Ouch! That brought us all down to Earth with a painful bump. I’m still depressed after our woeful display against United yesterday afternoon. It’s difficult to be objective. I’ve yet to steel myself to watch a recording of the game. I’m saving that “treat” for later in the week when the hurt has died down a bit.
I’m sure Arsčne, assiduous man that he is, will be analysing the lessons to be learnt from the game in great detail. For lessons there clearly are. The Great Helmsman spoke after the game of our lack of mental focus and “…..massive individual errors…..We never had any cohesion offensively or defensively. We were completely not at our level. Why? I believe there are some mental reasons in there.” All too true I’m afraid.
The manager must also take his share of the blame. We clearly have some way to go before we can match either United or Chelsea physically, tactically and mentally. We are clearly a gifted unit technically but need mental and tactical steel to go with the silk.
The overwhelming opinion amongst the Gooner Nation trudging away from the Grove last evening and in the pub afterwards was that the board and the manager need to produce the chequebook. I think we need to add players too but I’m NOT in favour of wholesale changes. I still maintain that we’re better side than last season, although not by a huge distance. I also maintain that we have the basis of a top, top side. Let’s not forget that Pep Guardiola at Barcelona was regularly greeted with the throwing of seat cushions and the waving of white handkerchiefs before it finally clicked last season and he led the club into a season that will stand immortal in that the history of the Catalan giants, a Treble including playing United off the park in the Champions League Final in Rome and, subsequently, the World Club Championship win against Estudiantes de la Plata in Abu Dhabi.
It is in the tactical and mental area that I believe we need to drastically improve as much as in adding to the strength of the squad. Strangely enough, I shall not be surprised if United decline as a force in the next few seasons. They have the Glazer debt millstone around their neck that will drain £565 million out of the Old Trafford coffers over the next seven years. This will hamper their ability to renew a side that is still good but aging rapidly.
Much as I loathe the dirty little ginger minger Paul Scholes was outstanding yesterday. Fans of the England national team must rue his decision to retire from the national colours. I think he’s underrated as a player. Wayne Rooney, also not adverse to clogging and cheating but a fine, fine player is, to use the cliché, “in his pomp”. Through gritted teeth it has to be said that United deserved their win yesterday. They were superior to us in every way.
Amongst those who should be early for the chop from the first team is Manuel Almunia. Nice bloke that he is, he’s simply not good enough. He had a horrible game yesterday. His error in failing to deal with what I’m convinced was a misdirected far post cross by Nani led directly to United’s first goal although the defence must also be faulted for failing to stop his dribble into the box. Once a player known to go down quicker than a porn star under the slightest of challenges is in the box it’s all too easy to concede a penalty. Generally, Nani gave Gaël Clichy a real caning down the United right for most of the afternoon. To be fair to him though, he didn’t get the support he deserved from Samir Nasri. He was left exposed far too often.
Denilson, who started quite brightly for the first fifteen minutes, had a horrible last seventy-five. He completely gave up on shadowing Wayne Rooney for their second; leaving him completely free, the second time in a few weeks he’s committed the same error. The lad was becoming an unsung hero for us before his back injury. His form has been indifferent since his return and was woeful yesterday. Denilson’s bright start was replicated by the rest of the team who started the brighter and sharper of the two. Our passing was sharp and Andrey Arshavin almost capped a great run with a goal from a cross shot, shooting just wide. Van der Saar may have got to the ball if it had been on target but if he hadn’t managed a save being one-nil up may have given us the psychological boost we needed. Once we went one-nil down that was all she wrote for our chances of getting anything out of a crucial game.
I got quite angry in the second half. We couldn’t seem to pass wind, never mind a football and some players seemed resigned to defeat. This is completely, utterly unacceptable. They are all paid MORE than enough to give their all at all times. In all likelihood the title is now beyond us this season. That doesn’t mean we can afford to give up the chase. As I’ve said before the minimum target must be third place to avoid a post World Cup play-off game in the Champions League. Psychologically we also need to avoid a real belting at Stamford Bridge. That could throw the club into a downward spiral. We need to come off the park next Sunday with our heads held high knowing we’ve left it all out on the park.
Although he made a number of errors in his run in the first team Vito Mannone should be selected ahead of Manuel Almunia I think. The young Italian is not the long-term answer I don’t think but neither is Lukasz Fabiański who gives far too many schizophrenic performances. Faultless technically and with two fine saves at the Boleyn Ground in the third round of the FA Cup, he had a poor game away against Stoke City in the fourth round of that competition. The best long-term hope amongst our current goalkeepers is Wojciech Szczęsny who has been in fine form during his loan spell at Brentford. He’s too young to throw in at the deep end just yet though.
I think we do need to spend some cash on a top of the line goalie and another holding midfield player. Possibly also a centre-forward. Some of the calls since the final whistle yesterday for Wenger’s head and/or to spend like drunken sailors are, in my humble opinion, ludicrously over the top. It’s not as if we’re plummeting down the league. We’re still a better side than most here and elsewhere in Europe. Any sensible analysis will show that what works in terms of lasting football success is continuity in the manager’s office and amongst the playing staff. We need to continue adding quality to the squad when and where we can, as we have with Andrey Arshavin and Thomas Vermaelen. We need to be about quality not quantity.
More pressing than new signings is a long, hard look at ourselves tactically and mentally. Wenger shouldn’t be afraid to seek advice and counsel in both areas. Clearly he’s a manager who likes to be in undisputed charge. Bringing in expert help in both areas would be the act of a man sufficiently confident in himself to be unafraid to have his ideas challenged and refined by debate with other expert opinion. We need to fundamentally rebalance the team so that it is set up to defend well as a team when we don’t have possession and to win the ball back quickly.
My model would be the great Milan side of the 1980s and 1990s. The side of Frank Rijkaard, Paolo Maldini, Marco van Basten, Ruud Gullit and Franco Baresi. That side was one of the great all-time teams. Dominating in Italy and Europe they were for me the perfect balance of attack and defence. I remember them vividly absolutely battering Barcelona four-nil in Athens in the 1994 Champions League Final under Fabio Capello. Baresi and Maldini were two of the best defenders the world has ever seen. Up front they simply tore teams apart.
Let’s not panic. Yesterday’s performance and result was truly horrible but tearing the club inside out is not the solution. The first thing you do when you’re in a hole is stop digging. We need cool, calm heads at the moment. The critical thing is to re-group and re-organise for next Sunday’s visit to Stamford Bridge. At the same time Wenger needs to be working with Ivan Gazidis and his team to identify and obtain the players he wants to bring in, preferably before the World Cup for any players he wants who will feature there. Prices and wages always zoom up for players who do well on football’s biggest stage.
Keep the faith!
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