IS THAT THE BEST YOU CAN DO?
1,168 managerial changes by English league clubs since he took over, but Wenger’s send-off is like West Ham ...all a bit limp
WHEN the first, second and third goal went in, they were none too sure. But after the fourth, they were convinced.
‘One Arsene Wenger,’ sung the locals, ‘there’s only one Arsene Wenger.’
That’s what it is like, around this part of north London, these days. That is how deep the disillusionment. Those who came expecting a full house and an emotional outpouring of thanks and goodwill — and they do not include the man himself, who is doing all in his power to play down the moment — will have left underwhelmed.
Atletico Madrid will not face an Anfield-like explosion of noise and fury when they visit on Thursday. Thanks for the memories? Modern football still does memory — but only of the short-term kind. This was the farewell for a manager who has won FA Cups, not Doubles. Who is scrambling to finish above Burnley, not going the season unbeaten.
When Wenger was at his best, Highbury held 38,000. There are 60,000 seats at the Emirates. That’s 22,000 fans, roughly, who weren’t there in person for the high times. Maybe that is why for long periods yesterday it was possible to imagine this was any given Sunday, not the first after the announced curtailment of 22 years of service.
If Wenger noticed these inconsistencies, he was too polite to say. He was happy when the fans were happy, he smiled, before displaying a rather touching sense of pride on reading the tributes that greeted Friday’s announcement.
He noted, wryly, that many referred to him in the past tense rather like obituaries. ‘So I don’t need to die any more,’ he said. ‘I know what my funeral will be like.’
He did his best to avoid making it about him, but it was hard. ‘I gave the best years of my life to this club,’ he admitted. ‘I worked seven days every week. Not six, not even six and a half. I can’t just walk away. I will never really leave Arsenal.’
The scoreline may lead those who weren’t there to imagine the feeling was mutual. That this was a tear-streaked affair, or boisterously inspirational: an Arsenal team on rocket fuel and a stadium in rapture. It really wasn’t like that. Arsenal needed three goals in the last 10 minutes to dismiss ordinary opponents, far from out of the relegation woods, and there were rows of empty seats, where once Wenger’s teams were the hottest ticket in town.
The atmosphere was subdued. There were still groans and eruptions of frustration when Arsenal failed to deliver the clinical finish or the perfect pass. They want more now, that has never been clearer. Why is Wenger stepping down? The answers were all here, even before he spoke of a club divided, post-match.
‘Alas! Lord and Lady Dalhousie are dead, and buried at last,’ wrote the comically dreadful poet William Topaz McGonagall, ‘Which causes many people to feel a little downcast.’
It was a bit like that at the Emirates, too. Not a wake, but not a celebration, either. It was all a bit, well, meh. Wenger determined not to make a fuss and the fans took their cue from him. Dressed in a grey cardigan, white shirt, red club tie, he took his seat inconspicuously on the bench, with barely a sustained singing of his name by way of greeting.
Only when the West Ham contingent in one corner attempted humour at his — and Arsenal’s — expense, did the home fans rise in his defence. It didn’t last long. The match began and torpor set in. The opening 45 minutes gave a reasonable clue why many around Arsenal consider his race run.
It was a dull game and it was impossible not to remember the days when Wenger’s Arsenal would have contemptuously swept such a benign obstacle from their path. Instead they were reduced to half-hearted pot shots and the odd dangerous set-piece.
Laurent Koscielny should have done more with a Granit Xhaka corner, while Xhaka tested Joe Hart with a free-kick.
West Ham did little to raise the afternoon above the mundane. When Arsenal took the lead, their fans indulged in an old favourite. ‘One-nil to the Arsenal,’ they chorused. That it became as near as he got to a serenade until the fourth went in perhaps shows why the time for change has come.
West Ham are still in a relegation fight and cannot afford the sloppiness that handed Arsenal the lead after 51 minutes.
Xhaka took another corner and, despite the presence of numerous West Ham players, Nacho Monreal was somehow unmarked to finish very smartly. West Ham offered a flicker of resistance. A cross from Arthur Masuaku was creatively dealt with by David Ospina, and the recycled ball found its way via Cheikhou Kouyate and Manuel Lanzini to Marko Arnautovic, who equalised.
For a while it looked as if West Ham might snatch a draw, but there is a reason David Moyes has won four games in 32 against Wenger. His team sunk deeper and, after 82 minutes, calamity gifted Arsenal the win.
Aaron Ramsey crossed and defender Declan Rice ducked under it, perhaps imagining a call from Joe Hart or a wider swing
around the far post. The goalkeeper, unprepared, was startled and it flew in. Recriminations followed, and much merriment from the home stands. It’s the first rule of showbusiness. Finish on a good gag. Wenger was going to leave them laughing, at least.
From there, Arsenal bullied and West Ham collapsed dismally. Alexandre Lacazette hit one at the far post to make it three, and then another soon after to at last spark a noise befitting the occasion. Yet Arsenal’s fans did not really sing in support of Wenger. They sang when they were winning. It was, in its way, a very modern send-off for a manager from a very different time. ARSENAL (4-3-2-1): Ospina 6.5; Bellerin 6.5, Mustafi 6.5, Koscielny 7, Monreal 7.5; Xhaka 7, Elneny 6.5 (Maitland-Niles 45min, 6.5), Iwobi 6.5 (Aubameyang 70, 7); RAMSEY 8, Welbeck 6.5 (Chambers 88); Lacazette 7.5. Subs not used: Mertesacker, Holding, Macey, Nelson. Scorers: Monreal 51, Ramsey 82, Lacazette 85, 89. Booked: Xhaka, Maitland-Niles, Mustafi. Manager: Arsene Wenger 7. WEST HAM UNITED: Hart 6.5; Rice 5 Ogbonna 6, Cresswell 6; Zabaleta 6, Kouyate 6, Noble 6, Masuaku 6.5 (Carroll 86); Fernandes 6.5 (Lanzini 60, 6.5), Joao Mario 6 (Hernandez 60); Arnautovic 7. Subs not used: Hugill, Adrian, Evra, Cullen. Scorer: Arnautovic 64. Booked: Zabaleta, Arnautovic. Manager: David Moyes 6.5. Referee: Lee Mason 6.5. Attendance: 59,422.