Arsene Wenger has always had his own way of doing things. And while some of the Arsenal fans have full faith in the Frenchman to get it right, another section believes that he has just been stumbling about in the dark in recent years.
The next few months look like being as big a test of his managerial abilities as any and could make one of those fan factions much bigger than the other. Our manager seems to be taking a different approach to his rivals in the fight for a top four Premier League finish and we will have to see whose methods are most effective.
Unlike Louis van Gaal, Brendan Rodgers, Ronald Koeman and Mauricio Pochettino, the Arsenal boss has been in this very same situation before and more than once. Maybe that is why he has tried to instill confidence that the Gunners will get the job done again.
But you could also say that he is perhaps going too easy on his players and not putting enough pressure on them to make sure the performances leave nothing on the pitch, with his calming words reported on the Arsenal website.
He said, “Every year we have been under threat until the last game. Every year we’ve managed to do it. We have a good opportunity to show that we have the strength to deal with that pressure and that we have the quality – I’m completely convinced we have the quality.
“We have to deal with our performances. The criticism is always there when you lose a game now. I don’t take it personally. What I take personally is to lose a game.
“We are responsible for what we produce on the pitch and we have to continue to move forward and deal with all the rest. The rest is not to influence us. What is important is that our ambition and the way we want to play has to be the strongest influence.
“It’s a long way to go. It will be tight for everybody and that’s what it is about. It’s about the team with the most consistency and I feel we have shown that we can deal with that kind of pressure in the past. I’m confident we can do it again.”
It all seems a bit blasé to me but then again I have not managed to get a team into the Champions League for 17 seasons in a row and Wenger has. So should we just sit back, relax and tell ourselves that Arsene Knows Best?