Wolves 0 - 3 Arsenal - a comfortable night

Theo - too quick for Wolves

I'll be keeping this fairly brief as my view of the game was only from the highlights afforded to us by Sky and BBC last night. The sooner I can get a decent broadband provider and a decent broadband speed the better.
All in all it was clearly a straightforward win for Arsenal from the moment Bassong was sent-off. I've seen and heard people saying it was harsh for him to be red-carded, but I don't agree. Walcott was in on goal, so the foul (clumsy more than cynical) denied a clear goalscoring opportunity. That makes it a red card as intent is not part of this rule. When it was brought in it was to stop the cynical "professional foul" - the Willie Young tackle, if you like (younger readers ask your parents or google the 1980 Cup Final). Perhaps this particular law, like so many in football, is correct in its intention, but not in its application.
I didn't like the way the penalty was dispatched by Robin Van Persie. It's all very nice showboating when you're three or four up at home to Leeds, on the way to an unbeaten season (a la Thierry Henry) but not at 0-0 in a crucial Premier League fixture. It shows a disrespect and an arrogance that I do not like to see from an Arsenal player. Most of all it is likely to go wrong and you end up looking like a twat. It also creates a potential future problem. I remember in 1998 Dwight Yorke doing it to David Seaman at Villa Park, only to fluff a penalty against Arsenal the following season at Old Trafford when Seaman stood still and Yorke placed wide of the goal, knowing he couldn't go anywhere near the centre with his spot-kick. I must also say that I don't understand what possesses a player like Van Persie to dink a ball like that. The man has a jack-hammer instead of a left-foot. If he smashes the ball high in to the goal, it doesn't matter who the keeper is, he will score. I suppose the fact that he did score makes all of that fairly irrelevant, for the time being.
The second goal was again a link-up between Van Persie and Walcott, with the latter showing an excellent first-touch and a lovely finish. His pace and movement in that short spell of the two goals was something Wolves couldn't deal with. All credit to Walcott who has kept trying hard and has got a nice few goals and assists in this recent run we've been on. It has gone unnoticed however, that Ronald Zubar tried to hospitalise Walcott as he scored the goal. Watch it from the angle behind the goal and you will see that, after Walcott hits the ball, Zubar launches himself at Theo and takes him out. Thankfully Walcott was moving so quickly that he barely noticed being cleaned out by the fat no-mark. The FA would do well to investigate this one as it is surely violent conduct, designed to hurt the opponent.
After that Arsenal messed about in a way that infuriates me. I just wish we would humiliate teams from these situations as Man Utd used to at their peak. Even in the days of the Invincibles we would lay-off once the win was secured. Its a small quibble, I know, but it really annoys me. When the third goal did come, following an amazing save by Szczesny (Arsenal's attitude at 2-0 might still have cost them), I was very pleased it was Yossi Benayoun who scored it. I really believe he has not been used enough by Arsene Wenger since he arrived, and I would really like to see him signed on a permanent deal at the end of the season. Every squad needs a player like Benayoun, and Arsenal are no exception.
So three points again and now a five point lead over Spurs and Newcastle. More crucially we are seven clear of Chelsea. That means we have a small amount of breathing space going in to our fixture with them at the back end of next week. I can see either Spurs or Newcastle slipping behind Chelsea in the race for the Champions League places, so it is imperative we have a cushion between us and them. All in all it's been another successful week for Arsenal. Another one next week and we can relax a little.

