Returning to London after Champions League elimination at Barcelona’s hands, Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger faces more uncomfortable questions than ever before about his stewardship of the club.
A season that was still full of hope at the turn of the year is now unraveling in all-too-familiar fashion, with Arsenal out of Europe, out of both cup competitions and trailing Premier League leaders Leicester City by 11 points, albeit with a game in hand.
They remain on course for a top-four finish, but Champions League qualification is losing its consolatory effect on the club’s fans, many of whom have come to see it as a sign of the culture of mid-level achievement that Wenger has allowed to take root at the Emirates Stadium.
“I think the natives have turned. There’s more people who want the boss out than want him in,” former Arsenal striker Ian Wright said on BT Sport after Arsenal’s 3-1 loss to Barcelona on Wednesday, which completed a 5-1 aggregate defeat. “I’m not sure if he still will be there in the summer, if they don’t win the league.”
With Chelsea floundering, Manchester City fatally inconsistent and both Liverpool and Manchester United in transition, this season had held the promise of a first league title for Arsenal since 2003-2004.
Instead, they have failed to grasp the nettle, with outsiders Leicester and — worse — archrivals Tottenham Hotspur surging past them to fight out the most improbable English title duel in recent memory.
“This was the perfect year for Arsenal to win the Premier League and they’ve missed it,” said Emmanuel Petit, another former Wenger protege.
FA Cup wins in 2014 and last year ended Arsenal’s nine-year silverware drought and indicated that the club was reacquiring the trophy-winning know-how that characterized the first eight years of Wenger’s tenure, which yielded three Premier League titles and four FA Cups.
The signings of Mesut Ozil and Alexis Sanchez also hinted at a new dawn, but Arsenal remain bedeviled by the same frailties: recurrent injuries, exacerbated by unaddressed weaknesses in key areas of the squad, tactical naivety and, crucially, a bewildering lack of backbone.
The achievements of Wenger’s 20-year tenure — notably the successful move to the Emirates and the establishment of Arsenal as a global brand — have earned the 66-year-old Frenchman iconic status at the club.
He is thought to retain the full support of US majority shareholder Stan Kroenke and there is no suggestion he is in danger of the sack.
However, fan discontent is becoming increasingly difficult to ignore, and reports this week suggested that it could prompt Wenger to walk away from his post before his contract expires next year.
Taiwan’s men’s table tennis team won bronze on Saturday at this year’s International Table Tennis Federation World Team Table Tennis Championships in London, matching the country’s best-ever finish at the regular tournament. Consisting of Lin Yun-ju, Taiwan’s top-ranked player at world No. 7, Feng Yi-hsin, Kuo Guan-hong, Hong Jing-kai and Hsu Hsien-chia, the team won bronze after losing 0-3 to Japan in the semifinals. In the opening match, 24-year-old Lin played the first game against world No. 3 Tomokazu Harimoto 11-5, but ultimately lost the next three closely contested games 9-11, 10-12 and 10-12. Feng then faced world No. 8 Sora Matsushima in
Taiwanese fire dancer Yang Li-wei advanced to the final of Britain’s Got Talent this weekend after receiving a Golden Buzzer during her live semi-final performance. Yang, a member of Taiwan’s Coming True Fire Group, awed judges and audiences with a high-intensity fire performance featuring flaming umbrellas, fire swallowing and spinning metal structures balanced with her legs. Judge Simon Cowell praised Yang as a star, while guest judge KSI reacted with amazement before pressing the Golden Buzzer, sending her to the finals. The dance group wrote on social media that the Golden Buzzer was “the highest honor” on the talent show, adding: “Twenty-three years
Memphis Grizzlies forward Brandon Clarke, 29, has died, the NBA team said in a statement on Tuesday, while the family of Jason Collins, the first openly gay man to play in a major US pro sports league, announced the former Grizzlies and Brooklyn Nets player had died after a battle with brain cancer. “We are heartbroken by the tragic loss of Brandon Clarke,” the Grizzlies said in a statement posted on social media. “Brandon was an outstanding teammate and an even better person whose impact on the organization and the greater Memphis community will not be forgotten.” The statement did not provide
As Super Rugby fast approaches its playoff season it finds itself racing toward a reckoning with many issues that threaten the southern hemisphere tournament. A group of stakeholders met in the New Zealand city of Christchurch late last month to address problems that are making the future of the 31-year-old competition increasingly tenuous. The discussion was made more urgent by the decision by the owners of Moana Pasifika to fold the Auckland-based club for financial reasons. That followed the closure of the Melbourne Rebels at the end of the 2024 season, likewise because of financial difficulties. Problems addressed included player retention as more
RSS