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Wenger’s Stubborn men repay his faith — but only in europe

Are Arsenal a “dream”, a “mirage” or a “pain” — or all three, as Alisher Usmanov, the Tolstoy of the oligarchs, suggested on Monday? One label that can be pinned onto them without fear of challenge is stubborn, because Arsene Wenger’s men threw themselves into a game they only needed to draw like the gamblers they habitually are.

Alexis Sanchez (left) proved himself an inspired signing for Arsenal, curling in their second goal. Photo: AP

Alexis Sanchez (left) proved himself an inspired signing for Arsenal, curling in their second goal. Photo: AP

Are Arsenal a “dream”, a “mirage” or a “pain” — or all three, as Alisher Usmanov, the Tolstoy of the oligarchs, suggested on Monday? One label that can be pinned onto them without fear of challenge is stubborn, because Arsene Wenger’s men threw themselves into a game they only needed to draw like the gamblers they habitually are.

The mission was simple. One point would take the Gunners into the next phase of this competition for the 15th successive season.

Yet they burst from the traps with both full-backs rammed up the pitch and Nacho Monreal, a makeshift centre-back, so far forward that Per Mertesacker had to scream at him to stand goal-side of Ciro Immobile, the Borussia Dortmund striker.

In other words, to hell with those calls for defensive circumspection, for urgent anti-counterattacking measures. Arsenal have become so vulnerable to breakaway goals that an air-raid siren would not go amiss here in north London.

But Wenger’s faith is rooted in a mantra that has never wavered. It is: If we keep doing this, which I know to be right, success will follow, as winter follows autumn.

That world view has become less and less credible to fans, ex-players and Usmanov, the owner of 30 per cent of the club. The roof is seldom raised here these days. Yet, there is no real possibility of Wenger ever abandoning his ideas about the game in favour of late-night brainstorming sessions to make Arsenal harder to score against.

Instead, the team’s first act here was to show that absolutely anyone in the red-and-white livery can score — and quickly. Even Yaya Sanogo recorded his first competitive goal for the club after 1min 12sec: A stroked finish through Dortmund goalkeeper Roman Weidenfeller’s legs.

With Alexis Sanchez in the starting line-up, Arsenal will never lack locomotion, ambition or desire. Many fans worry what would happen if Sanchez suddenly dropped out of football to become a Buddhist monk, say, and the rest of the side had to fill the huge commitment void. He ran himself to a standstill against United on Saturday and was similarly masochistic on this European stage, aided by Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, who marked his 100th appearance with a pleasingly assertive performance.

Sanchez earned his reward for industry with Arsenal’s second on 56 minutes — a right-foot curler after a typically zestful surge. Whatever Arsenal are doing wrong to be eighth in the Premier League table, signing Sanchez was inspired.

Depleted by raids — mainly from Bayern Munich — Jurgen Klopp’s team were a shadow of the one that faced Germany’s biggest name in a Champions League final. Nowadays, they look bigger, stiffer, slower and less artful. They also started with 12 points in the group, which took the edge off them. The perfect big-name opponents, then, for Arsenal to blow a smokescreen over their poor league form and the wounding defeat by Manchester United.

Wenger’s response to Usmanov’s attack was to paint him as an outsider who had deviated from the sacred code of in-house honesty while also betraying an ignorance of Wengerian culture. Usmanov probably thinks he is pretty smart, but Wenger is no fool either and used the pseudo-poetic Usmanov outburst to pull his squad in tighter. The tycoon, he seemed to say, had shown himself to be un-Arsenal.

Yet Wenger seems unperturbed by the job of continually fending off those who say his 18-year reign has run its course. He is less indignant this season than he was last year, though the BBC’s Jacqui Oatley, with whom he had a spat last month, might disagree.

So what is the real Arsenal, the Wengerian Arsenal, and where is it going after the worst start to a Premier League campaign with 17 points from 12 games and four wins (they had nine at this stage last year)?

In the hours before this return to Champions League combat, Wenger reached for a sentence that defines his attitude to adverse comment. He said: “I especially believe in my players, and in their quality and spirit.”

How lucky they are that he never stomps into the training ground and tells them: “I’ve put my reputation on the line for you lot. But no more. Half of you are finished.”

Instead, he sends them out to uphold his cherished principles. And this time they repaid his faith. But enough European reveries. It is in England and the Premier League where Arsenal need to recover their power base. The Daily Telegraph

Paul Hayward is the chief sports writer at the Daily Telegraph.

OTHER RESULTS

Group A: Atletico Madrid 4 Olympiakos 0, Malmo 0 Juventus 2

Group B: FC Basel 0 Real Madrid 1, Ludogorets 2 Liverpool 2

Group C: Zenit St Petersburg 1 Benfica 0, Bayer Leverkusen 0 Monaco 1

Group D: Anderlecht 2 Galatasaray 0

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