It is a long way from Milan to Wigan. In every sense. Fashion
designers, restaurateurs and art dealers rarely commute between the
two venues. If an opera star were booked to appear at La Scala one
night and Wigan Little Theatre the next, his agent might expect to
hear from him. Lombardy and Lancashire are just different. But for
Arsenal, their performance at Wigan tomorrow is every bit as important as the one they gave in Milan last
Tuesday.
Over the last few years, Milan have succeeded Juventus as the
defining team of Italian club football. As streetwise as they are
stylish, as mean as they can be magnificent. In three Champions
League finals in five years, their line-ups and their hairstyles
haven't changed, and neither has their modus operandi. And yet on
Wednesday morning, the front-page headline of the Italian sports
oracle, La Gazzetta, read, 'Milan - The End'. Arsenal had brought
the curtain down on an era. But are they ready to begin one of
their own?
Arsene Wenger's side are many things, but they are not the
defining team of English club football. They probably don't want to
be. If knuckling down to the harsh realities of winning at Wigan is
what our national game is really all about, Arsenal sometimes give
you the impression they would rather be somewhere else. True
artists get to choose their own canvas and oils. At Wigan, they
will get what they're given tomorrow.
If Tiger Woods outclasses the rest of the Masters field
on the hallowed turf of Augusta next month, he will not be asked to
tee it up at a patchy pay-and-play course with some enthusiastic
mid-handicappers the following week. Arsenal know to expect more
rough than fairway at the JJB tomorrow, and can be certain that
Wigan will not be looking to play them at their own passing
game.
Wenger needs to get a taste for it. His mood in the
build-up to Arsenal's last two fixtures could hardly have been more
different. Before last Saturday's edgy display against Aston Villa,
he was telling anyone who would listen that his side were the
country's most fouled and yet most punished team. Unprotected and
persecuted. Them against the world. Given the odds, they did well
to get a draw.
Before Tuesday's Milan masterclass, Wenger appeared
confident and collected. He did all he could to remind his team how
good they were. Whereas against Villa his key players looked a
little lost and lacking for leadership, against Milan Cesc Fabregas
and Mathieu Flamini were directing their team-mates here and there
from the off. A line-up showing one change in personnel had
undergone a complete personality change in the space of three days.
They looked their young selves again.
But any remaining doubts over that bristling, brittle
side to Arsenal's nature are more likely to surface in northern
England than northern Italy. There is something about Lancashire
hotpot that doesn't always agree with Arsenal's constitution. Every
time Wenger complains about 'up and at 'em' opponents, he merely
encourages them. He should know better than to expect sympathy by
now. The top four are big enough to deal with it. No excuses.
It is time for him to be upbeat, not uppity. Arsenal
don't fit the old bill of 'southern softies'. And not just because
of their own colourful rap sheet of red cards and black marks. They
have scored more than 30 late goals in games this season. They dig
deep enough to have lost only twice in the Premier and Champions
leagues. They're not all pretty, pretty. Emmanuel Adebayor offers
them a Plan B to save games by hitting the ball longer and higher
when needs must.
But no manager believes as stubbornly in his Plan A
than Wenger. He allows substance to compete with style. After two
seasons without silverware, potential is not enough to keep the
likes of Jose Mourinho quiet on the subject of Wenger. Arsenal may
have to accept the need to get their hands dirty in order to get
those hands on trophies again.
The remaining qualities in English football that the
rest of the world fears are heart and soul. Arsenal will encounter
both by the lorry load at Wigan tomorrow. It will seem a long way
from Milan when Emile Heskey is charging around. The trick for
Arsenal is to make sure it is not too far for them.
