Arsene Wenger: Timeless Arsenal boss still improving Gunners

Arsene Wenger has been in charge at Arsenal for over 20 years. Time noticeably added more wrinkles to his face. Some might say the pressure the Alsace-native has been under for a long time rankled with him. Others might say that Wenger is the master of reinvention. He always finds a way to keep his dream job in North London.

To find evidence for the latter theory, you don’t have to look any further than this season. Heading into matchday 11, Arsene Wenger’s Arsenal were right in the midst of the Premier League title race, even on points with table-toppers Manchester City.

Since their loss to Liverpool on the opening weekend of the season, the Gunners have only dropped points on two occasions, drawing with Leicester City and Middlesbrough. However, looking at raw statistics, Arsenal aren’t that impressive.

Wenger’s team have the third highest passing accuracy and the third highest possession percentage among all 20 Premier League teams, according to WhoScored. And as for the offensive output, the Gunners are just above average, creating only the eighth highest number of shots on target.

MUST READ: Arsenal vs. Tottenham: Combined XI ahead of derby clash

Defensively, the numbers don’t look too impressive either, as there are four teams in Liverpool, Manchester City, Chelsea and Tottenham Hotspur that have conceded fewer shots. So the question remains: how have Arsenal been so successful thus far?

A key to their success has been the team’s consistency. The Gunners delivered a few performance-of-the-season worthy displays – most notably their 3-0 win over Chelsea in late September.

More from The Top Flight

But Wenger’s players often managed to just do what was needed in order to collect three points. And even when Arsenal looked less than stellar, key players like Mesut Özil and Alexis Sánchez had their moments throughout the 90 minutes.

Their razor-thin victory at Ludogorets Razgrad on Tuesday, when Özil fooled several defenders, including goalkeeper Milan Borjan, and scored the game-winning goal a few minutes before stoppage time, showed exactly that.

Being down two goals after 15 minutes in front of a raving crowd in Sofia’s Vasil Levski National Stadium, the Gunners found a way to turn the match around. It was a great demonstration of heart and mental strength this Arsenal team have.

Tactically, Arsene Wenger hasn’t changed much. The 67-year-old still sticks to the 4-2-3-1 formation or the 4-3-3 system. And as for personnel, only center-back Shkodran Mustafi and left-winger Alex Iwobi have been helpful additions to the starting eleven.

Mustafi replaces team captain Per Mertesacker, who suffered a knee injury before the season even started and is expected to be sidelined until January. Whilst, Iwobi, an Arsenal youth product, provides dynamism and agility when bombing up and down the left flank.

(Photo by Catherine Ivill – AMA/Getty Images) /

Meanwhile, the Swiss midfielder Granit Xhaka struggles to adapt to the style of Arsenal. It says a lot about Arsene Wenger and his team that they are able to perform at the highest level, even though the best setup in central midfield is yet to be determined.

Francis Coquelin, Mohamed Elneny, Aaron Ramsey, Santi Cazorla and Xhaka have all been fielded in the middle during the first phase of the season. Whilst Ramsey and Cazorla were battling with injuries, Coquelin and Xhaka could hardly convince anyone that they are able to take leadership roles in the center.

“The future of this club will rely on the quality of the work we do here inside – in developing our players and scouting with quality.” (Wenger in 2013)

Nevertheless, Wenger has found a way to stabilize the central midfield defensively and make it work offensively, so the Gunners can move the ball down the field and involve Özil and Sánchez as quickly as possible.

Sánchez’s new role up front has been a big improvement, as it allows Walcott to serve as a version of a Thomas-Müller-like Raumdeuter, which suits him best given that his movement is his biggest asset.

With Walcott frequently drifting inside, Héctor Bellerín has more space on the right side. And with Sánchez repeatedly dropping back throughout the match and therefore occupying ‘zone 14,’ Özil gets into more scoring positions compared to last season.

Another striking takeaway from the first two and a half months of the season has been Wenger’s still existing ability to develop almost any player. Team members like Nacho Monreal and Bellerín have made progress in an unexpected way. Iwobi, on the other hand, shows that Arsenal’s head coach continues to pull young talents out of his hat and push them to a level of competitiveness from the get-go.

Next: Boro draw showed why Guardiola is an Aguero sceptic

Even 20 years after his appointment as Arsenal head coach, Arsene Wenger still finds ways to enhance the performance of his players and keep them competitive in the Premier League. The North London derby against arch-rivals Tottenham on Sunday will once again let the camera lenses turn towards him. Wenger has apparently learned how to deal with pressure.

Home/Arsenal