Wolves (a) preview

Kosicelny - a big miss for Arsenal

I hope the Arsenal players treat the game tonight with more respect than they did at QPR ten days ago. The way they played on Sunday was a sharp contrast, and the same effort we saw against Manchester City will be required against a desperate Wolves side. If there is any thought, from any of the players, that Wolves will be easy to win against then we will lose the game.
With Laurent Koscielny suspended we will have Johan Djourou back in the side next to Thomas Vermaelen. We all know that Djourou has not fulfilled his potential, and has seriously failed to build on his exceptional form from the middle of last season, when he carried Arsenal's defence. His loss of form has made him one of those targeted by the idiotic side of the Arsenal support and he gets a lot of unfair abuse. This is less likely to happen with the travelling fans than it is with the tourists that populate our own stadium, many of whom get their impressions of the players from the newspapers and internet forums. Whatever the case may be, Djourou will be wearing an Arsenal shirt for the next two games in the absence of Koscielny, and he deserves our support. We all know that we will be weakened by the absence of Koscielny as he has been the outstanding performer in the Arsenal defence this season. Perhaps the rest of the back four will have to concentrate a little bit more without him there.
Elsewhere in the defence Andre Santos is likely to start at left-back in place of the "fatigued" Kieran Gibbs (how the hell do you get tired playing one game per week?) We all know he likes to go forward, but he must choose the occasion to do so more carefully tonight. We don't need any headless chickens at the back, and organisation will be key. We will also need Alex Song to be on his mettle with his primary role of protecting the back four. It may seem a little odd to be concentrating on the way we defend ahead of a game against the side propping up the Premier League, but the fact remains that doing the basics right, and not conceding goals, is what allows you to go on and win football matches.
I don't see too many other changes from the side that played on Sunday. It will be interesting to see whether Yossi Benayoun remains in the starting line-up. With the "adventurous" Andre Santos at left-back it might be no bad idea to keep the hard-working Israeli in the team. If he is left out then it must be Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain that comes in. If Wenger picks Aaron Ramsey to play on the left yet again then it will do nobody any good, least of all Ramsey himself. Gervinho remains on the sidelines with an ankle knock, though there is talk of the lesser seen Ju Young Park being added to the squad. That would indeed be a treat!
Wolves are likely to recall Roger Johnson to the side after he was dropped for their game at Stoke on Saturday. Johnson seems to have lost a lot of form this season. We know how well he can play after his performance in the Carling Cup Final last season. I hope he doesn't regain that form this evening. There is good news for anyone who likes their ankles/knees/skull in the right place with Steven Hunt missing through injury. Up front, in Doyle and Fletcher, Wolves have two dangerous forwards, both capable of scoring goals, with Matt Jarvis a fine provided from wide. Finally, they have an outstanding goalkeeper in Wayne Hennessy. I hope he doesn't have one of those games tonight - he denied us single-handed when we played out a 0-0 against them at Christmas.
I'll write a match review tomorrow morning.

