Better still, Kroenke, who became Arsenal’s majority shareholder this year, might fly from Missouri to London to show solidarity in Wenger’s hour of need.
For there are distressing signs of Arsenal’s falling apart, more than at any other time in the Frenchman’s 15 years as its manager and coach. Wenger has transformed the club. He gave the team a style second to none in Europe, bar Barcelona.
Working obsessive hours, he achieved a modern miracle of turning Arsenal into a self-sustaining club that lives with the giants without doing as they do - spending beyond their income.
But two games into the new season, Arsenal’s place among the elite is now threatened.
For the first time under Wenger, it must play August qualifying matches to win a place in the Champions League. Last week, Arsenal squeaked past Udinese, 1-0, in the home leg of a two-game qualifier. The second leg is in Italy on Wednesday, but ahead of that, UEFA, the European soccer authority, was to hold a disciplinary hearing Monday to decide whether Wenger will be allowed on the touchline.
He was barred from instructing his players in the first leg because he was overly critical of match officials last season. UEFA is investigating whether he broke that ban by making telephone contact to the bench during the game last Wednesday.
Meanwhile, Arsenal’s season in the Premier League has started badly. A goalless draw at Newcastle was followed by a 2-0 defeat at home to Liverpool on Saturday - the first time in 11 years that Liverpool has beaten Arsenal in London.
It was not the matter of defeat but the manner of it that should trouble the owner.
Arsenal’s team was down to the bare bones. Its captain, Cesc Fàbregas, was sold last week to his original club, Barcelona. Another gifted midfielder, Samir Nasri, performed sporadically well Saturday but is expected to join Manchester City this week.
City’s owners, based in Abu Dhabi, are offering Nasri twice the salary that Arsenal pays.
That alone should concern the owner, or majority shareholder, as Kroenke remains, while the Russian Alisher Usmanov refuses to sell his significant stake.
With rain pelting down, with Arsenal losing, sections of the 60,090 crowd on Saturday called out to Wenger, using an expletive, to spend some money.
Wenger tore at his hair. His lean face, at times buried in both hands, grew even more gaunt. He takes defeat badly, and always personally.
Wenger later told the fans, through his postgame news conference: “You can spend money and still have a bad team.” He said the club was trying every possible avenue to reinforce the team, but he will not be rushed into spending more than he thinks players are worth.
Arsenal 0, Liverpool 2 had just happened. Liverpool’s first goal was a wretched fluke, the ball looping into the Arsenal net off the face of its own player, Aaron Ramsey, when a defender tried to clear it. Moreover, a Liverpool player stood offside at that moment.
The second goal came in the final moments by Luis Suárez. Suárez, one of six players that Liverpool has acquired since its American takeover 10 months ago - in a spree totaling $150 million - was fresher than Arsenal’s defense.
He had every right to be. Suárez spent the first 70 minutes of Saturday on the bench before coming on.
Liverpool has that kind of reserves now. Its coach, Kenny Dalglish, can discuss players he wants with Damien Comolli, the director of football, who then goes out and bids for them. The board in Boston writes the checks.
So far, so very good for Liverpool. Dalglish commented Saturday: “The team’s important, but more important is the squad. We’re a stronger squad than we were last season.”
Arsenal is a weaker one. In part that is Wenger’s responsibility, because he knew Fàbregas and Nasri were likely to leave.
Wenger, however, is a stubborn as well as a stylish man. He is his own director of football, his own coach, his own team manager rolled into one.
The lonesomeness of Wenger is of his own making. He once had, almost 20 years ago, a young assistant at Monaco who did some scouting and some coaching of young players.
That assistant, Damien Comolli, is now helping Liverpool try to buy a way back into Champions League contention. The rewards there are measured in figures released by UEFA last week: Manchester United, Barcelona, Chelsea, Schalke and Real Madrid each banked more than $50 million from that competition alone.
Those high financial stakes are on the line when Arsenal faces Udinese on Wednesday.
But Arsenal’s resources are bare. Its team against Liverpool over the weekend had an improving 21-year-old goalie, Wojciech Szczesny. It had teenagers, Carl Jenkinson and Ignasi Miguel, who came on as substitute, in major defensive positions.
Another raw teenager - very raw, as it turned out - Emmanuel Frimpong, started the game in midfield. Started, but did not finish.
Frimpong is best described by Wenger as a boy with a big heart, but lacking in experience. His debut in the Premier League displayed the physical power that critics say Wenger’s teams lack, but ended with his being shown the red card for his second dangerous high tackle of the game.
Frimpong started the game Saturday because two Arsenal players were barred after the opening league match at Newcastle the previous weekend. And because six Arsenal first team players have already broken down with injuries.
One reason for that could be Arsenal’s preseason tours. The team played in Malaysia and in the United States, a departure from anything Wenger has condoned in his decade and a half in charge of the club.
