The Similar Situations of LeBron James and Arsene Wenger

I bet that’s a sentence you’d never thought you’d hear, see or read.

But I think that’s exactly where we’re at.

For those of you who don’t know who Arsene Wenger is (I understand a majority of Americans will read this and most will not know much about soccer), he is the manager of Arsenal Football Club, one of the top teams in the English Premier League.

On Sunday night Arsenal hosted long time rivals Manchester United. An 18 year old made their Premier League starting debut for Arsenal that night and by most people’s accounts, he was the best player on the field. His name is Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain. In England, as in football in general, fans have a much bigger influence over their club than anywhere else and any other sport in the world. If fans do not like a player they can all but force him out of the club. They’re that powerful. Yet Arsene Wenger has refused to concede this power, if any, to the fans and it has become apparent he has been making a conscientious effort to ensure this remains.

With the scores level at 1-1 with around 10 minutes remaining, Wenger took off the crowd favourite Oxlade-Chamberlain to the utter and complete dismay and anger of the crowd. I have never heard a reaction to a substitution like this is any sport in my life. Wenger replaced him with a player nearly every single Arsenal fan wants out of the club, a man that has been out of form for nearly 2 years and most of all a player irrelevant and ineffective to the situation he was being put into.

Wenger received a negative reaction unlike anything we have seen, at least in his tenure at the club. He is undisputedly loved by every Arsenal fan because of what he has done in the past, but a 6 season trophy-less drought has taken it’s toll and fans are no longer accepting of making the Top 4. They let their feelings known to Arsene Wenger that he has set extremely high standards for himself and for the club, and that fans accept nothing less.

Wenger’s stubbornness in refusing to appreciate and consider the fans’ opinion on the squad, his lack of ambition to spend money to bring the players into the club that it desperately needs and the fact he has brought no success to the club for over half a decade has taken it’s toll and fans are tired of it. No longer will they settle for mediocrity and they are holding Arsene Wenger responsible. They expect better.

That brings me to LeBron James. If you have not already seen the comparison I am trying to make, let me explain.

Earlier last week the Miami Heat hosted the travelling San Antonio Spurs. Miami started very slowly whilst the Spurs did the complete opposite, jumping out to a big lead. LeBron James missed his first 3 field goals of the game, then went to the free throw line and missed his first 2 attempts.

We then saw a something that will be a defining point in the career of LeBron James.

They booed him.

His home crowd booed him.

He had missed a few shots, the team was down early, that happens. It was nothing to do with that. It was the fact they are tired of seeing LeBron James be anything but brilliant. We all sat in shock during last year’s Finals as LeBron James disappeared following his incredible previous playoff series.

LeBron James is the best player in the NBA, and he is the greatest talent the NBA has ever seen. He may be the greatest athlete in the history of American professional sport, if not international sport. We expect nothing but the absolute best from LeBron James every night and  nothing less will be accepted.

Following the boos, LeBron James got mad and went berserk to the tune of 17 third quarter points, helping Miami come back from a huge deficit to destroy the Spurs.  LeBron James seemed to have gotten the message that no longer would the world accept good things from him. It has to be greatness.

The same goes for Arsene Wenger.

People saw the boos for both these men as huge negatives, as the fans turning on their leaders. That couldn’t be further from the truth. No one will ever turn on LeBron James, nor Arsene Wenger, but that does not mean we can sit back and allow them to continue living comfortably. They should always be striving to achieve better, to be doing anything and everything to better themselves and their teams.

The fans have finally let themselves be heard. Mr Wenger and Mr James, sit up and take notice. This is enough. It’s time to do what we all know you can do. It’s time to do what you should have been doing the last 5 years. Everyone knows you can do it, we’ve seen it before.

You set your own standards, and we will hold you to them.