Wenger's Faith is Shaken

Arsene Wenger is sometimes ridiculed for his faith in young talent. Tonight he showed a lack of faith in some of his players.

How else do you explain the starting line up? Minus Alex Song, Denilson was left on the bench despite being the only other "holding player" in the squad. Fabregas started despite his clear lack of fitness. Van Persie started despite a similar problem, and both Chamakh and Bendtner were left on the bench. Wenger professes his belief in his squad, but tonight his faith only extended to his star men. Taking chances with the fitness of players has become a familiar ploy and this is not the first time we have seen it backfire. Last season, Fabregas played in the first leg of the tie against Barcelona and missed the rest of the season as a result. This time out, he was carrying an injury, I have heard, from the fifteenth minute on. Who is to say what damage had been done by the time his ineffective performance was finally brought to an end by second half substitution.

I know it meant a lot to the guy to play at the Nou Camp. But what about the team? What about the rest of the season? If he is playing a game when he's not ready, it is stupid of him and stupid of Wenger. It hinders Arsenal on the night and, possibly, for the rest of the season. The same goes for the Van Persie gamble. For Wenger to take these risks seems defeatist- like saying, "we cannot beat Barca without these players. Even if Fabregas is half-fit, he's better than a fully fit Denilson". Not the case, especially when playing Barcelona involves having to run yourself into the ground, constantly closing them down. It seems ludicrous to me that, with Arsenal down to ten men and trying desperately to hold onto that 3-2
aggregate lead, an already injured, immobile midfielder was left on, while a fit, defensively-minded one was left sitting pitchside. Fabregas was only withdrawn after Barca had turned the tie around.

After the red card, Barca commenced to batter at Arsenal's door with incessant pressure, and they had been cutting through at will for a long period before Xavi eventually found the net. Wenger failed to act, as if paralysed by his own rage at the injustice of Van Persie's sending off. Arsenal limped on with Nasri as the nominal out ball up front, and with Fabregas, Diaby and Wilshere forming a shield of foam in front of an overworked back four. A more proactive manager would surely have thrown on Bendtner or Chamakh, and Denilson. Admittedly, the enforced change of goalkeeper in the first half did not help, as without that, Wenger probably would have used Denilson at 1-1, knowing that he could still put on Arshavin and one of the forwards if needed.

Still, it seems amazing to me that Wenger seemed to wait for disaster, and then try and change things from a losing position. It's not like Arsenal were comfortably holding out, or even playing well, at 1-1. It was an incessant tide and the manager sat back and watched it grow instead of making changes to try to stem it.

What does all of this say about the likes of Bendtner, Chamakh, Denilson? It disgusts the manager when the fans show a lack of patience with still-developing players. What of his own lack of faith? If he really felt so daunted by Barcelona that he didn't feel he could cope without his main men, he should have considered the bigger picture, and how Arsenal would fare for the rest of the season without them. Because make no mistake, he risked their seasons by playing them in tonight's game. Whatever the manager's outward rhetoric, what kind of self-belief will Bendtner, Chamakh and Denilson carry into the rest of the season? The latter in particular must wonder how on earth he could be deemed an inferior option to the stuttering, choking Diaby, who seemed to lose the ball every time he had it tonight.

Nothing to Brag About.

Braga 2-0 Arsenal: They Hit Rock Bottom, and Keep on Digging

I said tonight's wasn't a big game- but defeat has made Partizan at home into a massive one.

One of this team's myriad flaws is that they get bogged down in bad runs of form. Some teams come out fighting after a disappointment. Arsenal tend to sulk, whine, wallow. And this ugly characteristic was evident again tonight.

Great man though he is, Arsene Wenger embodies the side of Arsenal that fosters resentment, as well as he does the side that everybody loves. He is a sore loser and his team are sore losers. You could say that his reluctance to ever blame things on his players is a tactic used to protect them; if that is the case, I think it has been backfiring for a while now.

It is true that the officiating was generally poor. Carlos Vela was clearly taken out in the Braga area. It was the kind of decision that even the worst of referees would usually get right. But this one, and his "behind the goal" partner, missed the foul. To compound things, he brandished a yellow card at the luckless Mexican.

