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There was a palpable glee in the eyes of Arsene Wenger during his pre match interview yesterday. After having gone through the United starting eleven, the Frenchman must have thought that his team couldn't get a better chance to wipe off the demons of their past and finally snatch a victory against Manchester United.
A patched up defense comprising of two academy products and a midfield clearly missing the perfect playmaker in addition to a centre forward struggling to find his feet, Louis Van Gaal's men had all the reasons to fret about.
As for Arsenal, even though not entirely convincing, their starting eleven looked way more balanced in comparison to their opponents and they had the backing of the Emirates faithful who were hopeful of a turnaround in fortunes but sadly, that wasn't to be.
Arsenal were left extirpated after 98 long minutes and it was United who had come away with all three points. In the process, Arsenal endured their worst ever start to a Premier League campaign; 17 points in 12 games is what they have managed to rack up. At the end of the final whistle, there were boos from the Arsenal supporters and surprisingly yet understandbly, they were directed at Arsene Wenger rather than the visiting team.
The Gunners wasted multitudinous amount of opportunities in the opening half of the game and had it not been for David De Gea, United would have been 3 goals down in the opening twenty minutes. However, the Spaniards cause was helped by the mediocrity of Arsenal’s attack. More than half of their shots were directed right at him and he consequently had his work cut out.
Arsene Wenger meanwhile, was engrossed in defending his teams shambolic performance by claiming that his team had 80% of possession. I feel Mr Wenger has been in the game for quite a long time to realize that at the end of the game, it's the final score which matters and not the amount of possession which your team has enjoyed.
Unlike United, Arsenal wasted a lot of time on the ball at the edge of the penalty box and were embroiled in creating their very own slick passing game instead of having a go at De Gea. So exasperating was the drill that there came a point when Arsenal supporters were compelled to yell, "Shoot!"
This has always been the problem for them hasn't it? No matter who the opposition is, Wenger’s men take pride in retaining their staple style of football against everyone and that has been the primary reason behind the decade old trophy drought which ended only last year. When you have a look at all the great teams and their managers, there's an obvious trend which they adopt in the matches against the best in the business.
Stubborn Wenger losing the plot in the big games
Sir Alex Ferguson and Jose Mourinho enjoy an overwhelming record against the biggies and the sole reason behind that is the way they set their teams up for that massive encounter. Mourinho adopts a very defensive approach whereas Sir Alex Ferguson preferred using wingers to spark things up on the attacking front. As for Arsene Wenger, it's the same old approach everytime. There's no doubting that the brand of football which Arsenal exhibit is worth drooling over but that happens very erraticly – and that is not beneficial.
However, Wenger's insistence on not changing his game plan has backfired on many occasions and it's getting a bit difficult to digest the stubbornness he exudes. The Frenchman termed his player's 'naive’ after the embarrassing defeat last night but to be honest, going by the kind of business Arsenal executed in the summer, Wenger has also looked anything but naive too. He sold Vermalen but didn't replace him, thinking that the current players would step up and assume responsibility but sadly, that hasn't happened.
The need for a robust defensive midfielder is becoming more and more clear after every game and it still looks like Arsenal haven't successfully replaced Patrick Viera. To be honest, Arsenal have seen a massive regression under Wenger over the years. The Gunners dominate the early stages, inexplicably spurn a host of simple openings before conceding in calamitous circumstances.
Only Arsenal could bottle the opportunity to win that sort of match – and it’s happened with alarming regularity over the past five seasons. Wenger built the Invincibles, but has now dismantled that memory before repair. It is simple - Wenger must leave.
Make no mistake about it; Arsenal possess an extremely good squad which is capable of conquering the Premier League, subject to a couple of reinforcements. But, the mediocre mentality and substandard aims being set by the manager isn't helping them in any way. The Gunners celebrate Champions League qualification as if they've won the treble and this stagnant attitude is going to lead them nowhere.
Klopp to Arsenal?
Wenger faces more and more pressure after Borrusia Dortmund boss Jurgen Klopp recently cast a shadow of doubt over his own future at the Signal Iduna Park. Speaking to BT Sport the Dortmund manager said, “ I love this club in Mainz, I love this city, for a long time. My home town and so on. When I came here I thought OK now I can work as a normal coach, two or three years – next club, next city. I’m really interested in life, it’s not important for me to stay for a long time in the same place. My children are old enough to stay alone, that’s not the problem.”
“I am here for more than six years, I don’t know when it will end, I don’t think about this. But it’s not my idea to build a legacy. We will see, as long as it’s successful and we can develop everything, we shouldn’t change".
Going by the words of the 47-year old German, it is unambiguous that he's not going retire at Dortmund. Klopp has recently expressed his interest in managing a Premier League club and Arsenal would be the perfect destination for him. Being an experienced campaigner, Klopp will know exactly what kind if tweaks the current squad requires which can help them emerge as a European and English superpower.
