The Making of Modern Arsenal - Part Four - 2012 - 2020 - The Final Years of Wenger and Beyond

THE MAKING OF MODERN ARSENAL - PART FOUR - 2012 - 2020 - THE FINAL YEARS OF WENGER AND BEYOND

THE SUMMER OF 2012 would see the latest rebuilding begin. With the club now settled at the Emirates Stadium funds were finally being made available to Wenger, although after seven years without a trophy the pressure was building.

The departure of Robin van Persie to rivals Manchester United had seen a backlash from the fans so Wenger knew he needed a good summer in the transfer market.

With that in mind the business looked promising as in came midfield maestro Santi Cazorla from Malaga for £10 million, French striker Olivier Giroud from Montpellier for £9.6 million, and German forward Lukas Podolski from Cologne.

With Adu Diaby finally fit, the Arsenal team that won 2-0 at Anfield on 2 September 2012 suggested a brave new world – Mannnone, Jenkinson, Gibbs, Vermaelen, Mertesacker, Arteta, Daiby, Cazorla, Gervinho, Podolski, Giroud.

It was a 4-2-3-1 formation with Podolski and Ivorian Gervinho, signed from Lille for £10.5 million the previous summer, supporting lone striker Giroud, and Cazorla looking every inch like the perfect replacement for Cesc Fabregas.

The performance of Diaby was particularly pleasing after years of injury problems as he dominated the midfield in a way that brought back memories of Vieira.

Thomas Vermaelen, a quick, left footed central defender who could also score goals, had been bought from Ajax in 2010 was named as the new captain, but the early season optimism soon ebbed away.

The title challenge never materialised and in the end Wenger’s team were once again fighting it out for a place in the top four with Tottenham Hotspur, a battle they would only win with a 1-0 victory at Newcastle United on the final day.

The cups provided little cheer either. A near full strength team was knocked out of the League Cup on penalties by Division Three side, Bradford City, the first defeat to a lower league side Wenger had suffered as manager.

It was quickly repeated in the FA Cup when Championship side Blackburn Rovers won 1-0 at the Emirates in the fifth Round, and the calls for Wenger to go were now reaching a crescendo by a fan base growing increasingly impatient.

Things would reach a peak on the opening day of the 2013/14 season.

Following a 3-1 home defeat to Aston Villa a video of a particularly irate fan on AFTV went viral, and ‘Wenger Out’ was trending on Twitter.

But within two weeks Arsenal had smashed the club transfer record by signing German superstar, Mesut Ozil from Real Madrid for £42.5 million.

Ozil was an immediate success and Arsenal quickly went to the top of the table with a run of eight wins from nine matches. It was a position they would occupy for much of the season.

Ozil’s arrival also had a positive impact on Aaron Ramsey. The 22-year-old midfielder had struggled since recovering from a broken leg in 2009 but he hit top form in the early weeks of the season and would end the 2013/14 season with a career high of 16 goals.

Despite this great run of form the fans were still not convinced. A 6-3 defeat at Manchester City on 14 December 2013 fuelled the flames but Wenger’s team would then go unbeaten in 10 matches to get the title challenge back on track.

That run ended with another heavy defeat, 5-1 at Anfield on 8 February 2014, but the FA Cup run was by now gaining momentum.

Revenge over Liverpool; 2-1 at the Emirates in the fifth round set up a quarter final clash with Everton. Ozil scored the opener as Arsenal won 4-1 to reach their first semi-final in the competition since 2009.

By the time of the meeting with Championship side Wigan Athletic at Wembley on 12 April, the title challenge was over. Two more heavy away defeats saw to that; 6-0 with 10 men at Chelsea, and 3-0 at Everton.

The FA Cup run looked to be going a similar way when Wigan led at Wembley with less than 10 minutes to go. 

But German defender Per Mertesacker popped up with an equaliser and Arsenal won 4-2 on penalties; goalkeeper Lukas Fabianski the hero.

Despite a solid league campaign Arsenal finished fourth again, seven points behind champions Manchester City, a disappointing end after leading the table for so long, but the trophy drought was about to end.

The team for the FA Cup final against Hull City on 17 May 2014 was the best side Wenger had put together since the Invincibles – Fabianski, Sagna, Gibbs, Mertesacker, Koscielny, Arteta, Cazorla, Ramsey, Ozil, Podolski, Giroud.