Officials having an unhealthy influence

Atkinson - incompetent at best

I have never known a set of fixtures to be so beset by awful officiating. It seemed that every game played over the Easter weekend involved at least one serious error from a referee or linesman. The consequences for Wolves were a defeat they could not afford at Stoke, where the referee awarded two free-kicks incorrectly that both led to goals. Similarly Wigan Athletic suffered defeat at Chelsea where the linesman failed to give players offside on two occasions where goals were scored. Liverpool suffered another poor result at home thanks, in no small part, to Michael Oliver failing to award a penalty when Luis Suarez was tripped by Hutton. The same man then denied Norwich City two blatant spot-kicks at Tottenham yesterday. What the hell is going on?
Arsenal won on Sunday, but that was no thanks to Martin Atkinson and his colleagues. Even if you accept (I don't) that Atkinson didn't have a proper view when Balotelli tried to end Song's career, surely one of the other officials must have seen it clearly. Everyone in the stadium could see it apart from those that matter. This is a trend that has been developing for a number of years. How can it be that everyone in attendance can see something differently to the man with the whistle, or the idiot with the flag? I remember seeing Balotelli get sent-off at Anfield earlier in the season and feeling that he had been dismissed simply because of who he was. I got the impression on Sunday that he was staying on the field for exactly the same reason. In short, Atkinson was afraid to send him off because of the publicity that surrounds Balotelli. That was the reason that the Italian was still around in the 91st minute when the referee finally had no further choice but to dismiss him (he had no choice after the Song incident if we're being honest, but failed to do his job).
I have written many times in the past that I believe the match officials in this country to be corrupt. If football is bent in Italy, and in France and elsewhere, then why not in England? We have the richest league in the World. The people charged with officiating would be the easy targets for any corrupting influences. Why should people have to accept the FA stance that their officials are beyond reproach? However, that's not the angle I want to investigate in this piece.
One of the other explanations for what we witnessed at the weekend, and have been seeing with increasing regularity for the past twenty years, is the idea of a football referee as someone you recognise - a celebrity, if you will. When I was growing up you only ever knew the English referee that went to the World Cup. You would see an interview, on Cup Final day, with the man given the honour of officiating the end of season showpiece at Wembley. Refereeing the FA Cup Final was the career highlight of any official. Back in the days before the Premier League a referee could be at Highbury one week, and Newport County the next. When the Premier League was formed the FA decided to set up its "elite panel." Basically they selected the twenty or so "best" referees and made them the preserve of the Premier League. All of a sudden the likes of David Elleray, Dermot Gallagher, Graham Poll and Paul Durkin were able to become household names. Because there was more televised live football, and a smaller pool of officials to be selected from, they were on the screen all the time. Sky would even use some of them in their advertising campaign. The likes of Poll seemed to rather enjoy their new limelight.
Since the introduction of the "elite" referees we have seen a terrible increase in "mistakes." Such incidents are obviously controversial. As a result of the controversy there is a lot of publicity. As a result of the publicity there is often a picture of the referee at fault, and his name is across the back pages of the newspapers. Effectively the referee is the "star" of that particular show, and not the players. Consequently it is good for the ego of these cretinous individuals as there is no such thing as bad publicity.
The likes of Poll have somehow managed to get a television career out of their errors. Gallagher and Jeff Wynter have also had their own "spot" on Sky TV where they defend to the hilt any refereeing mistake, and trot out the usual "it's a difficult job" nonsense. How difficult was it for the linesman at Old Trafford on Sunday to see that Ashley Youg was offside before he dived for the penalty? The answer is that it was not difficult and he chose to not give the offside. That is cheating, plain and simple. Going back to Poll, and in order to prove my point, he has admitted that he gave red-cards to certain players in order to "make a name" for himself. The man has written an autobiography for God's sake, as have Elleray and Wynter. Poll once admitted to not sending off Wayne Rooney at Highbury as it might "spoil the game," leaving aside the fact that the referee is supposed to see the laws of the game are applied. It is quite despicable when you think about it.
At the moment the referees are headed up by Mike Riley. This is a man who was the Howard Webb of his day, in terms of his favour towards Manchester United. He single-handedly ended Arsenal's 49 game unbeaten run at Old Trafford when he gave a penalty for a Rooney dive over Sol Campbell. The FA reap what they sew when they employ someone like that to be the man in charge. Referees are also assessed on match day by ex-referees. Given my observation on the Sky segment with Gallagher/Wynter I have little faith in any referee ever being marked down by the assessor in the stand.
So how can the problems be remedied? The answer lies with young men who have been released from Club's having not quite made the grade as a player. These men would, first and foremost, know what it's like to play football at a high level and a good standard. They would also be at the same peak of physical fitness as the men they are officiating - how can a 49 year-old man be expected to keep pace with a game being played by the athletes that play Premier League football? The FA must bite the bullet and realise that their way of appointing referees at all levels of the game is wrong. The sort of person that becomes a referee is the lad who never got picked to play in the playground. They like football, but have no ability whatsoever, so they turn to refereeing as their way on to the pitch. They are also officious little toe-rags who want to get some authority over somebody else - Elleray being a prime example of this. Given that the PFA is always banging on about young footballers being out of work at the end of every season, what better way to keep them in the game than by "fast-tracking" them through the referee system?
There are a few other things I want to see. Firstly, the "elite panel" for the Premier League must be disbanded in order that the officials become "anonymous" once again. I don't want to know who the referee is. Football officials should be neither seen, nor heard. Another thing is that the FA must not keep "disciplining" managers who wish to criticise a referee. What is wrong with saying that the referee had a bad game, when it is apparent to all that that was the case? It is outrageous that a referee can directly influence the outcome of a match (or even a season) with their mistakes, but be beyond criticism from those it affects the most. The final thing I want to see is the FA taking action against their own officials for poor performance. This does not mean "dropping" them from the Premier League for a week or two, but actively suspending them from refereeing. If I made mistakes in my job, that were as costly to people as we've seen in the Premier League this weekend, I would be suspended, investigated, and probably sacked. Why should football be any different?

