Neednt have bothered

By Boris Mellor
December 30 2010

On Monday we were celebrating a fantastic victory against Chelsea, the defence made an error, but overall it was sound. Surely this was a result to build on, to build up a momentum that would make Arsenal real contenders. That meant putting out a team that was strong enough to win at Wigan and press on.

The key to victory against Chelsea was that Wenger picked his strongest eleven, now to be fair, he couldn’t do that for Wigan, one Fabregas was suspended, two Djourou cannot play two games so close together at this stage of his recovery. Thirdly the team travel to Birmingham on Saturday, so clearly changes had to be made.

Master of Half Measures

However, I would suggest that eight changes were 2 or 3 changes too many. A midfield without Fabregas, Song, Wilshere and Nasri replaced by Diaby, Denilson, Rosicky and Arshavin, that is an act of vandalism. It’s like taking the engine out of a Rolls Royce and replacing it with a Fiat 500cc and insisting it can do the same job.

It makes Wenger a master of half measures, he had put out a team likely to fail before the kick off, my main surprise was they did as well as they did. But having got to 2-1 they should have held onto the lead. But incapable, or perhaps too lazy, they let a 10 man Wigan equalise. Perhaps soft in the head is the better explanation.

Half Measures in Defence and Halfwits

Wenger swears he doesn’t need any new signings; well if he wants to win the league I would argue he does. He needs a centre back and quickly. But he insists that Vermaelen will be back by the end of January. I hope so, but I doubt it. Meanwhile Djourou who can only play one in two games will have to sit and watch the chuckle brothers knock each other out, or score own goals. By the way Squillaci’s goal was a hoot, even funnier than Diaby’s. Arsenal.com should do a top five own goals from the last couple of seasons, it’s a long time since we have had such a wealth of them.

The main reason for dropping two points at Wigan was the fact that Wenger’s second eleven can’t defend. Arsene referring to the own goal after the match stated, “nobody took charge of the organisation”. How very true, and who is to blame for that should have been the next question. Unless Wenger buys a decent centre back I fear there will be no major trophy coming home to Arsenal.

At 2-1 up N’Zogbia, Wigan’s best player by far was sent off, when will I ever learn, my reaction was "great this is wrapped up", but I forgot this squad is full of halfwits. I have said it before mental strength you are having a laugh Arsene; unless mental strength is defined by the fact that if your opponent goes down to ten men you immediately concede. The second time this has happened this season, proving that some of this squad never learn.

 Wenger’s plan disrupted a bit of luck

Meanwhile I doubt if Arsenal would have done as well as they did if Wenger’s plans had not been disrupted by injury. Diaby who has more medical certificates than the fabled Darren Anderton had to go off with an injury, he was replaced by Wilshere who transformed the team. It wasn’t until Jack came on that the team began to create chances. Unfortunately it was all built on sand, with the chuckle brothers at the back undermining all the good work.

 Arsenal could have been joint top if Wenger had taken enough measures to win, instead they now have to play away at Birmingham, a very tough place to visit, needing to get nothing less than 3 points.

 As I wrote after the Chelsea game, “Chelsea clearly thought it was enough to turn up, Arsenal fought for the right to play, now they have to do that at Wigan this Wednesday, and again at Birmingham on Saturday, anything less will make a mockery of this fine victory”. This eleven did not fight for the right to play, or defend what they had.

 Unfortunately some of the momentum has already been lost, and some of the shine taken off what was an excellent victory. Its pointless getting upset, Wenger will almost certainly fail to carry out the measures required by 100%. He insists he has all the resources he needs, and he will also carry on lauding half wits as mentally strong, and if he does do that then mess ups such as Wigan should not be seen as the result of poor refereeing, but of poor management.

Arsenal’s last three results are Lose, Win, Draw, hardly surprising they are not top, and little suggestion that they can be. The big surprise is that they are still so near the top.

Depending on Man U and Chelsea to keep on dropping points has had its benefits, but it’s not something Wenger can control, or take credit for, nor should he expect this fortune to continue forever.