Wenger was now adopting a 4-2-3-1 formation with Ozil pushed slightly ahead of Ramsey and Podolski.

But the team were in for an early shock at Wembley.

Hull, under the management of Steve Bruce, scored twice in the opening 10 minutes and only a goal-line clearance from Kieran Gibbs prevented them going 3-0 up.

But cometh the hour, cometh the man and it was a superb free kick from Cazorla that put Arsenal right back into the final.

Panic now over, Laurent Koscielny equalised in the second half, although it was not until deep into extra time that Ramsey capped his fine personal season with the winner.

The eight-year wait for a trophy was finally over and Wenger was thrown into the air by his delighted players on the pitch at the end.

Many fans felt this was a good time for Wenger to go but he could see the potential in this side and wanted one last push for another league title.

When Chilean Alexis Sanchez was signed from Barcelona for £31.7 million in the summer of 2014, he appeared to be the final piece of the jigsaw.

Danny Welbeck also arrived from Manchester United for £16 million as a new-look squad was taking shape.

But injuries in the early months of the 2014/15 season saw the title dream over before Christmas again. In fact, at one stage even the top four was looking like a big ask as Arsenal dropped to as low as eighth.

But the New Year brought a change of fortune and a run of just one defeat in 14 league matches and progress to another FA Cup semi-final turned the season around.

The highlight of the cup run was a 2-1 quarter final success at Old Trafford, Welbeck with the winner against his old club in front of 9,000 jubilant travelling fans.

Sanchez then repaid a large chunk of his transfer fee with both goals in the semi-final victory over Reading at Wembley, and in the final Arsenal retained the cup for only second time in their history with a 4-0 thumping of Aston Villa.

The team that started the final showed several changes from the previous year – Szcesny, Bellerin, Monreal, Koscielny, Mertesacker, Coquelin, Cazorla, Ramsey, Ozil, Walcott, Sanchez

It was now more of 4-1-3-2, with Francis Coquelin sitting in front of the back four.

The Frenchman had been a revelation since returning from a loan spell at Charlton Athletic, and his combative presence allowed Ozil more freedom to support the front two of Walcott and Sanchez, both of whom scored in the final.

The cup success, a record breaking 12^th for the club, was again seen as the perfect time for Wenger to go but instead he continued to build a squad he felt could challenge for the title.

The long-standing goalkeeping issue was finally solved when Petr Cech arrived from Chelsea in the summer of 2015 for £10 million. 

Although now 35 there was no question that he was still a world class goalkeeper, and he won the Golden Gloves in his first season at the club.

In the end the 2015/16 season proved to be a rather strange campaign. All the usual title challengers seemed to be in transition and by the start of the 2016 the title race was between Spurs, Arsenal and the surprise package, Leicester City.

When Arsenal came from behind to beat the Foxes 2-1 at the Emirates on 14 February 2016, Welbeck with the stoppage time winner, Wenger’s team were in pole position.

But in what was becoming a recurring theme, just as the title looked to be in sight the team fell apart. 

A run of only one win from eight matches saw the title challenge crumble and the chance of an historic hat-trick of FA Cup wins, the first time that would have been achieved since the late 1800s, went with it.

The performance at home to Watford in the quarter final on 13 March 2016 was shocking and the fact that Wenger’s men then beat the same opposition 4-0 in the league a few weeks later underlined another missed opportunity.

With the pressure off, Arsenal finished the season strongly and as Spurs imploded they was able to seal the runners up spot behind Leicester, their highest league finish for 11 years.

Ending the season empty-handed however merely added to the pressure on Wenger. With helicopters flying over the stadium with ‘Wenger Out’ banners and social media channels like AFTV pushing an anti-Wenger agenda, the 2016/17 season would be a difficult one.

After a 4-3 defeat at home to Liverpool on the opening day, where Wenger was accused of not having the team fully prepared for the start of the season, the team embarked on a run of only one defeat in 23 matches to again lead the table.

New signing Granit Xhaka, bought from Borussia Monchengladbach for £30 million, announced his arrival with a long-range goal at Hull City on 17 September 2016, while the Sanchez-Ozil partnership was developing into something rather special.

But the bubble would burst with two away defeats in three days in December.

Having led at half time at both Everton and Manchester City, the 2-1 defeats were the beginning of the end for Wenger, although there would be one last piece of silverware to come.

