Arsene Wenger was clearly riled after we threw away a 2-0 lead in the draw against West Ham at Upton Park yesterday.
As were the Arsenal hordes as we filed out of the ground with a miserable shuffle in search of a tincture to ease the pain.
“2-0, and you f***** it up,” sung some spanner on the way out of the ground and I questioned why he felt the need to celebrate a draw. “We’ll take anything the way we have been playing,” he replied. Fair enough.
This morning’s paper are full of AW’s thoughts after RVP and Bill Gallas had given us what seemed a comfortable advantage.
He told the Sun: “You need to get points when you deserve to get them – and sometimes when you don’t deserve to.
“Today we never got the three points when we deserved them – and that means we’ve not made the maximum of what we should have done. It’s tight and open at the top and that’s why I’m convinced that it’ll be close until the end.”
The paper adds that Wenger was annoyed with referee Chris Foy, believing West Ham should not have been given a free-kick which led to their opening goal. But he admitted keeper Vito Mannone bungled by punching the ball towards Cole.
The Frenchman also thinks the Hammers striker made a meal of falling over after being challenged by defender Alexandre Song for the penalty decision, claimed the tabloid.
Wenger said: “It’s very frustrating but West Ham did fight right until the end. I never had the feeling that the game was won at 2-0, even though we were completely in control.
“We conceded two goals from set-pieces. Generous ones. West Ham are very happy tonight and I understand that – but the free-kick and penalty were extremely generous.
“I don’t think that either should have been given but we cannot influence the decision of the referee.
“For their first goal, you might have expected our keeper to parry it away, not in the middle of the goal. But you must see the flight of the ball to see whether it moved inside in the last second.”
More of AW’s spleen vented in the Telegraph: “It is very frustrating; It is, of course, a major missed opportunity. In our job, you do not have this luxury.
“We want to learn to finish these games off which is basically the most important lesson of the day. We were in control, but as long as you do not score the third goal, you know the game is not won.
“We have a great chance [for the title] this year, but you cannot repeat this kind of performance we had and not come out with three points.
“You need to get points when you deserve to get points and sometimes when you don’t deserve to get the points. We never got them when we deserved them – and that means we have not made the maximum of what we should have done.
“But we have to keep the positives as we played well and are a strong team.”
Finally, if you fancy checking out all you need to know about Arsenal target Eden Hazard of Lille go to the Daily Mirror.