1000 Games in Charge of the Arsenal

Jose Mourinho’s Chelsea trashed Arsenal 6-0 in the Barclays Premier League (BPL) yesterday (22 Mar). As it was manager Arsene Wenger’s 1000th match with the club, the defeat was a wet blanket to the club’s landmark occasion. To the disappointment of many fans, the team, currently running in fourth place on BPL, gave one of its most dismal performances under Wenger yesterday. But this is just part of the Gunners’ rollercoaster journey in the League. Sports Writer Joshua Tang talks about some of the highs and lows of Wenger’s tenure as Arsenal manager.

By Joshua Tang

PHOTO: THE TELEGRAPH

Arsenal’s visit to Stamford Bridge yesterday (22 Mar) marked Arsene Wenger’s 1000th game as the Gunners’ manager. Since his appointment in 1996, the Frenchman has overseen games in the Barclays Premier League (BPL), Champions League, FA Cup, League Cup, UEFA Cup and Community Shield. In these games to date, the team has racked up 579 victories, 223 draws and 197 losses, scoring 1845 goals and conceding 961. Sports writer Joshua Tang picks out some of the highlights and disappointments of Le Professeur’s 17 seasons in charge.

Winning the Double in the 1997/98 season

1997/1998 was Wenger’s first full season in charge of Arsenal, having led the club to third place the previous season, where he took over from Bruce Rioch two months into the campaign. Wenger built on his side’s famous back-four with new signings –– Emmanuel Petit to partner Patrick Vieira in midfield, winger Marc Overmars and young striker Nicolas Anelka to add pace to his attack-minded philosophy. Wenger transformed the boring ‘One-Nil to the Arsenal’ team into one that played exciting and attractive football. The Gunners made up a 12-point deficit on leaders Manchester United in the final weeks of the season to finish top of the league, and also beat Newcastle United 2-0 in the FA Cup final.

The ‘Invincibles’

Having repeated the League and FA Cup double during the 2001/02 season, Wenger masterminded what was thought to be an impossible feat in modern football during the 2003/04 season –– going through an entire season unbeaten, winning 26 and drawing 12 of their 38 league games. Their amazing 49-game unbeaten run in the league lasted from May 2003 to October 2004, comprising 36 wins and 13 draws, scoring 112 goals and conceding 35.

PHOTO: THE TELEGRAPH

Grooming Thierry Henry

Having worked with Henry as a teenager during his time at Monaco, Wenger often deployed him on the wing to take advantage of his pace. Juventus never saw Henry’s potential as a goal-scoring machine, and sold him to Arsenal for 11 million pounds (SGD $23,112,463) in 1999, just after one season. It took Henry nine games to score his first goal for the club, but he never looked back since, and his stellar performances have proven to be instrumental in the club’s most successful era.

The ‘King’ scored 228 goals in 377 appearances for the Gunners between 1999 and 2007, and two match-winning goals against Leeds United and Sunderland during a two-month loan spell in 2012. Henry won two league titles, three FA Cups, four Golden Boots, five Player of the Year Awards and secured his legendary status as the club’s all-time top scorer. Henry arrived at Highbury in the summer of 1999, as a flamboyant winger known more for his pace and footwork than his shooting ability. He only scored his first goal for the club after nine games. Wenger, however, saw his potential as a finisher and opted to field him as a forward. Wenger’s faith in Henry’s finishing abilities paid off, and under his tutelage, Henry transformed from an erratic winger to a world-class striker in a few years.

16 consecutive seasons in the Champions League

Arsene Wenger has often rebutted criticism for his nine-year trophy drought with the fact that the Gunners have qualified for the Champions League for 16 consecutive seasons, a record bettered only by Real Madrid. Wenger has always insisted that finishing fourth in the BPL should be considered “comparable to winning a trophy”. His ‘achievement’ of maintaining a minimum fourth-placed finish has thus often been mocked as the ‘Wenger trophy’. To be fair to Wenger, he has been operating on a tight financial budget, and it is not till the past few years that he has had more funds at his disposal.

Gunners’ hearts were broken during the Champions League Final of 2006, when Arsenal lost to 2-1 to Barcelona, having led 1-0 for most of the match, even after being reduced to 10 men after goalkeeper Jens Lehmann was sent off. Despite the lack of Champions League trophies, the club nevertheless has had some significant results in the competition. These include famous victories against Real Madrid (0-1), Inter Milan (1-5), Barcelona (2-1) and Bayern Munich (0-2).

PHOTO: THE TELEGRAPH

Manchester United 8-2 Arsenal

In Aug 2011, Old Trafford hosted and dished out the worst defeat of Wenger’s time in charge of Arsenal. The humiliation had come on the back of the club losing key midfielders Cesc Fabregas and Samir Nasri to Barcelona and Manchester City respectively. There were also calls for Wenger to be sacked immediately after the final whistle. It was only 3-1 at half-time and the Gunners had collapsed in a nightmarish second half. By the end of 90 minutes, Wayne Rooney had bagged a hat-trick, Ashley Young struck two spectacular goals, and Danny Welbeck, Nani and Park Ji Sung completed the scoring. The theatre of dreams had become the house of nightmares for the Gunners.

Nightmare Arsenal performances have littered the Frenchman’s career, especially in the past nine seasons. It is perhaps unfortunate that the most recent one had to happen on the day Wenger reached his 1000-game milestone. The Gunners failed to prove Jose Mourinho wrong when they were humiliated by Chelsea’s 6-0 victory. In February, Mourinho said that Wenger was a “specialist in failure”.

Yesterday’s 6-0 thrashing however, should not take away any glory from Wenger. To his credit, he has achieved a great deal with restricted financial resources, and has managed to fight off high-spending rivals for a place in the top four. Wenger has also established an extensive worldwide scouting network ahead of his rivals and his eye for talent has ensured that he had picked out young players and nurtured them into top footballers.

As a purist, one can always expect Wenger’s Gunners to play free flowing attacking football. His persistence on beautiful football might have contributed to the trophy drought, but football fans will agree that Wenger’s philosophy has produced some of the best football that England and the world has ever seen.