Despite triggering a football revolution, Arsène Wenger’s adamance has damaged his Arsenal legacy
There is pain in every departure. After 21 years, giving his club and its people some of the most inspired times of their lives, Arsène Wenger is coming to the end of his most troubled season in charge of Arsenal Football Club.
His biggest headache is not that Chelsea, Manchester City and Manchester United have overtaken Arsenal. Rather, it is what is happening six kilometers down the road from Arsenal, where Tottenham Hotspur is in full gallop.
Enmity between Arsenal and Tottenham goes back a hundred years to when Arsenal, formed by workers at the Royal Arsenal munitions factory, relocated to the north London patch occupied by Tottenham. There is lasting hostility, born of resentment against Arsenal encroaching on Tottenham territory. And while, through the Wenger years, the Gunners had bragging rights, the Spurs’ revival makes Arsenal look dated. Not just Arsenal, but also Arsène. He is being made to appear past tense in his own house. His team, especially his most costly imports Mesut Özil and Alexis Sanchez, seem dispirited and disillusioned.
Their agents have a case. The money-no-object giants, from Real Madrid to Manchester City, from Barcelona to Chelsea, pay more than these two earn to their stars. But Özil seemed to lose heart and Sanchez appeared to run far less after Arsenal was humbled in Europe by Bayern Munich. Losing 5-1 in Munich, and then by the same score at Arsenal’s Emirates stadium, was shocking.
Collectively, Arsenal sagged. And whatever Wenger has said or tried has not had the desired effect. His unique autonomy at the club means that the slump is his responsibility.
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