Then there was the injury to Eboue. Wenger claimed afterwards that the Ivorian had been kicked out of the game. I remember a couple of bad tackles but Eboue's not averse to dishing out a few of those himself. In fact he's committed some disgusting ones. I'm just being balanced here. He should have been sent off against Barcelona in the Champions League final, almost straight after Lehmann walked the plank, for a knee-high assault. And was dismissed in the '08 0-4 against United for something similar. Maybe Wenger was suggesting that there was systematic rough stuff from Braga but I'm sure I've seen worse.

In any case, he shouldn't hide behind that. The injury to Eboue, which looks bad, meant Arsenal were down to ten men for the remainder. But the remainder was only about seven minutes plus stoppage time. A draw against poor opposition was going to be disappointing in itself, but it would have been enough to ensure progress to the knock-out rounds. Surely even Arsenal could keep it relatively tight for a few minutes against this rabble...

Eboue had barely departed before it happened. What a soft goal. Trademark Arsenal. After a free kick was cleared by Braga, they launched a simple ball right up the middle, and Matheus was through. That simple. He knocked it past Fabianski, and for the FIFTEENTH consecutive away game in the Champions League, Arsenal had conceded.

With the centre halves forward, Denilson had been left to man the fort. He was beaten so easily. Abdication of responsibility has become his calling card.

But think about it for a moment. At 0-0, Arsenal are going through- and with minutes to go they concede a counter-attacking goal of such pathetic simplicity, it takes the breath away. This kind of self-harm has become habitual. You usually only see this kind of goal when a team is madly chasing a goal and has abandoned any sense of caution. But Arsenal can do it at any time. The desperation should have been Braga's. They were on their way out. Instead, Arsenal get caught over-committed. Staggering stupidity.

Having fallen behind, there was an excuse to get caught again on the break, and Arsenal did in the game's final moments, with Matheus again released into the gaping hole in front of Fabianski. Three Arsenal men caught up, but seemed to obstruct each other more than their opponent, who was allowed to check on to his preferred left peg and bury an unerring shot in off the crossbar. A fitting end to a dismal night.

The misery does not stop there, though. Fabregas is set for another lay-off after pulling up with yet another hamstring injury- now both his legs are riddled. This raises more questions. Wenger made seven changes after Tottenham. Surely Fabregas should have been first in line for a rest. I know that hindsight is 20:20, but I was already thinking that it was stupid to play Fabregas before he went off. If Wenger thought that he could navigate this fixture using the full extent of the squad, why not make use of its best-stocked area- creative midfielders? Nasri, Rosicky, Wilshere. All of them can be deployed in the same position as the now-knacked skipper.

Arsenal have now made an absolute meal out of a pisspoor group. Braga, Partizan, Shakhtar: these are not particularly good teams. Arsenal's forte recently has been lording it over the dregs of Europe and England, but even that strength seems to be deserting them. While Braga and Shakhtar were both smashed at the Grove, home form in general has been uncharacteristically poor this season. Three defeats already, and some of the wins unconvincing. The natives will be restless when Arsenal line up against Partizan. The Serbs have not yet collected a single point and the pressure will be on to make a convincing statement. And at the moment this team is not delivering the statements it needs to.

A Question for the Ages

WHAT is the point of Denilson???










Today, he looked even more pointless than Jermaine Jenas. Watch with horror as he repeats his patented party trick, watching attackers overtake him while he jogs towards his own goal.

Cesc Fabregas is one of the best midfield players in the world; I've said it a hundred times before, he shouldn't have to share a midfield with the likes of Denilson. When I first saw the Brazilian play, I actually thought he was a similar player to Fabregas. Either he's regressed, or I was hallucinating: the only thing they share is a lack of pace. Which points to a general problem with the Arsenal midfield that has persisted since the departure of Flamini.


TOO PEDESTRIAN.
When on top form, as he was at times today, Fabregas controls the tempo brilliantly. He can slow it down, speed it up, his passing is exemplary. But without the ball, he can seem a slight presence. He needs a minder. Instead, we have Song and Denilson. Song engages in a bit of midfield scuffling, which is necessary, but he is no flyer himself, he seems to shuffle around the pitch. And Denilson is either ridiculously one-paced or just can't be arsed.

It's no wonder Arsenal concede a lot of goals on the break, with Bale's today indicative of just one of this team's catalogue of flaws.

I'll Be The Asshole Saying "I Told You So"

Approaching my 100th post, and still saying the same things as the first one.

