Good morning to you, happy Saturday. Let’s have a quick round up of all the non-Arsene Wenger related stuff that’s going on.
Well, there we go. I hope that was informative and enlightening. The manager and his future is still sharply in focus. At his press conference yesterday, which was called to talk about Monday’s FA Cup tie with Sutton, I’d estimate that 90% of the questions were about him, and there was almost nothing about the game itself.
Arsene Wenger: I don’t really want to say anything about the future.
Journalists: I’m afraid I must insist. You see, the fans, they have been most vocal on the subject of the future. “Where’s the future? “When are you going to get the future?” “Why aren’t you getting the future now?” And so on. So please, the future.
To be fair to him, he did answer lots and lots of questions about it, and you can read a full transcript of what he had to say right here. I suppose the one thing we have learned is that he’s not ready to stop being a football manager, and he made that quite clear:
No matter what happens I will manage next season. Is it here or somewhere else, that’s absolutely for sure.
Was it a message to critics, or just brutal honesty? If it comes across as somewhat defiant, then that’s really nothing you shouldn’t expect from him if you’ve watched him down the years. He then talked about his own responsibility when it comes to making the decision:
I did not work here for 20 years not to care about this club. I had many opportunities during my time here to go somewhere else. I care about this club. I care about its future. It is very important that the club is in safe hands. Is it me or is it somebody else?
Ultimately though, there was never going to be any clarity from yesterday’s press conference. He was not going to stand up, announce his departure, or anything else, so what happens now? Well, we chug along, play football matches, hopefully win many of those football matches, and hopefully in the background those who need to know first and foremost are informed as to what’s going to happen.
It’s such a weird situation. Arsene’s autonomy at the football club is almost unique. He is the football manager Atlas, holding up the world for eternity, and for some the fear is that without him everything will collapse. It won’t. Not everything anyway. As I’ve written extensively over the last few days, the task of replacing him is far from simple. It’s enormous in some respects, but it’s not impossible, and there will be always be Arsenal Football Club (as long as there’s also a world that hasn’t been blown up by uranium and that).
Anyway, it feels like those involved are very much in ‘gauge the mood’ mode. Let’s see how people feel if we go on a run of form, do well in the cup etc. That’s what we’ve got to aim for, but there are big, difficult games ahead. That second leg v Bayern which demands a response, at the very least, to what happened in Munich. Sp*rs and Liverpool away from home, Manchesters City and United at home, and who knows what the FA Cup might throw up.
Whatever message he’s trying to get through to his players, it has to start working, because more defeats against big teams will only increase the clamour for change. If if were me, I’d be inclined to shake things up as much as possible. Let’s get Danny Welbeck, Lucas Perez, Mohamed Elneny in the team. Ok, it’s not quite like calling Ghostbusters, but these are guys who, at the very least, haven’t let us down at key moments this season. A reminder to some players that they’re not untouchable wouldn’t necessarily be a bad thing.
I’d expect significant changes for the FA Cup game on Monday, and even taking into account the stature of the opposition, maybe reward the ones who do well by letting them keep their place – as should have happened after the 4th round against Southampton. It’s the only real way we can change the dynamic at the moment, and at this point why wouldn’t we try and do that?
For some extra reading this morning, here’s the Arsenal Gent on the midweek comedy in the Champions League, and East Lower on the current goings on.
Finally, if you haven’t yet had a chance to listen to this week’s Arsecast check it out below. There’s obviously a lot of discussion about the manager but coming from four different guests, James from Gunnerblog, Miguel Delaney, Daniel Storey of F365 and the Man from East Lower.
Check it out below, the episode is almost at number 1 in iTunes this week, so all reviews/ratings there very much appreciated.
Download – Acast – iTunes – RSS
Right, that’s that for this morning, hope you enjoy the podcast, more from me tomorrow.
