Arsenal’s second-largest shareholder, Alisher Usmanov, has told Arsene Wenger to start learning from his mistakes as the pressure mounts on the Gunners’ boss.
The north London club have lifted just one trophy in nine-and-a-half years and a 2-1 defeat at home to Manchester United on Saturday marked their worst start to a season since 1982.
Usmanov, who owns 30 percent of the Premier League side, believes Wenger is letting his purist soccer principles stand in the way of Arsenal’s success.
“Arsene Wenger is one of the greatest coaches, not just of European, but of world football,” Usmanov told CNBC on Monday. “But we have a Russian proverb which goes: ‘Even an old lady can have a roof falling on her.’”
“Everybody makes mistakes. He can make mistakes and I know as you age it is more difficult, more challenging to accept one’s mistakes,” Usmanov added. “The potential of the team is there, but there is no critical evaluation of mistakes and they need to acknowledge them, because no genius can retain the same level of genius if they do not acknowledge mistakes.”
“Nothing bad is happening apart from repeating the same high result — we keep being in the middle of the [UEFA] Champions League, but we only lose the first knock-out games. Some may be happy with that, but as a shareholder, I am not,” the Russian said.
Wenger’s position has come under intense scrutiny in recent seasons as the team has drifted further away from mounting a serious challenge in either the Premier League or the Champions League.
Usmanov, who has not been offered a place on the Arsenal board, said it is “frustrating” to be excluded from discussing the manager’s future, but suggested he still supports the Frenchman, saying that “the club leadership relies on Wenger.”
Despite spending big money on Germany’s Mesut Ozil and Chilean Alexis Sanchez in the past two seasons, Wenger is no closer to turning the Gunners into title contenders, but Usmanov said the club must continue to splash the cash.
“My opinion — and I tell it openly — we need to strengthen every position to play on the level of such teams in the UK as Chelsea and Manchester City, in Europe like Real Madrid, Barcelona, Paris Saint-Germain and other clubs,” he added.
Usmanov’s comments will increase scrutiny of Wenger, who cannot use France striker Olivier Giroud in his team’s crucial last two Champions League fixtures.
Giroud returned from an ankle injury earlier than expected and scored on his comeback in Saturday’s 2-1 loss to United.
However, he was not expected to return until January and so was left out of Arsenal’s original squad list for the Champions League.
Clubs can only register 25 players on an “A List” for the group matches, which must be submitted by Sept. 2 and include eight homegrown players.
Arsenal need just one point from their remaining two games to qualify for the knockout stages and Giroud could be included for the rest of the competition, with the next squad list due by Feb. 3.
Wenger’s side, who are five points off top spot, host Group D leaders Borussia Dortmund today before finishing with a trip to Turkish side Galatasaray next month.
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