Bolton 2 Arsenal 1
Sturridge 38, Van Persie 48, Cohen 90
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At Spurs, and at Bolton, we saw Wenger disintegrating.
He looks as if his life is in turmoil.
The Wembley final was bad for Arsenal and very bad for Wenger. He’s always shown contempt for the Carling Cup but when he got to the final everyone said he should win it and Arsenal were strong favourites.
When Birmingham won, Wenger sulked.
And he’s carried on sulking. He blames all his failures on referees and bad luck. He feels sorry for himself. He rails against the injustice of it all and insists on playing the victim.
Sadly, without input from a good No.2, he’s lost his judgement, lost the plot.
He\’s used 28 players in the league, including four goalkeepers. And he has 18 players out on loan. What\’s that all about? It’s ridiculous.
Everyone in England knows why Arsenal can\’t win football matches. Except Wenger.
After Wembley on February 27, I think the team gradually came to reflect the manager’s mood, his demeanour. Their next match was a 5-0 victory in the FA Cup replay against Leyton Orient but since then Arsenal have only won one of their nine games.
In a 1-1 draw at the Emirates, his attitude to Kenny Dalglish was shocking. What a disgusting lack of sportsmanship! What an insult to a world famous club and a great footballer. How on earth can Arsenal be managed by a sour loser who is as obnoxious as that?
Wenger\’s touchline antics, often strange, have become an internationally broadcast comedy of persecution.
Character is destiny. And what you see on a Saturday or Sunday is the direct result of what a team does and doesn’t do from Monday to Friday.
How do I know Arsenal don’t work on set-pieces? Because they all stand still when the ball comes over : two corners at Bolton, Cahill header, Cohen header, two goals.
So Arsenal are exactly where I thought they\’d be when the season started : competing for third place.
Wenger has been selling us the future for six years. However, the future didn’t look so inviting from inside the club, so key players didn’t buy it. They were on the inside, training, travelling, playing together twice a week for ten months of the year. Hleb saw Wenger failing and left. Flamini saw Wenger failing and left. Losing those two was a big blow to the manager and to Fabregas, who gradually gave up and wanted out last summer
At Bolton, Van Persie played OK, took his goal very well, and passed with authority from deep positions late on.
Since Fabregas lost heart, he\’s stopped scoring.
Jack Wilshere is running on empty. He’s shattered.
Djourou is a big lad but not physically imposing. He doesn\’t have the personality of a champion. He has the personality of a sparring partner, a lad who is helping out.
After losing to a last-minute header from a corner, Wenger showed that he still doesn’t know what he’s doing wrong.
Argumentative as always, he said, “If you can convince me that the principles are wrong, then I am ready. But I feel we try to play football the proper way. When you don’t win, your principles are questioned. You always have to take the right distance to see what is right and wrong in what you do. I think if something is wrong in our team, it is not the principle of playing our football.
“I am convinced we are a very good footballing side. We have not been stable enough defensively. The numbers are the numbers, we have conceded six goals this week at a moment where you cannot afford to conceded six goals in three games and win the championship. We were too frail defensively during the season.”
What he is really saying there is : I\’m right, you\’re wrong, you know nothing.
He’s missed the point. He doesn\’t try to play football the proper way. He tries to play it his way, tries to re-invent a game that doesn’t need re-inventing. They never make a run to the near post. They just play swarm-football, short passing between seven men in midfield, playing sweetly from box to box but failing in both boxes,
Manchester United and Chelsea play football the proper way and win trophies because they mix it up. They are not so one-dimensional. They take defence seriously. They work on defensive set-pieces and offensive set-pieces, as all teams should. So they have more ways of scoring a goal and more ways of stopping a goal
Too frail defensively during the season? That is 100% your fault ! You had Almunia in goal for 8 league games, Fabianski for 14, and a good rookie for 11.
Unfortunately, the team takes its mood from its creator. And when the manager-coach-leader-paymaster is suffering, the team cannot perform. Nasri couldn’t score from 10 yards at Bolton.
I\’m told Theo Walcott did an interview and said : It\’s great to have Vermaelen back training with us, he gives us more of an edge. I Googled that interview but couldn\’t find it. Did Walcott say that? If he did, what does that tell you about the attitude of other 20 players?
After drawing with Liverpool, Wenger said, “We don\’t need to make big changes.â€
RUBBISH !
Dalglish is planning 20 deals this summer. But Wenger has always said, “It you change more than three players, you take a technical risk.”
Although many of us expected it, it’s been horrible to watch the meltdown of a manager who has brought more success to Arsenal than anybody in the club’s history. He’s destroying his legacy through arrogance and intransigence.
Arsenal v Man United on Sunday?
With jittery Djourou against the Mexican and Rooney? Djourou has looked terrified in the last two games.
Let’s face it, March and April have been ghastly for Gooners. Their best result this month is that Manchester United can’t win the title at the Emirates on Sunday.
United are in Germany tonight and Sir Alex says he’s apprehensive about Schalke. I was apprehensive about Schalke last week, and the week before that.
I think United could lose 2-0. But it could be a cracker.
Bring it on !
Raul versus jack-in-the-box Javier?
I love it. I can’t wait. And fortunately I have plenty to do between now and 7.45 pm.