Crushing defeat a damning indictment of Wenger way

ARSENE WENGER once revealed how life in Japan, his home for a year while in charge of Grampus Eight, had changed him.

“I come from a Latin culture and it’s instant overreaction most of the time,” he reflected. “You can kill someone in a second by overreacting. I learned a lot about control in Japan.”

If so, Wenger clearly has work to do, for when the TV cameras zoomed in for an unforgiving close-up early on in last night’s hopelessly one-sided semi-final, the Arsenal manager looked as if he had just been given the kind of news usually only delivered in a doctor’s waiting room.

Ashen-faced, drawn and dead-eyed, Wenger drew his hands over his head and pulled it towards his knees and held it there, the very epitome of abject suffering. All that was missing was a Munch-esque scream.

This, ultimately, was a defeat which did more than simply snuff out Arsenal’s dream of a first ever Champions League: instead, it represented the ultimate rebuke to Wenger’s philosophy, encapsulated in that early moment when Kieran Gibbs’ slip on the skiddy turf allowed Ji-Sung Park plunder an early goal.

Anyone can lose their footing, of course, and Gibbs would not have been playing had Gael Clichy not suffered his untimely back injury. But the symbolism of an Arsenal greenhorn, promoted to the first team before his time, rubber-stamping United’s passage to Rome could not have been lost on Wenger.

The Frenchman’s faith in his Arsenal project borders on the evangelical but, for all his promises that a golden sun will finally emerge in north London and leave the rest of the footballing world in shadow, he has neglected to notice the storm clouds gathering over his own shoulder.

The tempest is now upon him. Last night’s crushing defeat not only brought Arsenal’s season to a shuddering halt but could also spell the end for this team, who have found the glittering legacy of the 2004 Invincibles a burden, not a blessing.

Some will not be missed. Emmanuel Adebayor, whose self-interested pursuit of a move to Milan last summer was highlighted by Wenger as a major factor in Arsenal’s leaden-footed start to the season, will surely get his way before the new campaign dawns.

The Togolese has cut a largely disinterested figure this term and on the occasions his team needed him most – the two legs against United and the FA Cup semi-final with Chelsea – he duly disappeared.

Few will mourn his passing. There will be other Adebayors but even keen-eyed talent-spotters such as Wenger will struggle to unearth another Cesc Fabregas. The Spaniard protested his loyalty to Wenger’s cause passionately in the build-up to last night’s tie but, to his native press at least, his feelings have been couched in less definitive terms. Certainly, there is no reason for Barcelona or Real Madrid to be discouraged as the seek to prise him away this summer.

William Gallas’ influence was missed last night and could yet vanish on a permanent basis as he seeks one more splash of silver before retirement, while Theo Walcott and Robin van Persie, yet to agree terms on new contracts, could be made offers they cannot refuse.

As he wakes this morning, even Wenger – a man so in love with his job that he makes sure anniversary dinners with his wife do not coincide with a televised match that demands his attention – might struggle to muster the motivation to once again climb into the preacher’s pulpit.

But it is now he needs his powers of persuasion more than ever. Fail to convince his most treasured tyros that the sun will eventually shine on north London, and Wenger’s grand gospel will turn to dust.