Wenger and Klopp
AN ARTICLE BY MATTY
<Arsenal have admittedly had a bit of a soft spot in my heart. I have fond memories of a classmate talking shop with me about his Arsenal team, I’d argue in some ways those conversations were the birth of my interest in the tactical and squad building side of football. Note that I used the word “had” because our last game against them and the overall reign of Arteta, I have grown to dislike Arsenal a lot. But one man I have respect for that the football world has seemingly forgotten is Arsene Wenger.
He managed 22 years at Arsenal, a very long time to hold a managerial post. The last few years of his reign, when I first started watching football, Arsenal were a team with some talent but overall seemed to lag behind the serious contenders of the time. Although I guess I should’ve seen what was going on there when Granit Xhaka was hailed as the savior of their midfield, but I digress. Arsenal had some brilliant teams in the 2000s, they went undefeated in a league season, won domestic cups, made a Champions League final, they were Manchester United’s greatest competition. The rivalry was intense, coming to a head when Roy Keane and Patrick Vieira fought in the tunnel before a game.
Similar to Wenger, Jurgen Klopp doesn’t seem to get the respect he deserves outside of Liverpool. He dragged this team from irrelevancy to every trophy that could possibly be won. Over a number of years, he rebuilt the training ground, he built up an impressive squad, and attempted to rebuild the academy. The fruits of that particular labor, we shall see.
Similarly to United and Arsenal, Liverpool developed a rivalry with another Manchester team, Man City. Much like United, City will likely be remembered as the team of this current era. The first team to get 100 points in a league season, the first team to win four domestic trophies in a season, a Champions League is the only thing they haven’t won. Like United under Ferguson, they’ve outspent the rest of the league and reaped the benefits.
At Arsenal’s peak, their team was a sight to behold. Ashley Cole, Sol Campbell and Kolo Toure forming a formidable defensive spine. Patrick Vieira and Gilberto Silva providing a brilliant complimentary midfield. Robert Pires, Thierry Henry, Dennis Bergkamp spearheading an attack that was mesmerizing to watch. Other players such as Cesc Fabregas, Robin van Persie, Lauren, Samir Nasri, Jens Lehmann, Martin Keown, forming over a decade of consistent title challenges and a collection of trophies. They gained a reputation for choking in Europe, but in England they were nailed on to win a trophy almost every season.
Similarly at Liverpool, we’ve had quite the host of amazing players. The spine of the team formed by Alisson, van Dijk, and Matip, a midfield anchored by Fabinho and blessed with the silk of Thiago, an attacking trident of Firmino, Mane, and Salah, attacking fullbacks in Trent and Robertson who changed the game. Led by a brilliant leader in captain Henderson. We’ve also won a host of trophies, every trophy that can possibly be won by an English side. Champions League in 2019, Premier League in 2020, Super Cup in 2019, FA Cup in 2021, League Cup in 2021, Club World Cup in 2019, Community Shield in 2022. Yes, in the past three calendar years we have won seven trophies. Impressive, isn’t it?
Not quite as impressive as two Champions Leagues, 13 Premier Leagues and an historic treble. Nor as impressive as 4 out of 5 Premier League triumphs and 4 consecutive league cup victories. The Manchester clubs have dominated the past quarter-century of English football. That dump of a city just managed to have City get powerful right when United declined. What insane luck. While Arsenal and Liverpool have had brilliant teams, they still haven’t been able to get past the Manchester teams more often than not. But I would argue this isn’t the fault of the managers in charge.
Manchester United broke transfer records countless times for players like Andy Cole, Jaap Stam, and even Wayne Rooney becoming the most expensive teenager of all time when he made his move to United. City, meanwhile, have broken records for the most amount of money spent in one summer, have spent over £1 billion in the last six seasons, and just signed Erling Haaland with a package that totals an eye-watering £250 million. Both teams won not only because of their managers, but also because they were given the squads they wanted.
Wenger had some issues with the owners of Arsenal, typically over the lack of properly backing the manager. To the joy of fans who prop up FSG, Wenger’s Arsenal teams would often make a profit in the transfer market, selling more than they bought. Wenger wanted Luis Suarez but could only afford 1 extra pound on top of Suarez’s £40 million release clause. As a result, Wenger would often be given third or fourth choice options late in his tenure, like Xhaka or Sead Kolasinac, and expected to work magic. When he was given a bit of money for Mesut Ozil and Alexis Sanchez, he made magic with them. Arsenal, while they weren’t a team that could seriously challenge for the league, were still consistently in the top four, consistently making the knockout stages of the Champions League.
Unfortunately, part of the reason I wanted to write this article is because Liverpool might be going down a similar road. We’ve had an awful start to this season, with the team stuck between sticking with the older players and integrating the new ones. We’re also seemingly stuck in between systems, with Lijnders reportedly having more of an influence on how we play. Could this have been avoided? I think it partially could have been, yes.
Nobody could’ve foreseen almost every single one of our stars having bad form at once. But almost anybody could’ve foreseen we’d have injury problems in the midfield, and the team willfully ignored it. Much like the defense two years ago, everybody could’ve foreseen that if Virgil went down, we’d be fucked. Lo and behold, once he went down, both Gomez and Matip dropped like flies with the increased workload. We’re not asking for much as fans. We’re just asking FSG and the management team to fix clear problems before they fester into a disaster. And they haven’t, twice in three years they haven’t.
What will the future hold for Liverpool? Will the owners invest more in order to keep the squad at the top level of the sport? Or will they keep expecting the manager to work miracles until he can’t anymore? Arsenal did the latter and drove away the best manager they ever had. Let’s pray a similar fate doesn’t befall Klopp. He doesn’t deserve it.
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