Wenger way can still be paved with silver

WHEN it was over, Arsene Wenger raised both arms aloft and punched the air in delight. Within seconds, this vast bowl of a stadium was filled to the brim with one of the Premier League’s most familiar refrains. There is, as they put it, only one Arsene Wenger.

In his 12-year spell at north London, the Frenchman has masterminded a vast array of moments to savour. Few, however, will have tasted as sweet as this.

Never before has the Wenger way come under more scrutiny than in the last two weeks. Never before has the Bible according to Arsene been subjected to such forensic and extensive analysis. Never before have Arsenal fans genuinely questioned if the man referred to as ‘Arsene Knows’ really still does know.

In the last 12 days, after twice surrendering two-goal leads and ultimately two points in a classic north London derby against Tottenham, losing controversially to Stoke and drawing at home to Fenerbahce in the Champions League,

Wenger has shipped criticism from many quarters. The case against was a large one. Excessive faith in youth, assembling a team with a soft centre, a stubborn refusal to spend big and, most damningly, a failure to win a single major trophy in the last three years. There were even suggestions that Wenger’s assertion that his players were deliberately injured against the Potters was proof positive that he had lost the plot.

But at the end of arguably the most traumatic week of his tenure, Wenger saw his side, shorn of Emmanuel Adebayor, Robin van Persie, Eduardo and Tomas Rosicky, record a win as unlikely as it was vital, a victory that resurrects their title hopes after a contest never less than gripping.

For Wenger, it was just about the perfect riposte.

The Frenchman knows that while a championship cannot be won in November, it can most certainly be lost. That was the reality Wenger’s team faced on Saturday.

After all, defeat here against their greatest rivals would have seen the Gunners slip nine points off the pace. It was a make or break moment. Defeat was unthinkable, a fact not lost on the man himself.

“I didn’t imagine the consequences of a defeat,” he said. “We knew that was a big game for the future of the team, because to keep in the race, to know you can win big games is vital for a young team.

“In our job, we can talk, talk, talk. At the end of the day it’s what you produce on the football pitch. The answer today was right. When you don’t do that, you get criticised. You have to deal with that and show you can take it.

“I question myself and my decisions. I try to be honest and do my job as well as I can and after that, when you don’t win, you question what is right and wrong.”

Saturday, Wenger conceded, was a defining moment for this team. After the sternest of examinations they passed the test, if only just.

Legitimate questions and doubts remain — defensively the Gunners look suspect, Mathieu Flamini has not been replaced in midfield while, up front, Nicklas Bendtner again showed nothing to suggest his vast confidence in his own ability is justified.

But Wenger, supreme optimist that he is, will believe his team of prodigiously talented tyros are ready to justify his seemingly limitless faith and finally translate their elegant, stylish football into tangible reward.

If they do, they might well look back at Saturday as the day this team finally came of age.