Options available if Arsenal and United cut bosses loose
As career crises tighten still further around the throats of David Moyes and Arsene Wenger, a huge question refuses to go away.
It has a brutal simplicity as
Manchester United's Moyes faces yet another round of biting criticism over his failed tactics and powers of motivation and
Arsenal's Wenger recoils from two more desperate, hope-sapping performances from his talented but fragile team.
How long can two of the Premier League's leading clubs continue to turn their backs on a new super breed of young coaches? The word from Arsenal is that the club are fretting over the possibility that Wenger may renege on a verbal agreement to sign a two-year extension and create the 'Ferguson factor' vacuum which they believe lies at the heart of United's sudden and dismaying decline.
It is also said that Arsenal are pointing out that Borussia Dortmund's 46-year-old coach Jurgen Klopp, the flag bearer of the new generation of young, or youngish, master-coaches, is 'untested' in the Premier League. At so many levels, such a reaction to the possibility of change, vital change, at the Emirates is ridiculed by the realities of modern football – and Arsenal's own history.
PASSIONATE
The point is made most eloquently by the fact that the extrovert, passionate Klopp is precisely the same age as Wenger was when he replaced the fired Bruce Rioch in the summer of 1996. He also has a more imposing record.
Wenger arrived from Japan with two pieces of silverware, the Emperor's Cup and the J-League Super Cup, along with a French League title and Cup earlier acquired with
Monaco. These were handy baubles on anyone's CV, but Klopp would come to the Emirates – or Old Trafford – with two Bundesliga titles snaffled from the under the shadow of the current rulers of
Europe, Bayern Munich.
He also has the reputation for getting inspiringly close to his team. Klopp is passionate and outgoing, as we saw when his players ran Bayern so close in the brilliant Champions League final last spring.
By comparison, Moyes peers glassily into the headlights and Wenger's frustration appears to come perilously close to breaking point
The charge must be that both United, out of deference to the opinion of Ferguson, and Arsenal, in the stubborn belief that Wenger will finally break a run of nine trophyless years, have ignored the kind of coaching pedigrees which, if nothing else, would free both clubs from criticism that they are being run by managers who either lack the presence and hard instincts required at the highest level of the game, or, in the case of Wenger, have perhaps seen them fly away.
When Chelsea discarded Rafa Benitez and
Manchester City lost patience with
Roberto Mancini, they moved for Jose Mourinho and Manuel Pellegrini, vastly different characters, but both men who had established impressive levels of tactical sophistication.
Meanwhile, Arsenal kept faith in Wenger despite all the barren years, and United, having rejected Mourinho, decided to gamble on Moyes' ability to move on to the big stage. Elsewhere, the small hierarchy of super coaches have been underlining the potency of their methods.
At Bayern, Pep Guardiola has enhanced his status as the most coveted coach by leading his club at crushing pace to still another domestic title and shorts-odds favouritism to retain the Champions League.
Klopp lost his boy prodigy Mario Goetze and faces the departure of his principle striking arm Robert Lewandowski, but has still managed to keep Borussia Dortmund in the Champions League he came so close to winning at Wembley.
In Spain and Italy, there are other young coaches who have taken brilliantly to the task of creating new forces in the game.
Diego Simeone (44), having won league titles at home in Argentina, is leading La Liga and producing thrilling football with Atletico Madrid. He is also another challenger in the Champions League.
Juventus' Antonio Conti, who as a player won five Serie A titles and a Champions League is, at 43, overwhelming the Italian game nearly as profoundly as Guardiola is Germany's.
Wherever you turn you see the results of clubs having the nerve to invest in the impressive credentials of outstanding new coaches.
For United, particularly, there are examples as close at hand as the short drive to Liverpool. Both Brendan Rodgers at Anfield and Moyes' Everton successor Roberto Martinez are not only providing winning momentum in quick time, but can also claim to have remodelled their teams in a classic tradition revered by the fans.
At Old Trafford and the Emirates, such progress adds up to nothing short of a terrible reproach and for Moyes and Wenger the pressure seems guaranteed to become even more intense as United face Bayern Munich in the Champions League quarter-finals and Arsenal have Manchester City as visitors tomorrow.
After City's victory at United, Moyes ran into his most serious firestorm of criticism thus far. Former players
Gary Neville, Paul Scholes and
Dwight Yorkeall cast doubts over the manager's ability to halt the slide.
Nor could Wenger have been hugely buoyed by the comments of Mathieu Flamini shortly after he had conceded a late own goal to drop two points against Swansea at the Emirates.
Flamini was invited to swear undying allegiance to the great Arsenal manager – rather as
Ryan Giggs and
Wayne Rooney had been on behalf of Moyes after victory over Olympiakos last week – but the response was similarly lukewarm. Flamini said: "We do not think about it (Wenger's situation). We focus on our season, our next match against Manchester City. Afterwards, what happens with the coach is his future – not ours."
Wenger did not have to be paranoid to receive this as something less than a vote of confidence. Nor did Moyes when Rooney ducked the question about whether the team owed their manager the victory over Olympiakos and said: "We owed it to ourselves – and the fans."
What is needed most pressingly, at both Arsenal and United, is maybe not the clatter of empty phrases but the hard evidence of a team benefiting from superior leadership.
The truth is that, if they care to look, plenty is available.