STAN COLLYMORE Mirror, Time to Phil the Sunderland gap mirror on the wall... who’s the best of them all? It’s not you, Arsene!
COLLY
Follow us on Twitter: @peoplesport ARSENE WENGER should walk out at the Etihad today with a lump in his throat.
The Frenchman ought to be welling up – a tear in his eye for what might have been.
The stage is set for Manchester City to put on their Sunday best and for Pep Guardiola to place his rival’s title of “Le Professeur” under the closest scrutiny.
Because t he Spaniard has accomplished in 18 months what Wenger has failed to achieve ever since the end of the Invincibles.
Playing beautiful, winning football. With a swagger.
And, although spending in the footballing arms race has gone nuclear during Guardiola’s stint in charge, the lesson will surely not be lost on Arsenal’s boss.
When Wenger decided to follow the Barcelona blueprint, set down by the Catalan, what he will see produced this afternoon must, surely, have been what he had in mind.
Watching Manchester City tear Napoli to pieces in midweek was just the latest marker.
The leaders in Serie A have gone the way of so many this season. They are just the latest victims in a not-so-exclusive club. Of course, it is way too early to start handing out the gongs to Manchester City.
We are only just celebrating Bonfire Night this evening.
But a fire has definitely been lit under the Premier League and people are now talking about Guardiola & Co in the way they have, at times during the past decade or so, talked about Arsenal.
Note the use of the phrase “at times”.
Bridesmaids
Arsenal have not been consistent enough or convincing enough. Certainly, against the top teams.
It is why these days they are eternal bridesmaids in the Premier League. They will whack the Bournemouths of this world by three or four.
But then, when it comes to a scrap with Chelsea or Manchester United, invariably their opponents are bigger and stronger and are matched up in terms of firepower.
Wenger discarded such traits as s t r ength, bottle, belief and character.
Instead, he concentrated on passing, moving and the kind of technical players he believed would dominate football. Of course, he has been proved right. The group fielded by Guardiola at t he Nou Camp contained once-in-a-lifetime players.
However, the likes of Lionel Messi, Andres Iniesta and Xavi just do not come along every day.
It was absolutely right to centre the foundations of any side on stars such as those.
But you still need character and discipline if you are going to truly mix it with the best.
At the Emirates, Wenger has done only half the job – and that must be killing him.
Watching Sergio Aguero, Leroy Sane, David Silva and the rest at City is like peering into the mirror and seeing a reflection of your betterlooking brother staring back at you.
When push comes to shove, Arsenal melt like a Mars bar in front of a hot fire.
And the one theme that returns to haunt almost every other boss out there is the fact that they claim they do not have time.
Wenger cannot use that as any sort of defence.
He has had money, he has had time. He has chosen not to spend it.
And, anyway, while Guardiola has blown a phenomenal chunk of money on full-backs, it should be remembered that Fabian Delph is currently deputising for Benjamin Mendy. Not that you would know it. Personally, I would like to have seen – and I know it will never happen – Guardiola taking on a job at, say, Southampton.
They have decent players, a competitive budget and a production line from their academy.
That would have shown us all just how good he is.
Challengers
For the moment, we will all have to buckle up and enjoy the ride at the Etihad.
Even if Arsenal manage to rip up the formbook and produce the unexpected in Manchester this lunchtime, will the Gunners end up as the nearest challengers to Guardiola?
Or, come to think of it, Jose Mourinho’s Manchester United?
No. Wenger will smile after winning one battle, however, he will eventually lose the war.
The Arsenal boss was once revered for his approach in this country – but Guardiola is now showing him how it really should be done. YOU only have to look at the surnames of the managers who have failed to succeed at Sunderland to know what a difficult job it has become. O’Neill, Bruce, Advocaat, Moyes... Are they all bad at their jobs? Or are there more deep-rooted problems at the Stadium of f Light? It’s the latter. The latest fall-guy was Simon Grayson (right).
To me, Sunderland now have two courses of action. .
The first is to allow a manager to take a broad overview and strip the whole club back. Even if that means relegation from the Championship, all the rotten eggs have to be rooted out.
The other would be to appoint someone such as Kevin Phillips, who was such a legend up there.
Kev has worked under Nigel Pearson, at Leicester City, and Gary Rowett, at Derby. He’s been around. I suspect it will be the latter. The Sunderland job needs a magic bullet – and Kevin can provide that.