Arsenal 1 - 0 Man City - how about some recognition?

Arteta celebrates his brilliant strike

Arsenal were utterly outstanding yesterday. From back to front they outplayed Manchester City virtually from start to finish. The headlines today are predictably about Balotelli and his behaviour. However, most of the stuff I've seen and heard fails to give any credit to Arsenal whatsoever. I suppose we should know by now that Arsenal won't get any of the recognition they deserve, after all we had an unbeaten season that seemingly went past unnoticed.
If the game yesterday had finished 3-0 or 4-0 there could have been no complaints from City. Last season when they came to our place they stank the place out with their negativity and the way they played for a draw. When you saw Joe Hart time-wasting at 0-0 with ten minutes to go yesterday you knew they would have been happy with the same again. After that game early in 2011 I said how teams that want to win the Title don't go to big clubs and play for the draw. The same still applies. Manchester City had to win yesterday, or their "challenge" for the Title was gone. To see the way they performed, with the exception of the excellent Vincent Kompany, showed that they are not even close to winning the Premier League.
Having said all of that about City's performance you can't ignore how irresistible Arsenal were at times yesterday. The pressing game was back in midfield and the pace seemed to be in the side again. Bacary Sagna consistently took advantage of the space down the right to get forward. Arsene again surprised us with the team selection, but bringing in Benayoun certainly worked well. The Israeli is a fine performer and is the sort of player every squad requires. He has been seriously underused in his time at Arsenal, especially given the form of Ramsey. I would love to see him signed on a permanent deal, but I suspect he will want to move on in search of playing time. It's a shame as I see him as a very useful player. Alex Song was outstanding again in the midfield, dominating the centre of the pitch. His strength was complemented by Rosicky's subtlety. With Yaya Toure off injured City simply had no answer to Arsenal's attacking play.
The winning goal, when it finally came, was a great strike from Mikel Arteta. Regular readers will be well aware that I do not go in for the idea that Arteta has been a crucial member of the team since he joined Arsenal. Yesterday I again felt he was slowing us down with his insistence on playing short, square passes instead of looking to play forward. When he did finally show some attacking intent he won the ball well in the midfield before smacking an unstoppable shot past Hart. We saw in that moment what Arteta can be when he plays to what we all believe are his natural instincts. Perhaps when Jack Wilshere comes back Arteta will move forward on the pitch and challenge Rosicky for his position behind Robin Van Persie. He can certainly shoot from distance, with accuracy, and I want to see more of it.
Apart from the goal we missed so many chances again. Van Persie was denied by his own teammate when Vermaelen got in the way of a certain goal, and then by the goal-post in the second-half. Quite how Vermaelen and Benayoun contrived to miss after Walcott had hit the post God only knows. Ultimately it didn't matter in the context of winning the game, but goal-difference could yet be important. Aaron Ramsey also managed to miss an open-goal in injury-time, simply by trying to be too clever. Leaving aside the fact that he was inexplicably brought on to play from the left again, it was an awful miss that summed up how things are going for him at the moment. Van Persie and Oxlade-Chamberlain both showed their displeasure at not being passed to in that move, and I hope the Manager takes them to task for their reaction - it was unnecessary and sends a bad message to the supporters.
The win was important in the race for third place. If City continue to implode we could end up in second, but right now I'll settle for third (though that is not good enough by a long way). We have a tough game against Wolves in midweek. They are in dire straits at the bottom of the table, and losing game after game. In my view that makes them due for a change of fortune and Arsenal should be very wary ahead of the game at Molineux. With two games against relegation fodder to come this week we should get six points, but the players must re-produce their form of yesterday, and then the results will take care of themselves.

