus on muscle toning was
new to old pros. Sharper sessions timed to the second. The introduction of
periodisation. Conditioning work. Nutrition ideas from Japan. Dieticians such as
Yann Rougier. Regular attention from osteopath Philippe Boixel. None of it seems
outlandish now but these changes were significant at the time.When we had the
first pre-season under Wenger, it was completely different from anything I
experienced in my whole career, Nigel Winterburn told The Independent. There
were footballs all over the pitch! What? Footballs! It was unheard of, a
football session on the first day back off pre-season training. I had never
heard of it.Its difficult to appreciate the context. The previous example of a
foreign manager at such as high-profile club had been when Dr Josef Venglos was
appointed by Aston Villa in 1990. He arrived just weeks after taking
Czechoslovakia to a World Cup quarter-final but was still Dr Who to the press
pack. Villas players didnt enjoy the post-match warm downs. The house that
Arsene built: But is he the same manager today? Venglos was a pioneer but having
taken over from the successful Graham Taylor, only wins wouldve earned him
patience and he couldnt get them. Wengers combination of better ideas and better
players brought improved results and so the story was very different.
Experienced players such as Winterburn, Tony Adams and Martin Keown bought into
it.He harnessed this existing defence and fused it with a much-improved
attacking unit. The likes of Marc Overmars and Emmanuel Petit helped Arsenal to
a league and cup double in 1998. A remarkable achievement in itself, but what
puts Wenger on a level few have reached is that he built another team too. Only
Vieira and Dennis Bergkamp were still first-choice picks in the Invincibles of
2004.That Arsenal side, the team of Thierry Henry and Robert Pires, remains the
only one to go through an entire Premier League season without suffering a
defeat. That they did so by playing some of the most exciting football this
country has ever seen only adds to the achievement. But 12 years on and the wait
for the next Premier League title goes on. Arsenal won the Premier League title
without losing a game in 2003/04 What went wrong? Undeniably, there have been
external factors. It got harder as opponents rose up like never before. With
Chelsea emerging as a genuine force, Arsenal were no longer competing with only
Manchester United. Liverpool had their moments too and more recently there has
been Manchester City and Tottenham to contend with as well.It got harder as the
club managed the transition to the new stadium. Supporters were tolerant in that
respect, noting the managers complaints about the financial doping of others.
But that sympathy has long since dissipated, giving way to a more troubling
thought: that the real issue for Wenger is that so many of his advantages have
now been neutralised.He had enjoyed what is known in marketing as first-mover
advantage - the benefits that stem from being the initial occupant in a market,
gaining control of resources others cannot. But now others have caught up. Its
Wengers strength no more. He is a victim of his own success given that his ideas
and principles are now so ubiquitous they do not set him apart. Ive been
tremendously loyal to the manager. Id like to stay that way if I could, but Im
just finding that the solutions are getting harder for him to solve. Charlie
Nicholas Former Arsenal forward Charlie Nicholas feels it is a problem. Ive been
tremendously loyal to the manager, Nicholas told Sky Sports. Id like to stay
that way if I could, but Im just finding that the solutions are getting harder
for him to solve. Its not easy to find the right players but this is where we
have always loved Arsene.Hes always found magical players or turned them into
magical players. Hes always had that talent. Now that talent seems to be
becoming harder. You cant get Nicolas Anelka now for half a million or Thierry
Henry for £8m. But other clubs seem to find them. And if other clubs can find
them...Perhaps its prudence that persuaded him against moving for Anthony
Martial. Certainly, globalisation has opened things up to allow Newcastle,
Leicester and West Ham to swoop upon the French market in recent years. Wenger
knew about them all. He just didnt know whether to sign them. His recent
risk-free acquisitions have arrived for north of £30m. A section of Arsenals
supporters have lost faith in their long-serving manager Where once ignorance of
others might have protected Wenger against criticism, allowing it to appear as
if World Cup winners such as Henry had been plucked from obscurity, the game has
now changed sufficiently to allow Arsenal fans to implore him to sign Gonzalo
Higuain - and then feel justified when seeing the Argentine score over 30 goals
in a Serie A season.Arsenal have these funds and with the stadium having long
since ceased to be a viable excuse, Wenger can no longer point to the financial
advantages of club rivals. Particularly when Leicester are champions and,
perhaps more damagingly, Tottenham are above them in the table, too. It seems St
Totteringhams Day wont be coming this year, but perhaps another day has
arrived.In Back to the Future, the results in Tannens Almanac only went up to
2000. Hed secured his legacy by then but the magic touch was gone. Wenger
managed to extend his success into the new millennium but the fear is that he
too no longer has the answers. The fear is that Arsene Wenger is a man out of
time. Also See: Welbeck out for nine months Who is Granit Xhaka?
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