Some words are guarantees of headlines. 'Farce' is one of them and when Arsene Wenger described speculation about his future as a farce, he ensured the reaction to Arsenal's FA Cup exit would be dominated by one comment.
Wenger had a point, too. He has shown the constancy to stay in the same post for almost two decades. Arsenal’s board display a marked reluctance to sack him. All other opinions, from the most measured to the hysterical over-reactions from the preposterous self-publicist and self-appointed voice of the Arsenal extremists Piers Morgan, are irrelevant to some extent.
Managers do not last for 19 years by heeding every knee-jerk reaction in the wake of a demoralising defeat. Wenger’s regime has always been built on sound principles. Arsenal have experienced greater embarrassments than a 2-1 defeat to a competent, organised Watford team without their side, unlike some of their supporters, going into meltdown.
Read more: With FA Cup exit, so seems to go promise of a new Arsenal era under Arsene Wenger
Counterpoint: By the numbers, at least, Arsenal not Spurs are likeliest to leapfrog Leicester, writes Thomas Woods
Wenger’s most pertinent comment was: “Judge me at the end of the season.” Besides being a common-sense suggestion that could be applied to many of his peers, it was an answer based on history. Arsenal have not always enjoyed the success they would like but they have never failed in a season under Wenger. Over the course of his time in England, no other club can say that.
The same should still be true, yet judgments seem set to be more damning come the end of May. Wenger has existed in a world of certainties, of annual top-four finishes and last-16 Champions League exits. Both trends should continue, but the context has changed. Normally he can point to the greater resources the champions enjoy; not this year.
This season was the great opportunity, a greater one than anyone envisaged. Chelsea's startling decline, Manchester United's stuttering form and Manchester City's inconsistency afforded Arsenal a glorious chance to win the title. Instead, it seems one that will be seized by either Leicester or Tottenham. The FA Cup seemed the possible consolation prize; now that may go to Crystal Palace or Watford, neither of whom who have previously won it, to Everton, 21 years without a trophy, or West Ham, whose last came in 1980, or Louis van Gaal's utterly undistinguished United.
Even winning the FA Cup would not have placated some of Wenger's critics. Not winning it, barring a remarkable turnaround either against Barcelona on Wednesday or in the title race, renders this season worse than the last two. The next, with Pep Guardiola taking over at Manchester City, Antonio Conte probably going to what should be a rejuvenated Chelsea, Jurgen Klopp given the chance to fashion his Liverpool side and United, with or without Van Gaal, with another huge transfer budget, promises to be tougher.
The broader theme thus seems to be one of decline. Many outside the Arsenal support harboured hopes Wenger could conquer the Premier League again this season. It would have seemed a fitting end-of-career achievement, signifying his emergence from the wilderness years – even if only Wenger spends his wilderness years in third or fourth – and proving that, like Sir Alex Ferguson, Bill Shankly and Matt Busby, he could still fashion fantastic teams at the end of his tenure.
Instead Arsenal appear trapped in a state that has engulfed them for much of the past decade, whereby they have quality but not quite the consistency over an entire campaign, an ability to produce fine results but a propensity to suffer damage defeats, the strength to salvage a top-four finish and a psychological frailty that costs them dearly at pivotal points. Danny Welbeck’s hideous 90th-minute miss against Watford felt a case in point.
Arsenal are forever undermined by injuries, invariably look two players away from being a formidable outfit and inevitably deliver the same kind of achievements that invite questions why they attract such hysterical reactions.
But now, more than ever before, the familiar feels unsatisfactory.
Follow us on Twitter @NatSportUAE
Like us on Facebook at facebook.com/TheNationalSport