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With no trophies and Tottenham set to finish above Arsenal for the first time in 21 years, pressure is building on Arsene Wenger like never before. Is his time up? Adam Bate looks at the reasons for his success and why there’s little reason to expect a repeat… One of the key moments for Biff Tannen in the Back to the Future series was when he got hold of the Grays Sports Almanac that revealed the winners of every forthcoming sporting event for years to come. Tannen was transformed into a visionary, armed with the information that his contemporaries craved. Success became a formality.Perhaps thats how it felt for Arsene Wenger when he arrived in England in the autumn of 1996. Hed been a top-class coach in his native France, of course, but in the Premier League his encyclopedic knowledge of superior markets and ideas dwarfed that of his new peers. As an intellectual Gulliver in Lilliput, it didnt take too long for his impact to be felt. By his own admission, Wenger was left bemused by the fact that he could assemble an entire squad for the price quoted to sign Graeme Le Saux from Blackburn. And so, he did just that. Nicolas Anelka had already been acquired for less than £1m. Patrick Vieira joined from AC Milan for just £3.5m. And that was just the transfer market. Wenger says his past successes mean Arsenal fans expect trophies each year On the training ground, the focus on muscle toning was new to old pros. Sharper sessions timed to the second. The introduction of periodisation. Conditioning work. Nutrition ideas from Japan. Dieticians such as Yann Rougier. Regular attention from osteopath Philippe Boixel. None of it seems outlandish now but these changes were significant at the time.When we had the first pre-season under Wenger, it was completely different from anything I experienced in my whole career, Nigel Winterburn told The Independent. There were footballs all over the pitch! What? Footballs! It was unheard of, a football session on the first day back off pre-season training. I had never heard of it.Its difficult to appreciate the context. The previous example of a foreign manager at such as high-profile club had been when Dr Josef Venglos was appointed by Aston Villa in 1990. He arrived just weeks after taking Czechoslovakia to a World Cup quarter-final but was still Dr Who to the press pack. Villas players didnt enjoy the post-match warm downs. The house that Arsene built: But is he the same manager today? Venglos was a pioneer but having taken over from the successful Graham Taylor, only wins wouldve earned him patience and he couldnt get them. Wengers combination of better ideas and better players brought improved results and so the story was very different. Experienced players such as Winterburn, Tony Adams and Martin Keown bought into it.He harnessed this existing defence and fused it with a much-improved attacking unit. The likes of Marc Overmars and Emmanuel Petit helped Arsenal to a league and cup double in 1998. A remarkable achievement in itself, but what puts Wenger on a level few have reached is that he built another team too. Only Vieira and Dennis Bergkamp were still first-choice picks in the Invincibles of 2004.That Arsenal side, the team of Thierry Henry and Robert Pires, remains the only one to go through an entire Premier League season without suffering a defeat. That they did so by playing some of the most exciting football this country has ever seen only adds to the achievement. But 12 years on and the wait for the next Premier League title goes on. Arsenal won the Premier League title without losing a game in 2003/04 What went wrong? Undeniably, there have been external factors. It got harder as opponents rose up like never before. With Chelsea emerging as a genuine force, Arsenal were no longer competing with only Manchester United. Liverpool had their moments too and more recently there has been Manchester City and Tottenham to contend with as well.It got harder as the club managed the transition to the new stadium. Supporters were tolerant in that respect, noting the managers complaints about the financial doping of others. But that sympathy has long since dissipated, giving way to a more troubling thought: that the real issue for Wenger is that so many of his advantages have now been neutralised.He had enjoyed what is known in marketing as first-mover advantage - the benefits that stem from being the initial occupant in a market, gaining control of resources others cannot. But now others have caught up. Its Wengers strength no more. He is a victim of his own success given that his ideas and principles are now so ubiquitous they do not set him apart. Ive been tremendously loyal to the manager. Id like to stay that way if I could, but Im just finding that the solutions are getting harder for him to solve. Charlie Nicholas Former Arsenal forward Charlie Nicholas feels it is a problem. Ive been tremendously loyal to the manager, Nicholas told Sky Sports. Id like to stay that way if I could, but Im just finding that the solutions are getting harder for him to solve. Its not easy to find the right players but this is where we have always loved Arsene.Hes always found magical players or turned them into magical players. Hes always had that talent. Now that talent seems to be becoming harder. You cant get Nicolas Anelka now for half a million or Thierry Henry for £8m. But other clubs seem to find them. And if other clubs can find them...Perhaps its prudence that persuaded him against moving for Anthony Martial. Certainly, globalisation has opened things up to allow Newcastle, Leicester and West Ham to swoop upon the French