This was Arsenal’s 19^th consecutive year in the Champions League, an English record, but with only one final and one further semi-final to their name it had hardly been a glorious run.

And in what would become their last campaign in the competition to date, Arsenal suffered a 10-1 aggregate humiliation at the hands of Bayern Munich in the round of 32.

So once again the FA Cup would provide the comfort. A favourable draw which saw first Sutton United and then Lincoln City easily dispatched, the first of which featured Walcott’s 100^th goal for the club, the semi-final paired Arsenal with Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City.

By now the wheels had well and truly come off the title challenge. A run of only four wins from 12 matches reached a nadir with a shocking 3-0 defeat at Crystal Palace on 10 April 2017.

The unrest among the fans was now reaching its peak and the abuse suffered by the players and manager that night was unprecedented in modern times. Yet within ten days Arsenal had reached another FA Cup final.

To stop the rot Wenger began experimenting with a 3-5-2 formation to give the team a stronger midfield base, and that was how they lined up at Wembley to face City on 23 April 2017.

Despite their recent problems this was to be a tactical masterclass from Wenger. Although City led in the second half, it was left wing back Nacho Monreal, given more freedom to get forward, who scored the equaliser before Sanchez won it in extra time.

Ahead of their record-breaking 20^th FA Cup final appearance and a meeting with newly crowned champions Chelsea, Arsenal still had a place in the top four to fight for.

But despite ending the season with seven wins from their last eight matches and a points tally of 75, only three less than when they won the title in 1998, it was only enough to finish fifth.

So for the first time in 20 years, Arsenal would not be in the Champions League.

The team that faced Chelsea in the FA Cup final at Wembley on 27 May 2017 was the final hoorah for Wenger – Ospina, Holding, Mertesacker, Monreal, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Xhaka, Ramsey, Ozil, Bellerin, Welbeck, Sanchez.

It was the 3-5-2 formation that had worked so well in the semi-final but Mertesacker had to fill in for suspended club captain Koscielny, making only his second appearance of an injury-hit season.

After Sanchez’ controversial early goal, Arsenal dominated the champions and should have been three or four up before a late equaliser from Deigo Costa looked to have given Chelsea the advantage.

Wenger had just been about to bring on Giroud before the goal and straight from the restart it was the French striker who crossed for Ramsey to head his second FA Cup winning goal in four years.

The club’s record 13^th FA Cup win was also Wenger’s seventh success, beating the record set by George Ramsey in 1920, and with his contract up in the summer this looked like the perfect time to retire on a high.

But just a few weeks later Wenger signed a new one-year deal with the option of a second, causing more protests from the fans and sending AFTV into meltdown.

Behind the scenes saw the arrival of a new head of recruitment, Sven Mislintat from Borussia Dortmund. His knowledge of the German market saw the arrival of left wing back, Sead Kolasinac from Schalke on a free transfer.

The club also broke its transfer record once again with the signing of Lyon striker, Alexandre Lacazette for £46.5 million. The Frenchman had scored 113 goals in the previous four seasons and was one of the most sort-after strikers in Europe.

However, Sanchez, who had scored 30 goals the previous season, was becoming a problem. 

The summer of 2017 was dominated by his on-off transfer to City and when it fell through at the last minute, Wenger was left with one very unhappy and disruptive player.

In fact it was not until the winter transfer window was about to open again that Sanchez began to show anything like his best form, scoring six goals in 12 matches in the period from October to December having scored just three in the previous 20.

In what would become Wenger’s last season, Arsenal began with victory over Chelsea at Wembley again in the Community Shield before Lacazette scored within three minutes of his league debut in a 4-3 win over Leicester City.

But any chance of a title challenge soon disappeared as a 1-0 defeat at Stoke City was quickly followed by a 4-0 thrashing at Anfield.

Wenger was still unsure of his best formation, switching from 4-3-3 to 3-5-2, often during matches, and this led to an inconsistent league campaign.

The away form which had deteriorated in the second half of the previous season, would now reach crisis point as Wenger’s team would win just twice away from home in the league before Christmas and then lose seven in a row in the New Year.

With no Champions League football for the first time since 1997, Arsenal instead had a first Europa League campaign to focus on and despite a few problems, the run would bring hopes of a first European final in 12 years.

