By Daily Sports on March 21, 2017
The wheels are falling off in the Arsenal's club machine. Five losses in nine games is the sort of returns for relegation candidates and usually not for top club sides. But one of the world's finest sides in decades, Arsenal, are in turmoil and like their manager Arsene Wenger said after their last loss to West Brom in the English Premiership, they are in a unique position of loss after loss, one in which they have never been for many years since the Frenchman has been in charge of managerial duties in the club.
Pressure for Le Proffeseur to quit at the end of the season when his present contract comes to an end has reached a high level with a growing number of fans protesting and flying 'Wenger out' banners with planes to signal their desire to see the back of Wenger. The Arsenal players themselves look ragged, under siege and unmotivated recently, and their performances have been abject. Is it because they now dislike the manager or perhaps they're forlorn that he leaving after guiding them for years, or is it something else that we all don’t know about? Arsenal player’s dour display recently must be somewhere in between the above scenarios.
Its sobering for anyone in possession of a soul to see a manager who has been rightly acclaimed to have revolutionised the game in the most followed league in the world, by serving viewers with scintillating, free-flowing football over the years, end his association (as it seems inevitable now) in such calamitous circumstances.
Wenger's appeal goes beyond getting his team to play good passing football; it strays into the world of good morals and ethics. He's famed for engineering the construction of the modern Emirates Stadium, hence the guaranteeing of a more stable future for the club, instead of pushing for more money to fund a personal pursuit of glory.
No matter where one stands in his abilities as a coach, the world has come to know him as a decent man, one who cares for his players as humans first and the financial stability of the Gunners. That perception will surely live with him forever.
Arsene has been admired as well, as a man of sharp wits, with a brilliant ability to fashion meaningful and thought-provoking quotes. As we begin a likely countdown to the end of the Wenger era at Arsenal, here are some of my favourite Arsene Wenger quotes and how they still make sense in the world of football till now.
I picked the below quotes for their brilliant use of allusions.
1. "Everyone thinks they have the prettiest wife at home."
In response to then Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson's jibe that his team didn’t deserve league and cup champions. Fergie had said, "They are scrappers who rely on belligerence - we are the better team", (May 2002).
2. ‘When you eat caviar everyday you don't want to go back to sausage’.
Wenger said this some years ago following a disappointing performance from Arsenal when they played out a dull 1-1 draw with Middlesbrough in 1998.
Caviar is a delicious delicacy eaten in Europe and, at least in Wenger’s view, more delicious than sausage. Here, caviar is an allusion to the beautiful tip-tap football that Arsenal usually plays and Wenger expresses his understanding of fans disappointment when they don’t play well, and sausage represents that poor display. Arsenal are no doubt serving plenty sausages these days.
3. “I believe [team spirit] is a little bit like a flower. You have to take care of it and look after it every day, or else it will slowly die. But as well, you can make the flower bigger, better and prettier if you care for it.”
Arsene has his work cut out trying to improve the team spirit of his beleaguered players now as the club has reached a nadir in their togetherness.
4. “When you have a problem with your engine you can always find many problems but it’s important to find the most important one.”
This was said during his post match press conference after the last away loss to West Brom. Here, Wenger seems to be taking a shot at people who are being glib about what they think are the chief reasons for Arsenal’s problems.
Source Daily Sports
Posted March 21, 2017
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