market in recent years. Wenger knew about them all. He just didnt know whether to sign them. His recent risk-free acquisitions have arrived for north of £30m. A section of Arsenals supporters have lost faith in their long-serving manager Where once ignorance of others might have protected Wenger against criticism, allowing it to appear as if World Cup winners such as Henry had been plucked from obscurity, the game has now changed sufficiently to allow Arsenal fans to implore him to sign Gonzalo Higuain - and then feel justified when seeing the Argentine score over 30 goals in a Serie A season.Arsenal have these funds and with the stadium having long since ceased to be a viable excuse, Wenger can no longer point to the financial advantages of club rivals. Particularly when Leicester are champions and, perhaps more damagingly, Tottenham are above them in the table, too. It seems St Totteringhams Day wont be coming this year, but perhaps another day has arrived.In Back to the Future, the results in Tannens Almanac only went up to 2000. Hed secured his legacy by then but the magic touch was gone. Wenger managed to extend his success into the new millennium but the fear is that he too no longer has the answers. The fear is that Arsene Wenger is a man out of time. Also See: Welbeck out for nine months Who is Granit Xhaka? . The (11-11-4) Jets are seventh in the Central Division with 26 points. Fifth place Dallas and sixth-seeded Nashville also have 26 points, but the Stars have three games in hand on Winnipeg while Nashville has two. . For the Wild it was their first win of the season and they now have a record of 1-1-2 while the Jets fall to 2-2. Jets start a six game home stand Friday with another divisional game, home to the Dallas Stars. . Dukurs winning time was 1 minute, 45.76 seconds, a quarter-second better than Russias Alexander Tretiakov. Lativas Tomass Dukurs was third, 1.41 seconds off the pace. Jon Montgomery of Eckville, Alta. . - Derek Wolfe says hes finally healthy after suffering a seizure in November that doctors now believe was related to the spinal cord injury he suffered in the preseason. . Their experience showed Tuesday as the No. 10 Badgers blunted a Saint Louis surge to win 63-57 and advance to face West Virginia in Wednesdays finals of the Cancun Challenge. EAST LANSING, Mich. -- Michigan State needs Eron Harris to score, and do some of it with 3-point shots instead of most often choosing to dribble and drive to the basket.Ive been trying to figure it out, he said after he started the scoring in each half by making multiple 3-pointers to help the Spartans stay in front throughout and beat Tennessee Tech 71-63 Saturday at the Breslin Center.Harris, a senior guard, hit a trio of 3-pointers early in the first half, and two early in the second half and scored 20 points. He was 5 of 11 from behind the 3-point line.It seemed like every time we made a push, Eron Harris answered it, Tennessee Tech coach Steve Payne said.Michigan State coach Tom Izzo said Harris heeded the 3-point shot request, and played well while Izzo shuffled lineups due to multiple injuries and 28 fouls being called on the Spartans.If I looked frustrated, I probably was, Izzo said. We had some bizarre lineups in my dreams I didnt have. In my nightmares I didnt have. We got a win though, and we went to Eron and ran some things for him. He played pretty good.Junior guard Aleksa Jugovic, the top scorer for the Golden Eagles (4-7) this season at 17 points per game, scored 14 on 4-of-13 shooting. Senior guard Kajon Mack scored 12 points.Michigan State freshman center Nick Ward, who scored 10 points, bothered and blocked shots on the defensive end and scored inside to help the Spartans (7-4) build a 58-44 lead with 11:29 remaining. Foul trouble limited him to 12 minutes.Michigan State led by 18 points five minutes into the game, but Tennessee Tech trimmed it to 10 by halftime and closed it to single digits in the games final minute.Thats a good team, Izzo said. We had them down by 18 a couple of tiimes, and it was a case where if you can get them down by 20 it becomes 30.ddddddddddddBut they didnt let that happen.BIG PICTURETENNESSEE TECH: The Golden Eagles came in averaging 76.2 points per game on 43 percent shooting, but managed just 27 points on 35 percent shooting in the first half to trail by 10. They improved to 40 percent in the second half.MICHIGAN STATE: The injury-hampered Spartans played without two recent starters, sophomore guard Matt McQuaid (concussion symptoms) and freshman forward Miles Bridges (ankle), but had more than enough for Tennessee Tech. McQuaid should be back this week, and Bridges, whose 16.7 points per game average leads the team, could return by next weekend.SMITH-IZZOMichigan State coach Tom Izzo received the USBWA Dean Smith Award in a short ceremony before the game. The award goes to the individual who embodies the spirit and values of the late North Carolina coach. Izzo was named the winner in October.FREE THROWSThe Spartans made 17 of 30 free throws (56.7 percent) and came into the game shooting 62 percent for the season.We are going to start making them or Im going to get fined, Izzo said. That 20 hours (of practice time allowed each week) is going to turn into 20 hours just on free throws.UP NEXTTENNESSEE TECH: The Golden Eagles head back to their home state, but stay on the road when they take on the big school back home, the University of Tennessee on Tuesday.MICHIGAN STATE: The Spartans, three games into a five-game stretch of home games, hit the practice floor for a week and take finals before hosting Northeastern on Dec. 18. ' ' '
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