Wenger faces uphill battle to lure back the apathetic masses
Swathes of empty seats reflect feeling among fans that manager may never restore glory days
Arsène Wenger had complained before this game about Premier League players taking a premature holiday but last night, for what could just conceivably be his penultimate home fixture as Arsenal manager, it was many of the club’s own supporters who took a break.
The Sunderland manager, David Moyes, promptly rejected Wenger’s claims about teams relaxing their focus as an “insult to footballers”, yet the more damning verdict was still delivered by those Arsenal fans who stayed away. They could no doubt recall matches this season against West Bromwich Albion, Crystal Palace and Liverpool when Arsenal themselves looked absent.
The turnout also underlined how it is barely the actual managerial record of Wenger that matters any more. Even neutral fans are probably familiar with the statistics that are quoted endlessly back and forth. No Premier League title since 2004 but 20 consecutive top-four finishes. Not past the last 16 of the Champions League since 2010 but six FA Cup wins. The same old defensive frailties but still some of the most scintillating team goals of the season. Maddening near-misses in the transfer market but a new stadium and bank balance that is the envy of most rivals.
On and on it goes. A nuance here. A selective stat there. A persuasive case can be selectively constructed on both sides of the great Wenger debate, but what cannot be disputed is the growing apathy that now surrounds the club.
The official attendance here was 59,510 but that was based only on tickets sold. The number actually present was perhaps 15,000 fewer. It was a culmination of a decade of unerringly similar seasons of highs, lows and then almost identical outcomes.
Those silent swathes of empty seats were actually a far more significant reflection of the current mood than the noisy minority protests of recent months. And the question that will surely most exercise the club’s directors is whether Wenger can truly reinvigorate the fans and generate a belief that it can again be different.
They may remember how supporters were even booing last season, at half-time of a costly defeat against Swansea when they were still bookmakers’ favourites to win the league, and wonder if past glories can be recreated in this environment. Wenger explained the attendance with reference to it being “Tuesday night against Sunderland” and also repeatedly pointed out that his team now had 72 points, a tally that would already have guaranteed them second place last season. “Let’s make 75 points, and if we look at the number of points, we can make it one of the best in the last 10 years,” he said.
That might be true but will cut little ice with Arsenal fans, who have seen how the last two Premier League winners have benefited domestically from playing outside Europe’s elite and ask: why all the fuss about qualifying for a competition we are highly unlikely to win? The simple truth is that Wenger can only now re-engage most supporters by competing seriously to lift either the Premier League or Champions League.
It is a huge ask, but all the indications are that he still believes absolutely in his abilities to meet that challenge. Wenger’s future will most likely now hinge on some delicate negotiations after the FA Cup final about the structures and staffing around him, but his planning for next season is already under way. Sead Kolasinac will arrive from Schalke at left-back, but the key decisions will surround Mesut Özil and Alexis Sánchez. The settled wisdom for most of the
‘If we look at the points, we can make it one of the best in the last 10 years’
season was that they would be offered parity on new contracts but, even allowing for the odd sulk, Sánchez has underlined emphatically over this past month how he is the more valuable asset. Wenger had only made the decision to play him at 4pm yesterday, after an ankle injury. “Once he is on the pitch and has the ball he becomes the devil and forgets his pain,” said the Arsenal manager. “He has developed here as a player. He has not wasted his time here. Hopefully, that will last for a long time.”
Sánchez remains the best hope around which Wenger might just build a brighter future. And, for all this season’s frustrations, he is also the biggest reason to again fill the seats on Sunday against Everton.