UFO Info Week-End

It is difficult now to know what lessons we can learn he said

“It is difficult now to know what lessons we can learn,” he said. For all the valid excuses, the simple truth was that the pretensions of the English champions had been rudely exposed by a group which, apart from Dynamo Kiev, does not exactly represent the cream of Europe. “It is an average group and the disappointment is that it was there to be won easily,” Wenger acknowledged. So how semi-skimmed does that make Arsenal? Arsenal now have to draw against Panathinaikos in Athens to avoid sinking to the bottom of Group E. Though the fans remained defiantly loyal to the man who won them the Double, disquiet was voiced within the squad by Marc Overmars and Martin Keown, and the reluctance of Wenger to sign a new contract – or any big- name players – suddenly took on a wider significance. The well-publicised sale of Duncan Ferguson to Newcastle United over the head of the Everton manager, Walter Smith, and a similar sleight of hand by the West Ham accountants had already reopened football’s oldest schism. Arsenal seemed the natural arena for another confrontation between the itchy fingers of the manager and the tight fist of the chairman But with a twist.

This time it was Wenger, not the Arsenal board, checking the price tag. Arsenal have been linked to a number of high-profile names without success: Patrick Kluivert, the De Boer twins, Dion Dublin, Kwanku Kanu, even Alan Shearer and, until his move to the North-east, Ferguson himself. But deals have foundered on a combination of Arsenal’s tight wage structure and Wenger’s own value- for-money creed.
“I was interested in Dublin,” Wenger said “But the price was too high. I feel a responsibility to do the right thing for the club and if you pay pounds 5m for a player who is 29 or 30 it is not an investment.” It would be, though, if Dublin’s goals help take the title to Villa Park.

In the 444 minutes since Arsenal last scored, Dublin has netted five – and missed a penalty.News on other potential winter purchases remains tantalisingly vague: Alan Shearer is not on the market, but if he was Arsenal would be interested, and speculation about the imminent purchase of Nwanku Kanu of Milan is “not correct”. Though, added Wenger with that famed half-smile, it might become correct In other words, watch this space. Arsenal supporters will hope that a deal will be done sooner rather than later because Nicolas Anelka is not experienced or robust enough to carry the attack on his own.Visibly tense in the early stages of his weekly meeting with the press, Wenger relaxed enough under questioning to shed some light on the inner thoughts of a very private man. Psychology is one of Wenger’s great skills, not the motivation by fear practised by the old-fashioned manager, but the gentle journey to enlightenment and self-fulfilment enjoyed by Tony Adams. The Frenchman’s astute handling of the tension between the English and foreign players at about this time last year, after a home defeat by Blackburn, proved the basis for Arsenal’s surge to the championship. But there are signs of a deeper sense of malaise in the Arsenal side now.”I’ve had many difficult periods in my life,” he said. “My challenge now is that we bounce back and that the team does not get too disappointed.

I am hugely disappointed that we lost the game [against Lens] and that we at the moment are not performing like I would like us to. But I am more concerned about the players than about myself.”I tend to be quiet in the face of adversity After the game at Wembley I went home and read In our job there is no normal reaction. When you lose, you are always too negative, when you win, you are always too positive I know that. So I try to get a bit of distance away from the game and to think really what is the real problem because if you lose small problems can become bigger than they should be.”Some wonder if Wenger has been subject to the reverse process.