I know that this blog is almost always preaching negativity, but I think that a lot of this has proven to be justified negativity. Perhaps the more relevant issue is whether it is misdirected, because much of my ire has been aimed at the manager, who many still seem to see as an untouchable figure. To put him on such a lofty pedestal is foolish. George Graham had almost comparable success (albeit without the nice football) but Arsenal had descended into something of a shambles by the time he was sacked- less than a year after winning the European Cup Winners Cup. So surely it is time to question Wenger, as we look back on five years without a trophy. True, George Graham's Arsenal team were more erratic in the league, with mid-table finishes in 93 and the season in which he was sacked, 95, but back then, third or fourth did not mean Champions League football, and at least they were still winning silverware consistently.

With Wenger, things are admittedly a little more complex. He is the man who has revolutionised the club, on and off the pitch. We have a reputation, which I frankly now believe to be half bullshit, for playing nice football, and for being run the right way. Arsenal now exist as a different entity. Dennis Bergkamp was the starting point, but Arsene Wenger is clearly the most important figure in that. It is tempting to think that if Wenger went, a lot of the French players, Fabregas, and others would follow. For them, he is the club.

But let's rewind thirteen years or so. This club did NOT start with Arsene Wenger. It change into something more attractive for a lot of people, and became more successful, but a winning mentality was already there in the playing staff. While the manager is credited with prolonging the top-flight careers of Adams, Bould, Keown, Dixon and Winterburn, they provided him with the platform for success. Watching Arsenal today, does anyone believe that Arsene Wenger could ever have constructed himself a defence that good?

Some other things to consider. Arsenal reached their only ever European Cup final in 2006 mainly through defensive solidity. In every knockout round before the final, Arsenal failed to score in one leg- at home to Real Madrid, away to Juventus, and away to Villareal, where they barely threatened a shot. They got through because they conceded precisely zero goals in those ties. Martin Keown was at this time a member of the coaching staff. Apparently, Arsene the Autocrat bristles at suggestions that this was of some importance. Arsene the Autocrat this season often stated a Keeganesque belief that Arsenal could triumph through scoring more than the opposition. At the season's depressing end, he is blaming the defence for our lack of success, and absolving the likes of Denilson and Diaby, because they apparently made enough chances at the other end. Do they have no obligation to protect the defence? A defence that had Vermaelen and Gallas, two of our outstanding players?

Maybe he was always like this. Maybe it is the lack of experience on the pitch that is costing us. I used to think that argument too black-and-white but I'm coming around to it now. If not experience, professionalism. Petit and Vieira were professional enough, and good enough, to transform their games in order to better protect the defence in 97/98. Maybe it's telling that this was not Wenger's idea but the result of a team meeting in which senior players aired their views. Where before Wenger had Vieira as liuetenant, the old back four, Bergkamp, Parlour et al, what does he have now? You may say that Vieira grew up in that Arsenal team, but that's the whole point. He grew up beside Adams, Keown and the rest. Fabregas should still be growing up beside experience, instead, he's being asked to lead. Lead a team of (and forgive me) WANKERS. There, I said it. I have a genuine dislike for a lot of Arsenal's players today. They don't care what shirt they're wearing. That Wigan game was the last straw for me. It was unseemly. Abou Diaby should not be allowed play again. Fabianski should be put out of his misery, and Almunia likewise. Denilson needs a kick up the ass, and nobody's around to swing a leg.

This Sunday is One Last Chance for Project Wenger

Wenger may coddle his "kids", but recent encounters against Chelsea and Manchester United have been the equivalent of corporal punishment. And the evidence so far is that they don't learn their lesson.

The trouble with a philosophy like Wenger's is that one can never wholly dismiss it, because it is all about "the future". But people are slowly coming to realise that this future may never come about. The only way to judge the project right now is to assess its progress, and last Sunday's game suggested that there has been precious little.

I still sometimes watch my 97/98 season review on video, to remind myself of that feeling of success. The problem being, nostalgia can never truly substitute for the warmth of the moment, the distance just leaves you cold. But there's an interview with Tony Adams in which he states his lack of belief in "transition"- as in, the notion that a "transitional season" is an excuse for a dip in performances. God knows what Adams thinks of the last five seasons at his former club. We seem to be lost in a fog of hypotheticals. It's understandable, because what else can one cling to after an experience like Sunday's? But what Wenger will find is that selling a POSSIBLE future is no longer adequate. I'm glad for another hammering, in a way, because its symmetry with last season's game hammers an important point home. There has, in the space of a year, been no change.

