Spaniards not only have a shot at a medal to go with the ones they got in Beijing and London

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? Vapormax 2020 . -- Ryan Getzlaf grabbed the three pucks wrapped in tape and held them up to his chest in the Anaheim Ducks dressing room for a celebration nine seasons in the making. Vapormax For Sale .Y. - New York City has been selected to host the NBA All-Star weekend in 2015, with the game played at Madison Square Garden and the slam dunk contest and other skills events held at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn. https://www.cheapvapormaxoutlet.com/ . -- Damian Lillard and LaMarcus Alrdridge were again the go-to duo for the Trail Blazers against the Kings. Cheap Vapormax . Walcott is available for Saturdays home match against Southampton as Arsenal looks to extend its two-point lead at the top of the Premier League. The Gunners are currently the second highest scorers in the league but Wenger insists Walcott will add something extra to his team. Wholesale Vapormax . Shot outdoors against the stunning backdrop of Banff, Alta., the networks 30-minute original production airs tonight at 8pm et/5pm pt on TSN2. The four All-Star teams will play for $100,000 in prize money during TSNs annual skins game, airing live this weekend on TSN from The Fenlands Banff Recreation Centre. RIO DE JANEIRO -- Before going their separate ways, Tony Parker and Paul Gasol met near mid-court and the new teammates shared a warm embrace following Spains lopsided win.Theyll soon be together in San Antonio to chase an NBA title.Theyll never meet again in the Olympics.Nearly written off after two losses to open the Rio Games, Spain is back in the mens basketball semifinals for the third straight time following a 92-67 rout of Parker and France in the quarterfinals on Wednesday. With Spurs-like offensive precision, the Spaniards got easy looks at the basket and dissected a French team that came to Brazil with medal hopes but leaves empty-handed.After the loss, a nostalgic Parker, the dazzling point guard who made France relevant on international hardwood, said he would no longer play for his home country.I just took a lot of pride playing for the national team, said the 34-year-old Parker, who scored 14 in his final game. I just love playing in this competition. I love this atmosphere, which is very different than the NBA. Growing up, my dream was to win an NBA championship. That was my ultimate goal. But as I grew up, I fell in love with the national team.We won the gold medal in juniors when I was 18. So then my goal was to try to bring the first national team ever championship for France, and we did that in 2013. Overall, just great experiences. I enjoyed it all these years. These last 16 years have been great. I dont regret one second.Nikola Mirotic scored 23 points, Willy Hernangomez added 18 and Spain pulled away in the third quarter to reserve a spot in Fridays semis.When Spain opened the preliminary round with losses to Croatia and Brazil, it appeared the countrys standing among the worlds basketball elite might be in decline. However, the two-time defending silver medalists have overcome injuries, a summer of free agency and a lack of practice time together to again advance to the global version of the Final Four.And now the Spaniards not only have a shot at a medal to go with the ones they got in Beijing and London, they get another crack at the U.dddddddddddd.S., which has beaten them in the gold-medal game in the past two Olympics.The Americans advanced to the semis with a 105-78 pummeling of Argentina.For Parker, his second Olympics ended like his first: without a medal hanging from his neck. While he has won four titles with the Spurs and is considered one of the games premier point guards and basketball ambassadors, Parker never attained the international success hes had in the NBA.Still, hell cherish the time he spent wearing Frances uniform, hearing Le Marseillaise played or watching the nations tri-colored flag raised after a victory.I think we put French basketball on the map, he said.With Parker, France built a rivalry with Spain as the two took turns knocking each other out of tournaments.Let me just say that Ive been honored to play against Tony Parker throughout so many years on the national team, Spain coach Sergio Scariolo said. Hes a great competitor and it was so tough to prepare games versus him.Saying goodbye to the French team wasnt Parkers only farewell this summer.In June, his longtime Spurs teammate Tim Duncan announced his retirement, and for a while it appeared Manu Ginobili would hang it up, too. However, Ginobili recently said hes coming back for one more season with San Antonio.Parker knows the breakup of San Antonios Big 3 is inevitable, but that doesnt make it any easier.Im very blessed, thats all I can say, Parker said. Those 15 years with Timmy and all the championships and all the records and everything we accomplished, its just stuff that when I retire I can cherish and show my kids everything that we won. Im happy that Manus got one more year. So its not everybody at the same time.That day will come too. My day will come. Its just life. Everything comes to an end. ' ' '