From Wenger to Wagner? That’s not as illogical as you might first think..
LOST in the sentimental mist of Arsene Wenger’s long goodbye has been Arsenal Football Club’s pretty wretched season.
There is a chance at close of play on Sunday, they will finish 10 points closer to the bottom of the table than to the top.
If they are beaten at the John Smith’s Stadium, it will be eight Premier League away defeats on the spin.
That suggests a without a backbone.
The idea Wenger is a hard man to follow is illogical.
Wenger of a dozen or more years ago is a hard act to follow, not contemporary Wenger.
Equally, anyone who thinks this Arsenal squad just needs a little tinkering with and a little motivational assistance to become title challengers again is badly misguided. It is a mighty challenge Wenger bequeathes his successor.
That successor, it seems, will come from a group of five which includes Patrick Vieira.
Vieira would be my choice. He would be an inspired selection but how come David Wagner does not appear to be team in that selection of candidates? Voting for the Barclays Manager of the Season closed yesterday and Wagner was not even on that six-strong shortlist.
Sean Dyche is on it and is another who should be considered by Arsenal. That roster must have been drawn up before Wagner took his team to the Etihad and to Stamford Bridge and came away from both venues with a point, ensuring Premier League survival. Both points were won through organisation, discipline and sheer endeavour – qualities that Wagner has instilled in this Huddersfield team from the moment he arrived in late 2015.
Survival has not been pretty, only the doomed Swansea have scored less than Huddersfield’s 28 goals. Their promotion to the Premier League in 2016-17 was not always pretty, either, going up with a negative goal difference.
But this is a Huddersfield Town that were 18th in the Championship when Wagner took over.
Sure, thanks to their marvellous owner Dean Hoyle, Wagner was given some serious money to spend last summer and was also handed £11million to buy Alex Pritchard in January.
His investments have been mainly shrewd, none looking shrewder at Stamford Bridge on Wednesday night than Jonas Lossl, the Danish goalkeeper whose loan move turned permanent and it is easy to see why. Lossl has faced 155 attempts on target this season and has saved 100 of them.
Wagner has benefited from his owner’s unwavering support, even during the slumps that punctuated the campaign.
Of the bottom six clubs, only Huddersfield will end the season with the manager they started with, but that is because Hoyle clearly knows a good one when he sees one.
Despite an outlay of almost £40m last summer, this remains a very limited Huddersfield squad.
And if the excitement of merely existing in the Premier League begins to wear off, it is a squad that will need bolstering considerably if it is to attempt even a slightly more ambitious brand of football.
But for now, Wagner should be saluted for one of the finest survival acts in recent Premier League times.
The spirit he has infused into the team and the club has been exceptional – the sort of spirit their opponents on the season’s last day could use.
Headed by Vieira, Arsenal have some high-calibre names on the shortlist to replace Wenger.
Wagner should be among them.
The spirit Wagner has infused in his team has been exceptional.. the sort of spirit Arsenal need