Ironically, it was another competition which Wenger had never won that kept the wolves from the door going into 2018.

After his first ever FA Cup third round defeat away at Championship side Nottingham Forest on 7 January, attention switched to the League Cup and a semi-final meeting with Chelsea.

A 0-0 draw in the first leg at Stamford Bridge was followed by a dramatic second leg at the Emirates on 24 January which saw a late goal from Xhaka seal a comeback 2-1 victory and another trip to Wembley, the club's 10^th in the last five years.

It would be a busy 2018 winter transfer window. Sanchez finally got his move to Manchester but it was to United instead of City, with Henrik Mkhitaryan coming in the opposite direction.

The transfer record was broken again as Mislintat raided former club Dortmund to bring in superstar striker, Pierre-Emrick Aubameyang for £55 million. This was seen as the most exciting signing by the club since the arrival of Dennis Bergkamp in 1995.

Aubameyang duly scored on his debut against Everton and would end the season with 10 goals in 13 appearances, but he was cup-tied for the Europa League campaign in which Arsenal would go on reach the semi-final.

Before that was the League Cup final and a meeting with runaway league leaders, Manchester City at Wembley on 25 February 2018. But in what would prove to be Arsenal’s heaviest ever cup final defeat, City would win 3-0.

The team that day showed many changes from their last cup final appearance just nine months earlier – Ospina, Koscielny, Chambers, Mustafi, Bellerin, Monreal, Xhaka, Ramsey, Wilshere, Ozil, Aubameyang.

The formation was a 3-5-1-1 with Ozil playing behind Aubameyang, and Ramsey given licence to get forward. But City were so far ahead it was embarrassing.

Wenger was now losing support, not just from the fans but from many inside the club as well, and on 20 April 2018 he announced that he would not be extending his contract at the end of the season. The team responded to that news with a 4-1 win over West Ham United two days later.

Everyone was now desperate to end the Wenger era by lifting the Europa League but it would be no easy task as Arsenal was paired with favourites Atletico Madrid in the semi-final.

The first leg at the Emirates on 26 April 2018 proved to be a frustrating night. Madrid was reduced to ten-men early in the contest and when Lacazette headed Arsenal in front the final looked within reach. 

But a mistake at the back from Koscielny allowed Antoine Griezmann an undeserved equaliser and in the second leg in Madrid the hosts won 1-0 to leave Arsenal and Wenger heartbroken.

Wenger’s last home match was a 5-0 thrashing of Burnley on 6 May 2018 and he was presented with a miniature copy of the golden trophy Arsenal had been awarded for the unbeaten league success in 2004, the biggest legacy of Wenger’s 22 years at the club.

The final match came a week later and there was a certain irony that it came at a place with links to Arsenal’s glorious history, Huddersfield Town.

It was also ironic that Aubameyang, the final signing of the Wenger era, would score the final goal of his reign to seal a 1-0 win, ending a club record run of seven successive away defeats in the Premier League.

In the end Wenger had overseen 1,235 matches with 707 wins, three league titles and a record seven FA Cup triumphs, the most successful manager in the history of the club and one of the most successful ever.

He had brought a style of football never seen before in English football and of course he had completed the first unbeaten top-flight season for 115 years.

He oversaw the move from Highbury to the Emirates and all the financial restrictions that brought while still managing to keep the club in the Champions League for 19 years in succession.

His critics will point to his stubbornness and his refusal to adapt to the changing football landscape in the second decade of his reign, and for possibly staying at least three years too long.

But that is to dismiss everything he achieved with the club. Building on the previous success of George Graham, Wenger took the club to a new level and did so with a style and panache which had previously never been associated with Arsenal.

Now, over two years after Wenger departed, the club are still struggling to recapture those past glories. 

Unai Emery came and quickly went and now it is Wenger’s former captain, Mikel Arteta who is trusted with the task of trying to take the club back to the top. An it will be no easy task.

The club has already dropped below the likes of Liverpool, City, Chelsea and United, and with others like Wolverhampton Wanderers and Leicester making progress, and a possible take over at Newcastle United, just getting back into the Champions League places will prove to be difficult enough.

But will that be enough to satisfy the increasingly hard to please fan base? Thanks to the success of Graham and Wenger the expectations are now much higher than they were back in 1986, although in many ways the club has come full circle.

Once again they are a sleeping giant waiting to be reawakened.