I'll write a post tomorrow about my favourite people - the match officials. The weekend saw them getting every major decision wrong, with consequences for teams at both ends of the table. I haven't mentioned Mario Balotelli's challenge on Song today, but I will in tomorrow's piece.

Manchester City (h) preview

Ox - surely back tomorrow?

After the awful display last week the pressure is now back on Arsenal. Tottenham were held today at Sunderland, but Chelsea scraped a late win over Wigan to get within striking distance (though I understand Chelsea's first goal was one of the worst offside decisions in history). A win over QPR last week would have meant that dropped points tomorrow would not have been such an issue. With second-placed Manchester City the visitors it just underlines the importance of dispatching the rubbish when you have the opportunity.
As with last week Arsene Wenger is choosing from the same group of players. I hope that he doesn't continue this nonsense of playing Aaron Ramsey from the left. It is never going to work, just as it didn't when he insisted on playing Diaby out there. All it achieves is the player getting the bird from the stands which is no good to anybody. With that in mind I believe it is imperative that Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain returns to the starting eleven. I can understand why Wenger is not playing him in every game, especially in light of Wilshere's injury problems, but there surely comes a time when you pick your best available team. I would suggest that a game like tomorrow is one such occasion.
Last week we saw Thomas Vermaelen turn in a terrible display. If Johan Djourou had made the errors that the Belgian did at Loftus Road then I hate to think what sort of stick he would have got from people. We all know that Vermaelen is a very determined individual and I'm sure he will be very keen to try and make amends tomorrow. If I had to put a bet on an Arsenal player scoring a goal then he would near the top of the list.
Apart from that I can see Arsenal being pretty much "as you were." There could be a change at left-back with Santos possibly replacing Gibbs, but I wouldn't necessarily see the need for that based on Gibbs' form in recent weeks.
Man City's team is always liable to change. Apparently that idiot Nasri is fit again, but hopefully he'll meet Frimpong in the tunnel before the game and be shown to his seat on the bench. We all know that their strikers have the ability to destroy teams if they're in the mood. A lot has been made of the loss of form of City's goalscorers, but I think their results are more a symptom of David Silva going off the boil. At the start of the season he seemed irresistible but, since Christmas, has had a touch of "the Nasri's." I hope he doesn't get a touch of "the Fabrgas'" tomorrow and turn it on against Arsenal.
When we played in Manchester earlier in the season it was widely noted that Arsenal had played well and deserved something from the game. If we can play as well tomorrow then we will surely win the match. After the debacle of last week it is certainly a very important three points up for grabs.
I'll post a match review on Monday.

It's quiet so let's reminisce

Nineteen years ago today

It's so quiet at Arsenal this week that the official website has wheeled out their obligatory emergency interview with Theo Walcott. According to Theo we are turning the stadium in to a "fortress" this season. I'm not too sure about the timing of such a statement with Man City visiting this Sunday, but there you go.
The only other news out there is the unconfirmed rumour that Jack Wilshere has had another setback. There was a behind-closed-doors game at the training ground this morning which saw a very strong Arsenal side (far stronger than the usual Carling Cup team actually) draw with a young Birmingham City XI. It seemed that the game had been set up to give Wilshere his first action since August, but he was absent from the side, as was Abou Diaby. Chu-Young Park got Arsenal's goal in a 1-1 draw and must surely now be worth his place on the bench ahead of Chamakh (who played but didn't score, again). The absence of Jack from a game that was seemingly set up for his benefit is a concern. In the absence of any confirmation from Arsenal, however, it is pointless speculating any further at this stage.

