Arsène Wenger, Give Us a Jig! Arsenal Must Seize Opportunity Vs. Chelsea

As a manager, Arsène Wenger is known to be the immaculate perfectionist, the man with a vision to win. As a man in the dugout, a punch-fisting, half-smiling figure when his vision is realised on the pitch with a well-worked goal.

But as we went 2-0 up against Villarreal on Wednesday night, again with one of those well-worked goals, the man often known for his conveyance of so little emotion on the touchline (or negative emotions in the recent past), Wenger broke into the most uncharacteristic of jigs that would’ve put any dance floor smoother to shame!

It was a dance of victory, a dance of conviction almost. The conviction that Le Boss has been craving for nigh on five years, that we can well and truly be one of England and Europe’s big boys.

Now I am sure you are all aware of my well-noted criticism levelled at the manager at times this season. Indeed, this fantastic victory against Villarreal the other night is the sort of success that we want and deserve, in fact crave, especially considering our heritage and status and, above all in present terms, the amount of talent that we have in the side (despite the presence of some suspect passengers in the team).

This talent that Wenger has preached about long and hard, and which has so often come to disappoint.

However, and as I said, despite the manner of the convincing victory against La Liga’s runners-up, a fact forgotten on most rival fans this morning when they reminded me that “it’s only Villarreal,” Wenger and his team have still achieved nothing; they have yet to prove doubters like me (and there’s many) wrong.

The measure of exactly how far they’ve come will firmly be put to the test on Saturday evening mind, when we come up against a team whose fans well and truly believe have taken over as THE team in London. With the way things have gone in the past few seasons, one cannot help but begrudgingly agree.

Whilst many argue that Chelsea FC’s rise and our fall has been based on solely one thing, cash—and again, that is a well-reasoned argument—our most successful manager and talented players have failed to deliver all too frequently when they had been in a great position to do so, and that cannot be anything to do with money!

Squandering final leads, and going on a terrible run of six points out of a possible 24 during the most crucial period of a Premier League run-in, does not smack of shortage of money, but instead of carelessness, tactical naïvety, and the inability, or rather the stubbornness, to address obvious frailties in a side looking to be reborn.

The FA Cup semifinal against Chelsea, our first FA Cup semifinal since we last won the old trophy in 2005 (gosh, that feels like an age ago, doesn’t it) is a near-perfect opportunity for Wenger to prove the doubters wrong, and how overjoyed would the doubters, including myself, be if we can pull it off!

On the same token, should we be defeated by our dearest of neighbours (I say dearest, as they are the one team in London that have truly threatened to usurp our supremacy in town—sorry Tottenham, but a Carling Cup every decade doesn’t quite count...), it will expose our agonisingly unfulfilled “potential.”

And the doubts will carry on rankling in the minds—the minds of the supporters, the minds of the players, the minds of the media, and, whether he chooses to admit it or not, the mind of the manager.

My fear going ahead of the Chelsea match is at the core of why Wenger has had to take so much flak this season, and will carry on taking it until he can break the failure hoodoo. Quality in depth has left a lot to desire, where the thought of Denilson or Song lining up against Essien, Lampard, and Ballack a case in point.

With the fearful shudder that goes through my spine every time I visualise such a matchup, comes a realisation that we cannot possibly outmuscle and tactically outsmart such a powerful outfit in Chelsea on such a big occasion on a big stage.

Granted, our impressive unbeaten run had all begun on 30 November 2008, when, at Stamford Bridge, the indomitable fortress in which Chelsea lost three times in 130-odd matches, we came back from 1-0 down to claim an historic 2-1 victory.

But it will only be historic if we follow up that potential turning point by delivering in the crucial knockout matches coming up against our fiercest of rivals, great opportunities to do so thanks to our aforementioned return to form.

It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to tell you that Saturday will be a heart-pounding, nail-biting, energy-sapping affair, so much so in fact that I do not even know if I’ll be able to watch it (soppy I know, but the fact that I have two major exams coming up at the end of the week do play a part...honest!).

I can only hope that, whatever the outcome, we play in a way that represents the true values and strengths of Arsenal Football Club, the true visionary ambition that Arsène Wenger has highlighted all along, and that he’s been knocked for, and rightly, when things have not gone to plan. It is now time to prove that we can go on to the next level—the level that Wenger, the players, and we believe are the heights we should be at.

Who knows, 40,000-plus Gooners packed at Wembley might just be chanting our triumphant “Give us a wave” mantra to their footballing god as he looks on come half past seven on Saturday evening. Or make that, “Arsène...give us a jig!”