While watching Arsenal, I'm often left cursing individuals. We're all fond of pointing at someone and saying he's not good enough. But let's interrogate that assumption. Think of the team that taught us our latest lesson. What is it that makes Darren Fletcher or Park Ji-Sung "good enough" for the biggest club in England? Is it simple talent? Only to a small degree. The definitive factors are work-rate, character. People who will subordinate themselves to a greater cause, something bigger than themselves- isn't that what football is?

Now, think of Arsene Wenger, and the team he's been building and rebuilding since 2004. Has he been using the same criteria as Alex Ferguson? Does he believe that talent alone is enough? Watching the game on Sunday, it was the team that has won it all that was showing the greater desire, against one that has achieved nothing. How do you explain that? Watch Denilson's non-attempts at defensive action in the build-up to all three goals. What I see is a man who has been constantly indulged, and that is emblematic of the team as a whole. Wayne Rooney was United's sole striker and he did more tracking back than Rosicky, Nasri and Arshavin put together.

Wenger espouses the same team ethic that characterises United's greatness but on days like Sunday it rings hollow. Sure, there is a unity to Arsenal as an attacking force, but when attacks break down the attitude seems to be, "leave it to Gallas and Vermaelen and Song". Not spending money to replace players we deem unfit to wear the shirt is one thing, but when those same players seem unwilling to fight for the shirt, well that is worrying indeed.

Playing Chelsea straight away is surely a perverse kind of blessing. Questions have been raised that no routine win against Premiership also-rans would answer. The players have one last opportunity, as far as I'm concerned, to show that their manager has not lost touch with reality, and that they alone can turn Arsenal back into a winning machine. They can lose, but they had better not lose the same way, or else the rest of 09/10 becomes an interminable wait for a Summer in which every fan will be hoping for Big Changes.

Back in their Box: Arsenal 3-0 Spurs

There was a lot of bluster coming out of the Tottenham camp in the lead up to Saturday's derby, so no wonder Harry Redknapp was bitter and graceless in his post-match comments. Robbie Keane's missive about Spurs having superior strength in depth proved particularly ill-advised, for his side looked largely toothless without Modric, Lennon and Defoe. For all their pretensions of swashbuckling football, Redknapp chose to leave Kranjcar out, pack the midfield, and use Keane from the left. This left Peter crouch, to whom Spurs constantly pumped long balls, mostly isolated.

And for all that, Arsenal weren't overly impressive, and maybe that's the most satisfying aspect for us and the most chastening for Spurs. For 40 minutes or so, it was fairly sluggish stuff, but there had been signs that Spurs were there for the taking. Andy Gray praised their well-organised play during that time and he was right to a point but they were probably only impressive because Arsenal's attacking was a bit off-colour. Nonetheless, Gomes had made a great save to keep out Fabregas, and Van Persie had snatched at a couple of passable opportunities (two of these chances came from Spurs giving the ball away carelessly, so the signs were there); at the other end, Keane looked to get in off a crouch knockdown, but the impressive Song tracked back to good effect, and just before the opener, Keane seemed to slip our offside trap but his touch let him down.

And then the vital goal, and it was, for a team with a reputation for over-complicating things, refreshingly simple. The defending was questionable no doubt. Sagna and Fabregas worked a one-two under little pressure to the right of the area, and where the former would usually perhaps begin to work the ball back across the pitch, he swung in an early cross. Ledley King was beaten to the bouncing ball by Van Persie who stabbed it in at the near post, Gomes' hand not enough to repel the effort. Bassong seemed to be missing in action, and King a little slow to react perhaps, but few are the goals that do not arise in some way from an error and I'd prefer to praise a bit of classic centre forward play by RVP. He's flying at the moment. Afterwards, Wenger called him a cross between Bergkamp and Henry. Now, that sounds like some kind of mutant super-footballer, but he has a point in a way. While not having the electric pace of Henry, he is much more a consistent goal threat than Bergkamp, and while not quite capable of the sheer creative genius of his countryman he is fairly adept also at dropping off and threading passes to his fellow attackers. And you know what? Neither of those guys, for all their godlike abilities, would have scored that goal on Saturday.

