Wengers French revolution at Arsenal Arsene Wenger made Arsenal into the force they are today. “Arsene knows,” says the banner at The Emirates. If Arsene Wenger knows anything, it his own mind. As he reaches 1,000 games in charge of Arsenal on Saturday, he shows little sign of such single-mindedness abating. It is too late to change now, though the signs are that after nine long, painful years, the stubbornness will bear fruit. Wenger is forever credited with revolutionising the English game on his arrival in 1996. Back then, Arsenal were a club of “win, draw or lose, always on the booze” but the French manager’s embracing of nutrition and sports science took them streets ahead of the rest, whose attitude to refuelling was little better, usually even worse. And in an era when English football was slowly opening its doors to foreign players, Wenger had an advantage on all of them. He mined the Francophone market to land instant successes like Patrick Vieira, Emmanuel Petit and Nicolas Anelka. However, the 13 and a half years since have seen him caught up and eventually surpassed. English football is a league of nations and everyone now features a Frenchman. Even the relegation strugglers eat chicken and pasta for breakfast, with a tasty side order of boiled vegetables. Fewer and fewer players hit the booze and prosper -- just ask Nicklas Bendtner. Regular visitors to Arsenal’s London Colney training ground would tell you that Wenger’s training drills have changed little since the first day that the unknown stringbean in oversized spectacles put the likes of Lee Dixon and Martin Keown through paces they were wholly unfamiliar with. In expensively assembled complexes across the land, coaches try the latest in vogue techniques, but Wenger sticks to what he knows, arranging the initiatives just as always. “Arsene is very much a guy that will do the training session,” Thierry Henry told the BBC this week. The New York Red Bulls striker retains close links to the club where Wenger made him into a world star and perhaps the finest player of the Premier League era. “You are always going to hear him. He is not a guy who stays on the line or back in the dressing room.” Something similar goes for half-time team talks -- or lack of them. His first game in charge, against Blackburn on Oct. 12, 1996, saw his new charges surprised that it took nine minutes for him to say anything whatsoever during the break. Even then, there were no teacups thrown; the hairdryer stayed on standby. Arsenal may have been winning 1-0, thanks to the first of two from Ian Wright, but very little has changed in that regard since. Wenger is not a man to raise his voice. In his mind, there is usually little point in doing so. Football fans often fancy a change and Arsenal’s are not immune to such impatience. This season, an opening-day defeat to Aston Villa was the scene of infuriated insurrection, but Wenger held firm. In many respects, the signing of Mesut Ozil was garnish, expensive at 42.4 million pounds, but it quieted the “spend some money” brigade at least until January, by which point Arsenal were resolutely in the hunt, where they remain still.
Posted on: Fri, 21 Mar 2014 19:02:32 +0000
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