The critics who once fawned at his feet, and now lampoon Wenger from newspapers or television studios, might pause to question whether the manager is really losing his touch, or whether the changing club structure is giving him the appropriate support to do his job.
Working obsessive hours, he achieved a modern miracle of turning Arsenal into a self-sustaining club that lives with the giants without doing as they do - spending beyond their income.
But two games into the new season, Arsenal’s place among the elite is now threatened.
For the first time under Wenger, it must play August qualifying matches to win a place in the Champions League. Last week, Arsenal squeaked past Udinese, 1-0, in the home leg of a two-game qualifier. The second leg is in Italy on Wednesday, but ahead of that, UEFA, the European soccer authority, was to hold a disciplinary hearing Monday to decide whether Wenger will be allowed on the touchline.
He was barred from instructing his players in the first leg because he was overly critical of match officials last season. UEFA is investigating whether he broke that ban by making telephone contact to the bench during the game last Wednesday.
Meanwhile, Arsenal’s season in the Premier League has started badly. A goalless draw at Newcastle was followed by a 2-0 defeat at home to Liverpool on Saturday - the first time in 11 years that Liverpool has beaten Arsenal in London.
It was not the matter of defeat but the manner of it that should trouble the owner.
Arsenal’s team was down to the bare bones. Its captain, Cesc Fàbregas, was sold last week to his original club, Barcelona. Another gifted midfielder, Samir Nasri, performed sporadically well Saturday but is expected to join Manchester City this week.
City’s owners, based in Abu Dhabi, are offering Nasri twice the salary that Arsenal pays.
That alone should concern the owner, or majority shareholder, as Kroenke remains, while the Russian Alisher Usmanov refuses to sell his significant stake.
With rain pelting down, with Arsenal losing, sections of the 60,090 crowd on Saturday called out to Wenger, using an expletive, to spend some money.
Wenger tore at his hair. His lean face, at times buried in both hands, grew even more gaunt. He takes defeat badly, and always personally.
Wenger later told the fans, through his postgame news conference: “You can spend money and still have a bad team.” He said the club was trying every possible avenue to reinforce the team, but he will not be rushed into spending more than he thinks players are worth.
Arsenal 0, Liverpool 2 had just happened. Liverpool’s first goal was a wretched fluke, the ball looping into the Arsenal net off the face of its own player, Aaron Ramsey, when a defender tried to clear it. Moreover, a Liverpool player stood offside at that moment.
The second goal came in the final moments by Luis Suárez. Suárez, one of six players that Liverpool has acquired since its American takeover 10 months ago - in a spree totaling $150 million - was fresher than Arsenal’s defense.
He had every right to be. Suárez spent the first 70 minutes of Saturday on the bench before coming on.
Liverpool has that kind of reserves now. Its coach, Kenny Dalglish, can discuss players he wants with Damien Comolli, the director of football, who then goes out and bids for them. The board in Boston writes the checks.
So far, so very good for Liverpool. Dalglish commented Saturday: “The team’s important, but more important is the squad. We’re a stronger squad than we were last season.”
Arsenal is a weaker one. In part that is Wenger’s responsibility, because he knew Fàbregas and Nasri were likely to leave.
Wenger, however, is a stubborn as well as a stylish man. He is his own director of football, his own coach, his own team manager rolled into one.
The lonesomeness of Wenger is of his own making. He once had, almost 20 years ago, a young assistant at Monaco who did some scouting and some coaching of young players.
That assistant, Damien Comolli, is now helping Liverpool try to buy a way back into Champions League contention. The rewards there are measured in figures released by UEFA last week: Manchester United, Barcelona, Chelsea, Schalke and Real Madrid each banked more than $50 million from that competition alone.
Those high financial stakes are on the line when Arsenal faces Udinese on Wednesday.
But Arsenal’s resources are bare. Its team against Liverpool over the weekend had an improving 21-year-old goalie, Wojciech Szczesny. It had teenagers, Carl Jenkinson and Ignasi Miguel, who came on as substitute, in major defensive positions.
Another raw teenager - very raw, as it turned out - Emmanuel Frimpong, started the game in midfield. Started, but did not finish.
Frimpong is best described by Wenger as a boy with a big heart, but lacking in experience. His debut in the Premier League displayed the physical power that critics say Wenger’s teams lack, but ended with his being shown the red card for his second dangerous high tackle of the game.
Frimpong started the game Saturday because two Arsenal players were barred after the opening league match at Newcastle the previous weekend. And because six Arsenal first team players have already broken down with injuries.
One reason for that could be Arsenal’s preseason tours. The team played in Malaysia and in the United States, a departure from anything Wenger has condoned in his decade and a half in charge of the club.
The critics who once fawned at his feet, and now lampoon Wenger from newspapers or television studios, might pause to question whether the manager is really losing his touch, or whether the changing club structure is giving him the appropriate support to do his job.
Source: Rob Hughes, The New York Times on 21 Aug 11
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