It being so quiet, and it also being the anniversary of it, I thought I would take the chance to reminisce on one of my favourite games watching Arsenal. On 4th April 1993 we descended on Wembley for another FA Cup semi-final against the mugs from White Hart Lane. After what had happened two years previously we had suffered the clowns from down the road and their "we beat the scum 3-1" nonsense non-stop ever since. This was to be our day of revenge and redemption, we hoped.
Travelling up from Dover meant we were always quite early to games at Wembley, whereas the majority of Gooners (in those days, at least) being fairly local would only get there shortly before the kick-off of matches. That being the case we walked around to see the team coach arrive, even though this was at the Spurs end. Back then, for the most part, there wasn't the evil antagonism from their supporters that there is today. Obviously there was a bitter rivalry, but you could happily walk round their end of Wembley that day in your red and white shirt without having to fear a cuff on the side of your head. I remember that, as we stood there waiting for Arsenal to arrive, there was this short, fat woman with short hair and a Tottenham tracksuit standing opposite us. She was only talking to her companions, but had one of those voices that carried a long way. Frankly she came across as a right mouthy cow and typical of every Tottenham fan you've ever had the misfortune to meet. I took an irrational dislike to this woman and her loud proclamations of how we would be beaten.
When we got in the ground we found that our seats were in the second row behind those awful red "buckets" that used to form the front twenty-odd rows at Wembley (we weren't so lucky a fortnight later at the Coca-Cola Cup Final when we were two rows further forward!) When the game started there was no choice but to stand, much like away games these days. Being only 14 at the time, and quite short for my age back then, I couldn't actually claim to have had a great view.
Thinking back we pretty much controlled the game. Apart from an early shot by Samways (whatever happened to Vinny Samways?) that initially went through Seaman's hands, before he recovered to save, and a pretty lame penalty appeal against Linighan (it was outside the box in any case), we were well in charge. The odious Justin Edinburgh and Nayim combined to get Lee Dixon booked (and eventually sent-off and suspended for the League Cup Final a fortnight after) but we controlled midfield with Parlour, Selley and Hillier. Selley hit a cracking volley about twenty minutes from the end that was well saved by Thorstvedt, who also made a great save from an Ian Wright header.
There was probably some poetic justice in Edinburgh making the foul that led to the winning goal that day. I have a vivid recollection of the goal in my mind's eye. It's one of the few things I saw clearly through the heads of the taller people in front of me on the day. I can see the ball coming over and Adams getting up behind Ruddock. I can see the ball bouncing and then hitting the stanchion in the goal. I can then see the pandemonium erupting all around. I was on the end of a row and the celebrations spilled out, naturally, on to the stairwell. I remember the bloke on the opposite side picking me up in celebration (I may have been short but I wasn't "small" so that was no mean feat!) and I remember my brother throwing his arms round me as I came back. What should have been ten minutes of torture became more than fifteen. From absolutely nowhere the referee Phillip Don somehow found a ridiculous amount of injury-time. I remember, right at the death, a cross was deflected in to the six-yard box right in front of me, but David Seaman dived full length to catch it and relieve the final pressure.
When the final whistle went it was a feeling akin to winning the Cup itself. Perhaps if the winning goal in the Final had not been so dramatic then it would have been even better than winning the Cup. We enjoyed a proper Arsenal sing-song at Wembley that day, and the players enjoyed every minute. After the past two years it was a given that the Tottenham fans would get their "scum" chants thrown back with interest. As we left we realised that a number of the Arsenal Reserves were sat a few rows behind us. Among them was the cup-tied Martin Keown - yet to achieve anything like hero-status with a crowd suspicious of why he had been re-signed by George Graham - who gave me a thumbs-up as I shouted at him on the way past.
From all the highlights of that day, and that they stick so vividly with me some nineteen years later is redolent of the fact that this was the first time I'd seen Arsenal win a competitive game at Wembley (I'd seen them thrash Spurs 4-0 in a pre-season tournament in 1988), there is one that kind of sticks out further than the others. As we stood on Wembley Way among the throng trying to get to the trains etc I glanced to the right and saw that gobby cow from before the game. It must have been fated that she should be so close again among a crowd of nearly 80,000 people. My God was she silent as she stood among the smiling Gooners in her Spurs gear. My Dad turned to me and said "not so bloody mouth now, is she?" I enjoyed that.

