Arsenal have no cover.
Whose fault is that?
Vermaelen was suspended for one game and Wenger had no cover.Silvestre wasn’t even on the bench.
So he had to move Song back, disrupting his midfield.
He said Nasri and Arshavin were carrying injuries.
But the game didn’t really start till the 68th minute, when he brought Nasri and Arshavin on.
He left Walcott and Rosicky on for far too long. Walcott was abysmal and Rosicky was off the pace.
So Arsenal made methodical Birmingham look better than they really are.
Wenger is quite deluded. He thinks he can beat Pep Guardiola’s world champions. So he did not pick his strongest team at Birmingham. He says one thing and does another. He’s like Bill Clinton and Tony Blair.
He said the next game is the important game and you think he means it. But he did not start Nasri or Arshavin.
It was 0- 0 for 68 minutes and he brought them on and the game changed immediately.
Birmingham’s 4-5-1 had worked pretty well with veteran Barry Ferguson pulling the strings from centre midfield.
Striker Cameron Jerome worked the channels and stretched the defence and given Sol Campbell a couple of hairy moments. And Jerome is just an athlete in football boots.
Nasri scored a good goal in 81 and then, in stoppage time, Almunia threw one in.
A ball across the box, Sagna went for it as sub Kevin Phillips ran in, and the ball hit the striker and looped up. Almunia should have parried the deflection over his crossbar. But he slapped it feebly and the ball looped down into the net for 1-1. As always, Almunia was an accident waiting to happen.
Arsenal need cover.They need experienced men. They need a proper goalkeeper. Manchester United have Van der Sar, Liverpool have Reina, Barcelona have Victor Valdes, Inter have Julio Caesar, Brazil’s keeper, and Arsenal have a No.2 keeper who chucks the ball into his own net in the 92nd minute.
Fabregas and Arshavin deserve to play in a proper team. So does Vermaelen.