A reminder of why Arsenal fans once idolised their boss
ARSENE WENGER stood on the touchline in his pressed white shirt, with his smart red tie and gazed upon a rebirth. For 90 minutes at Wembley, this was Arsenal how we remembered them.
This was Arsenal how we had all imagined they would be once again in the best of all possible worlds. This was Arsenal bullying their opponents with beauty.
It felt as though this performance was everything that Wenger has been working towards through all the years of being second best to Manchester United, Chelsea and Manchester City. This was his dream unfolding before disbelieving eyes.
On a day when Wenger wrote his name into the history books by winning English football’s most famous competition for a record seventh time, the Arsenal manager reminded even those who have come to doubt him why they once loved him so much.
This was one of the best Cup finals of recent years, breathless and full of rare skill.
Arsenal, depleted to the point of crisis in defence and beset by the protests of their own fans, pulled off one of the competition’s most memorable triumphs. Even in Wenger’s canon of works, this must rate as one of his finest achievements.
So often fragile against the other big teams, Arsenal had not shrunk. They had grown to the point where they were playing like giants. When was the last time we saw them this intense and determined? They did not just outplay Chelsea, they embarrassed them.
Arsenal were magnificent. They made the Premier League champions look mediocre. They gave them a lesson in incisive, passing football; wonderfully sharp movement; clean tackling and dominant defending.
And Per Mertesacker? He had played only 37 minutes all season, but he was a colossus yesterday. Playing at the heart of Arsenal’s nascent back three, he subdued Diego Costa and made several critical challenges.
Sure, it was the FA Cup final. It was not the Champions League final, or the crucial game in a battle to win the Premier League. But Arsenal were playing so well that even the staunchest of the Wenger Out brigade must have felt their hearts fluttering.
It felt as if everything was falling into place. It felt as if the Frenchman’s vision was being realised. Even if it was too late to influence anything else this season, it was the kind of display that afforded a glimpse of what might yet come to pass under more years of Wenger at the Emirates.
So what now? Does this change anything in the long, drawn-out saga of whether Wenger stays or goes? As Arsenal owner Stan Kroenke sat in the stands, he must have been thinking the club would be mad to get rid of the man he has backed so loyally. Does this win not change anything for those ingrates who want Wenger out of the club? Does this not suggest to them that the club is still capable of excelling under the greatest manager it has ever had?
In an interview that was aired on the BBC hours before kick-off, Wenger sounded deeply wounded by the way Arsenal supporters have castigated him this season.
He sounded, too, like a manager who was past caring about whether he burned his bridges with the club’s supporters. Maybe he feels as if those bridges have been burned already but, if he stays at the Emirates, the relationship between manager and fans is likely to be more fractious than ever, even after yesterday.
‘I don’t mind criticism because we are in a public job,’ he said in the interview. ‘But I believe there’s a difference between being criticised and being treated in a way that human beings don’t deserve. The lack of respect from some has been a disgrace and I will never accept that. I will never forget it. The behaviour of some people during the season, that is what hurts me most.
‘It’s not my person that is hurt but the impeccable image of the club. That kind of behaviour does not reflect what Arsenal is.’
Wenger showed us again what Arsenal is in this Cup final. He showed us what Arsenal could be. He has given so much to his club.
Now he has this masterpiece to add to his collection.