And it certainly raised the crowd, but that was nothing compared to what followed. In a moment that evoked memories of Jose Reyes' belter in the 5-3 against Boro in 04/05, Arsenal had the ball in the net again with Sky Sports barely finished showing replays of the first goal. I heard a roar from the crowd, saw the camera return to Fabregas bearing down on goal, and gleefully threading a shot past Gomes for number two. Thrilling stuff. And after the devastating sucker punch of Spurs' two-goal salvo in injury time last season, this was a particularly apt way to restore primacy in North London.

The replays showed what had transpired- Van Persie blocked a lazy pass straight from kick off, Fabregas evaded a lunge by Palacios, nutmegged the panicky tackle from King and fooled Gomes with his shot. It was schoolboy stuff from Spurs but a great goal nonetheless, and another moment to illustrate the greatness of Fabregas. He's not renowned for such driving runs- it almost looked like the work of a diminutive Steven Gerrard- but what it showed again was his peerless appreciation of the requirements and openings in each moment of a game. He saw Spurs rocking on the ropes, and where it is his natural style to probe and be patient, here he went for the jugular, and finished the game.

Not that I was willing to admit that at the time, after our troubles in the corresponding fixture last season and last week at West Ham. Two goal leads are a cause for nerves at Arsenal, and the players seemed aware of the danger second half. When Spurs had the ball, we defended with a vigour that I haven't seen in a home game since the 2-1 win against United last season. The next goal was clearly going to be vital, and we did have a sticky period just before finishing the job. The backline seemed to drop a little deeper, which was always going to suit crouch (who Vermaelen dominated throughout), now joined upfront by Keane. Gallas had to be alert to deny Keane once more. He was starting to look a little panic-stricken, and gave away a free kick right on the edge with a handball when challenging crouch in the air. Bentley's free kick was easy for the returning Almunia; he made it look difficult, as is his wont. Then Gallas pushed crouch on the edge- nothing doing this time. Then the nerves were killed off with a third.

Eduardo was floored with a rough tackle on the right but Sagna burst onto the loose ball and beyond the Spurs defence. He saw the linesman flagging for the foul and slowed up, as did the opposing players, but clattenburg had played a good advantage, and when the Frenchman finally realised this he cut the ball in low. Somehow, it evaded the grasp of Gomes and the lunge of the luckless King, and Van Persie was left to gobble up his second.

Thus the contest was ended and I could finally relax. Spurs offered little, but it was encouraging to see Wenger get agitated on the touchline, just after Eduardo had missed an opportunity to make it four, over an inability to communicate defensive instructions to Song and the infuriating Diaby. As acknowledged afterwards, Wenger saw the significance of holding onto a clean sheet.

I thought, yet again, that Diaby had a poor game. To me it's shocking that we've had such a run with him in the side. He plays like the anti-Fabregas. Forever taking too many touches on the ball, he will pointlessly try to hold off a tackle himself when a simple pass would suffice. This sees him surrender possession too much, and he does it all over the pitch. His passes never have the right weight, always short or long or not into the receiver's stride. He has some talent, no doubt, but lacks the intelligence to use it efficiently. Likewise, his physique is misleading because he rarely tackles with conviction and seems disinterested in the defensive side of the game. He was surely the source of Wenger's ire because Song has been playing diligently in front of the back four and has played a big part in our good moments this season. When we are in command of a game, and the opposition striving to turn it, we need another midfielder to drop back more and allow cesc to pick out the front three. Unless you think that Diaby is better at that. Ha. But I worry that he simply lacks the brain and the team spirit to sacrifice his attacking instincts. You'd possibly have similar reervations about Nasri if deployed in the same position but at least he does not disrupt the flow of our attacking as well as burdening the defence.

Anyway, Wenger definitely has to think long and hard about adding to our squad in January, because Song will be going to the African Nations and with Denilson yet to return from a fairly serious injury, the last thing we need is opposition teams marauding through our midfield unchallenged (and in any case I'm still unsure that Denilson can effectively perform the role that Song does).

But here's to a week that saw Spurs talk themselves into a corner and not have the fight to get out of it. Tomorrow I will ruminate at length to nobody about the relative strengths of the established top four and the chasing pack.