Match report – Player ratings – By the numbers – Video
So the first of the final seven, hopefully eight, games of Arsene Wenger’s Arsenal career ended with a comprehensive win, but it was a late flourish and three goals in the last ten minutes which perhaps means the scoreline doesn’t tell the full story.
The manager picked a stronger side than I had suspected, starting Aaron Ramsey, Laurent Koscielny etc, and using Alexandre Lacazette up front. It was obviously a desire to get his team working together before the Atletico Madrid game on Thursday, but it was the visitors need for points which made them that bit sharper in the first half.
Marko Arnautovic gave Shkodran Mustafi a difficult time, forcing Ospina into a save after he got in behind, and they also had a header land on top of the bar. At the other end it wasn’t quite coming off for us, Danny Welbeck looking our most dangerous player but his decision making and timing wasn’t good enough to make the most of a couple of promising situations.
We started the second half much more brightly though, and there was a zip to our football that wasn’t there in the first. The pressure brought about a free kick when Welbeck was almost through on a break, from there a corner, and from that set-piece Nacho Monreal caught Xhaka’s delivery on the volley with the shinniest of shins and buried it into the bottom corner.
It wouldn’t be unfair to say we didn’t quite make the most of this period when we were very much on top and then after a couple of substitutions, they were level through Arnautovic. It was a good finish, and while I did not care for it it at the time, by the final whistle his effusive celebrations were most enjoyable as the scoreboard read Arsenal 4-1 West Ham. He’s a particularly dislikeable character, with whom we’ve had some history, so I’m always happy when the Lidl Ibrahimovic is unhappy.
We looked more dangerous when Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang came on, even if he was stationed out on the left again, and there was a touch of good fortune to our second. Aaron Ramsey’s cross should have been meat and drink for young centre-half Declan Rice, but for some reason he left it, Joe Hart was stranded and the ball drifted in to make it 2-1.
The former England goalkeeper had been in good form on the day, although rather slow with his kickouts when there was a point to be had, and he made a good save from Xhaka and an even better one from Welbeck. However, he was beaten twice by Alexandre Lacazette in the final five minutes.
The first, a shot from a tight angle whizzed past him after some nice build-up play saw Aubameyang set up his strike partner, and the second when a sharp turn and finish came at the end of excellent work in the box from Ramsey. Hart got a touch, but not enough, and the sun was out, the win was sealed, and a rendition of ‘One Arsene Wenger’ rang out around the stadium.
It wasn’t quite as poignant an occasion as had been predicted, I suspect that will be more the case for the manager’s final home game against Burnley in a couple of weeks time, but maybe that’s no bad thing. There’s still work to be done this season, not least the focus on Europe, and afterwards Aaron Ramsey said the players wanted to win it to give Wenger what he described as the ‘perfect send off‘.
It would, undoubtedly, be a wonderful way to go out, but watching his post-game press conference you get the sense that there can’t be a perfect way for it to end for the man himself. He wouldn’t elaborate on how and why the decision had been made, but when Amy Lawrence asked him if it was a relief now be in this position, his reply of ‘No, because I was not tired …” tells you everything you need to know, I think.
He didn’t, and doesn’t, want to go, but has agreed to do so. You’ll see headlines and articles this morning about how he’s blamed the fans for this happening, but that really wasn’t the way I read it. The first thing to do is read exactly what he said, in its full context. Not in a Tweet or a back-page splash, so here’s a full transcript of his press conference.
It’s clear, however, that the relentless focus on him,and his future, has had an effect. Whether it was those ‘above’ him saying it was damaging the club, or a realisation he had himself I don’t know that we’ll ever know. Not until he writes that book – and boy oh boy do I hope he writes that book.
People will leap on this:
Our fans did not give the image of unity I want for this club, all over the world. That was hurtful. I feel the club is respected and overall, the image we gave from our club is not what it is and not what I like.
But gloss over this:
I’m not resentful. I do not want to make stupid headlines. I’m not resentful with the fans. If my personality is in the way of what I think this club is, for me that is more important than me. That is all I want to say, it’s nothing to do with the fans. The fans were not happy, that’s my job, I have to live with that. I can accept that.
In the same way that people are perfectly entitled to hold up banners, or fly planes, people are entitled to their views on those things. It’s obviously impossible to quantify this exactly, but my opinion is that vast majority Arsenal fans have behaved respectfully. It has been possible to express a desire to see change without resorting to the kind of behaviour that you see at the extremes.
Unfortunately, we now live in a world where the fringes can come to represent the whole, and I don’t think that’s the case when it comes to our fans. It’s the optics of it though. What garners more clicks or views or listens? Someone calmly saying the manager has been a fantastic servant for the club but we need a change, or a screaming, bug-eyed, frothing at the mouth, invective-filled rant?
It’s not the message, but the delivery, and that’s a reality I think we face on a daily basis – not simply in football but in society. I think deep down Arsene Wenger will know it’s the league table that is the key driver to this happening, but withing that his love for the club – and I don’t know how anyone can doubt that for a single minute – makes him aware of the wider issues and that has played a part too.
Amy makes a great point on Twitter, about how greatly he cares about the values – or at least the perceived values – of Arsenal, and football itself. He is an optimist, and an idealist, and to him the worth of his work and the sport isn’t simply tied up in the scoreline at the end of 90 minutes. That’s a great thing on a human level, but perhaps also a drawback because it can affect decisions over which others might be more ruthless and therefore successful. Yet I hope whoever comes next shares some of that, because in the 22 years it’s been a pleasure to have a manager who can look outside of himself and what is expected of him.
We hear talk of doing things the ‘Arsenal way’, with a bit of class, and while I don’t think we always manage that – for various reasons – I think Wenger has always tried his best to uphold the values he believes represent Arsenal, and that’s something that will form a large part of his legacy.
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Right, James and I are recording relatively early this morning, so if you have questions for the podcast, send to both of us please @gunnerblog and @arseblog with the hashtag #arsecastextra. That’ll be available before lunchtime.
Until then.
