Swansea 3 Arsenal 2
Van Persie 5, Sinclair 16(pen), Dyer 57, Walcott 69, Graham 70
WENGER’S castle is built on quicksand and it’s slipping out of sight .
His proud legacy, his golden years or innovation and glory, are still among the shining treasures of football history, but week after week he’s burying those imperishable memories deeper under a massive pyramid of denial and excuses.
Right now, the Invincibles are the distant heroes of a lost civilisation.
On Sunday we saw the great Professor sitting in the Liberty Stadium wearing hideous white trainers and a ridiculous quilted coat.
Why did he sit on his own? Why didn’t he sit next to Pat Rice? Did Pat dare to contradict him? A friend called on the final whistle and said, “I’ve never seen him not wear a suit before.”
Bewildered and helpless, Wenger watched his protégés being outplayed by a newly-promoted possession team full of rejects and journeymen.
He couldn\’t understand it, couldn\’t explain it, couldn\’t do anything about it.
He can only say that the January transfer window should be scrapped because it gives too much power to pushy agents and impatient players.
Wrong. The window is a chance to replace some of the donkeys in his squad. Therefore it’s an opportunity to admit he was wrong. But, of course, Wenger doesn’t do owning up. The King of Denial will never admit that Djourou isn’t good enough to play for Arsenal.
Plus : What gives players and agents more power naturally gives Wenger less power. That’s why he wants it scrapped. Because his strategy is all about power. The power to make himself irreplaceable and unsackable.
He insists on running the club 24/7 and 365 and he insists on making every decision, although we are fairly sure he didn’t buy Arshavin and we have some doubts that he bought Santos or Mertesacker.
In a dithering summer of denial, he refused to believe Nasri would leave.
He\’s been fumbling the ball every month since. He’ll fumble the ball this month too. Indeed, he already has. He brought back an ancient star who will not score a goal in any away game this season. Unless it\’s a penalty.
Swansea were collectively vibrant, positive as well as patient, able to give Arsenal a goal start and still beat them 3-2.
They had more guts than Arsenal, more ideas, more belief.
Wenger’s team are fifth but they were a slack, sloppy outfit which missed Arteta hugely.
They were summed up by the third goal.
Arsenal managed the near-impossible feat of conceding the goal that lost the game only 45 seconds after scoring the goal that made it 2-2.
The great developmental manager then gave Alex Oxlade 13+ minutes and the Ox did more in those 17 minutes than Theo Walcott has done in 13 weeks.
There are 15 days left in this transfer window : why not sell Walcott in those 15 days? If you can\’t sell him, give him away. Don’t put him on £85,000 a week. He’s a dolt who has nothing but pace. Even a stopped clock is right twice a day and even a dolt can score a goal every two months.
Walcott was catapulted into a high-earning fame zone by Wenger’s obsessive craving for very fast players. Buying him was a mistake. Keeping him was a big mistake.
Swansea deserved to beat Arsenal, despite conceding an early goal. That was a world class finish by van Persie, from a world class pass by Arshavin, who made that pass from the No.10 half-striker position that he should have been playing for the last three and a half years .
FULL DISCLOSURE : I didn\’t expect five goals.
I was wondering whether the game would be a big yawn.
When we were walking in Hyde Park, near the Serpentine Gallery, around 1.30pm, Jan asked me about the game.
“What d’you think the score will be?”
“Nil-nil.”
“Why?â€
“Pass, pass, pass. Wenger says Swansea are good because they play like us. He’s so doctrinal.â€