Arsene Wenger: Molder of Creativity and Beauty

“I am only a guide. I allow others to express what they have in them. I have not created anything. I am a facilitator of beauty in man. I define myself as an optimist. My constant battle in this job is to bring out the beauty in men. You could call me naive. At the same time, it allows me to believe in that and, more often, it proves me right,” Arsene Wenger was quoted by The Sun saying.

Well professor Arsene Wenger, we’ve known this for a long long time. Maybe the day after a thrashing wasn’t the time to say it though. Even still, this quote exemplifies Arsene Wenger so well and it is great to see he understands his role as the professor so well.

Arsene Wenger has built Arsenal on the idea of creative and beautiful play that stems from the imagination and freedom from the players such as Cazorla, Ozil, Fabregas, Henry, and Bergkamp. In the Invincibles documentary, former players like Ray Parlour talk about how training completely changed at the club once Wenger got there. The Gaffer forced the players to figure out things on the pitch themselves more than the traditional manager. People like to moan about Wenger having a hands off approach but he clearly understands his job as the manager; to bring out the beauty in his men, not to grind results out of them and eventually stifle their creativity and attacking passion i.e Mourinho.

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It is no wonder so many brilliant attacking players have wanted to play for Wenger and have raved about working under him once they have arrived. This is clearly different from managers who try to get a team to thrive under one specific formation or under a brute managerial force. Missur Arsene Wenger has stuck to his guns the past 19 years with the Gunners and this quote is just another example of that.

On to the Derby.