Even the urbane Arsène Wenger might get a little flustered. Whether he reads the newspapers or, more likely, his club’s statistics, the Arsenal manager must gape at the suddenness with which life has gone astray. The 3-0 win over Birmingham City at the weekend and the 5-1 thrashing of Rosenborg in the Champions League were a relief, but beating such quiescent visitors brings limited reassurance.
Arsenal, whose sense of themselves was so robust before they lost at Old Trafford in October, are a team in frantic search of their true identity. Some claim that the opposition have just found a way of beating them, but the tacticians must be dolts if it has taken this long to come up with some basic ideas.
True, Liverpool did benefit from the layered midfield that interrupted Arsenal’s build-up nine days ago, but Wenger’s players, at their best, have previously torn such systems to shreds. Even now, they lose form in a unique fashion.
In the midst of their drabness on Merseyside Arsenal collected themselves for an instant and produced the string of rapid passes that ended with Patrick Vieira slipping the ball into the net. It was like watching flame zip down a fuse.
Those who had extolled Arsenal during the 49-match unbeaten run in the Premiership no longer felt they had overstated the case. None the less, the revival did not last long enough at Liverpool and they lost in the end. It becomes ever more obvious that Wenger is in charge of a club that, for good or ill, is like no other.
They lack a few of the things that their peers possess. Some clubs have an alternative plan with which they might scramble through when all else fails. Chelsea’s John Terry, for example, regularly heads home at set-pieces, whereas the ball usually looks as if it has gone astray when Arsenal send it into the air.
Manchester United possess wonderful talents like Wayne Rooney, Paul Scholes and several others, but Sir Alex Ferguson did not hesitate to spend £6-million on Alan Smith, a good footballer who fills out his contribution with aggression and strength.
Arsenal sometimes berate themselves for that lack of grit. Freddie Ljungberg, angry with himself and the rest of the side, deplored a failure to engage fully in the battle with Liverpool. In truth, though, the club is not about to reconsider now. It
cannot even afford to do so.
Jose Mourinho, causing the kind of offence that truth-telling normally does, observed that only Chelsea and Manchester United have experienced players vying for every position in the first team. Arsenal’s back-up, in which Wenger takes a rightful pride, is composed almost exclusively of kids.
Arsenal are naturally pleased to have tracked such prospects down across the length and breadth of Europe. In a dilemma over their goalkeeping situation, it was typical of them, too, that they should come up with a player from Tromso as a possible solution. Knut Borch began a week’s trial on Monday.
The new stadium at Ashburton Grove will generate greater sums of money, but in the short term it will present Arsenal with a heavy debt to service. Unless a decision is taken to convert the club into a plc, which brings troubles of other sorts, it will be the next generation that enjoys the benefits of the ground that is under construction at the moment.
Arsenal, on and off the field, are set to go on being distinctive. The tone is established, too, by a manager who has been there for eight years. Wenger has given wonderful service and, in the process, embedded his highly individual approach to the game in the character of Highbury.
There are drawbacks. Arsenal do not excel at plain resistance and have, for instance, been knocked out of the Champions League by Valencia and Chelsea when they merely had to cling to an advantage. Premiership leaders Chelsea will definitely query their durability on Sunday.
Delicacy is the glory of Arsenal when they attack, but the brittleness is also there when they try to hold out. The signings a manager makes are the statement of his beliefs and Wenger shows no signs of compromising. Arsenal can behave in the spoilt, petulant manner that scars their disciplinary record, but it is normally misconduct without cynical premeditation.
As a team, they depend on spells of burning form such as the 18-match unbeaten run that gave Wenger his first Premiership title in 1998. If another upsurge does not come along soon, Arsenal will be marginalised this season but their idiosyncratic splendour would be missed at the forefront of the game. —