Pre-match Arsene was absolutely bubbling with confidence this afternoon as he faced the press ahead of the crunch match at Chelsea on Sunday. His bullishness reached new levels as he claimed:
We can play, and win, everywhere in the world, and we don’t have to consider too much who we play against. We know that Chelsea is a great side, with a great team and great players. But at the end of the day you beat them if you play at your best.
Hasn’t that always been true of Wenger’s Arsenal? Is it still true? I think it is. Even at its frailest moments this team has the potential to play football which is simply unanswerable, regardless of the quality of the opposition.
Of course, the trouble is that they never play like this as much as we’d like, and this season they’ve hardly played like this at all. Other times you see it for parts of a game and then all the good work is thrown away – it is phenomenally difficult to sustain for 90 minutes, still less 90+4. But you still get the sense that if they really clicked, as they did in patches against United, this team can still play Wengerball, the invincible style which nobody can match.
That’s why there’s always so much media fuss about Arsenal compared to other clubs. People want to see footballing perfection and the failure of the only team to attempt it will always be a big story. It’s also why a club like Real Madrid have coveted Wenger so much for so long. He offers something no other manager does, regardless of pure trophy-winning ability.
He is obviously capable of turning this lot around. Let’s just hope he does.
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