On Sky’s Sunday Supplement, Henry Winter and Sam Wallace were talking about Graeme Souness’s Sunday Times column.
And about Wenger’s future.
I considered it my duty to watch that, even after watching Merse and Charlie on Saturday afternoon.
Sam Wallace said, “Sir Alex Ferguson in his last four years was on a one-year rolling deal. Arsenal gave Wenger a three-year deal, so it’s going to be more of the same.”
Jesus, Sam! More of the same?
More R16 exits? Is Monaco really the fifth in a row?
Like a lot of Gooners and bloggers, the hacks now talk about the “comfort zone.”
We knew about that years ago. That’s why I started calling it the Colney Creche after Almunia let the cat out of the bag. He said Wenger just wanted a squad of nice guys who wouldn’t talk back to him or shout at each other.
Talking about the Monaco meltdown, Sam said, “I think it was a seminal night for Olivier Giroud. He just wasn’t up to it. When you compare him to Berbatov at the other end. I don’t think he’s a player for the big games. He had three very good chances in the second half. He didn’t take any of them. Yes, I have sympathy for him on a human level. But these are the margins we’re talking about in elite level football. You have to take one of those.”
On the night, Sky pundit Graeme Souness said Arsenal have no-one who sees danger in midfield.
Henry Winter said, “I don’t see a leader. Per Mertesacker got out-run by Dimitar Berbatov.”
The hacks reminded us that Mourinho said that Arsenal should be now competing with Man City and Chelsea for the title.
Show host Neil Ashton asked, “Does he struggle tactically?”
Henry: “Clearly, yes. It showed the other night. He got the tactics right against Pellegrini at the Etihad. And he got his tactics horribly wrong against Monaco. Arsenal were far too open. Some of their wide players weren’t tracking back. The full backs were far too pushed up.
“The Monaco players said they knew Arsenal would tire in the second half and they just picked them off. If you look at the positioning of the Arsenal defenders as Monaco were counter-attacking, it was carnage.”
Sam said, “Look at the money the manager’s on. Fans are entitled to ask: Why is it one trophy in 10 years?”
It’s taken a long time.
But finally, the commentariat agrees with me. It’s only taken 8 years. Why did it take 8 years?
Because cowardly sports editors only care about their pensions.