I hope you liked that trip down my personal memory lane. I know I did. I must dig out the video of that game and watch it some time soon. Just for a bit of fun, listen to this song recorded by one of the fanzines at the end of that season as part of the celebrations.

Demons return at QPR

Ramsey - not his fault, so get off his back

I said it would be a tough ask to get a win on Saturday in my preview piece. However, I also said that, if we played our game well then we would get the victory. It is fair to say that we did not play our game well against QPR and we paid the price with a defeat. A lot of stick is being aimed towards Aaron Ramsey on certain internet forums (well, one in particular). I think it's fair to say that the Boyo has struggled for a large part of this season, and his lack of pace has been a problem at times. Having said that, he has been asked to replace the role of Cesc Fabregas for most of his appearances this term, and that is an unfair comparison to make. He was never, perhaps, the fastest of midfield players, but he has lost a certain nip since Shawcross shattered his leg at Stoke two years ago. To criticise him when he then gets played from the left wing, therefore, is unfair in the extreme. Naturally he drifts in from the wide area and this makes us disjointed and lacking any balance. That's not Ramsey's fault though. If we want to point fingers then let's get them aimed at Arsene Wenger. Again. I do not understand why he thinks playing Ramsey on the left, with Chamberlain and Gervinho sitting on the bench, is a good idea. It seems to be some kind of defencive move, designed to help Gibbs in some way. You could argue that it may have made sense to a certain degree up at Everton (though it didn't work, and Arsenal got away with it up there) but against relegation fodder like QPR we should be attacking. Why change your natural instincts against a side that might be heading back towards the second tier? He used to insist on playing Diaby wide on the left, and Gilberto had a spell on the right - hardly successful moves were they? It does Ramsey no favours, and it does the team no favours, so let's hope Wenger dispenses with such stupidity from now on.
Whatever the selection issues it doesn't get away from the fact that the attitude was, yet again, wrong from the players. I got concerned last week when I heard the Manager and one or two players talking about how the game in Milan had been a "turning point" etc. The minute this squad starts to think they've "turned corners" they produce the sort of arrogant and insipid rubbish we got on Saturday. Not for the first time (or the second, or the third for that matter) they had the air of a team who thought turning up would be enough to swat the opposition aside. It's also not the first time we've heard Wenger telling the press that they "weren't good enough." I have to wonder how many times we are going to hear it. Once again, if the players lack the sufficient "mental" qualities, or the Manager is unable to get them necessarily motivated, then it is Wenger who is to blame. I said a couple of weeks back how I was uncomfortable with the assumption among many "fans" that Wenger was God again and that Spurs had been dispatched. Egg is all over their faces once again.
Obviously you can't and don't win every game. I have no problem with us not winning if the players have tried hard and shown the right mentality. You often come up against an inspired goalkeeper, for example. What we get far too often with this mob is a display lacking in those necessary qualities.
One more thing I want to point out is that I have seen Alex Song criticised in a few places after the game for trying to play too many difficult through-balls when there is an easier option available. I can understand that to a certain extent. However, perhaps if the clown alongside him tried to play a forward pass occasionally, rather than choosing the easy sideways five-yard pass every time he gets the ball, then maybe Song wouldn't feel obliged to try for something special quite so often. It annoys the hell out of me that people choose to get at Song while ignoring the absolute fact that Mikel Arteta is the problem. He slows down our attacking play, when pace is our real strength and is what destroys teams (just look at how we played against Spurs and Milan at home), and he never looks to play an incisive pass. Open your eyes people, please.