(Photo by Shaun Botterill/Getty Images)
I am incredibly disappointed in this Arsenal team.
No bite, no character—not even showing up for the most important game of the season.
Please, Arsene, get rid of most of them.
They are not worthy of putting on the same shirt that Dennis Bergkamp, Patrick Vieira and most of all, Tony Adams once did.
Arsenal's most important player in recent weeks was cup tied for the CL semi-final, and it thoroughly showed. Arsenal could have used some of Arshavin's maturity, determination, and above all, coolness in a "winner-takes-all" high stakes game.
Trust me, Wenger has pleaded with us fans time and time again.
Trust me that the team will come good.
Well, Wenger's initial success in the early part of this decade has been enough to see him and the team through four barren years, but no more.
While the relative lack of quality the team has compared to the Manchester United team is bad enough...what is more galling is how overawed they seemed tonight, and how they seemed so thoroughly outplayed—truly men against boys.
Members of the team urged the fans to respond with an incredible atmosphere at Emirates, but they hardly gave the fans a reason to cheer tonight.
Almunia—A decent but not great keeper. Could not deal with Ronaldo's free kick.
Toure—A shadow of the player he once was.
Djourou—Made you pine for Silvestre, oh dear...
Gibbs—Made a critical error for the first goal, thereby swinging the momentum toward Manchester United.
Sagna—Solid if unspectacular.
Walcott—Totally anonymous over the two legs.
Song—Come back Flamini...Come back.
Fabregas—Still not the same as before. Probably played in the wrong role as well.
Nasri—The one bright spark of a horrific night.
Van Persie—Tried occasionally with not much to show.
Adebayor—Please sell him right now.
Manchester United, although I hate to say it, has offered Arsenal a much more compelling template to follow in terms of staying successful while overhauling the team.
They have blended youth with daring moves in the transfer market—remember when people thought Ferguson overpaid for Ronaldo?
But no, you may say. Arsenal cannot afford to spend money like Manchester United can.
All I have to say is—success generates cash.
And all indications so far is that Arshavin, a relative expensive player in the latter half of his twenties—completely against the template Wenger likes to follow—is quite the success.
We need more players like him.
Ones that have talent, but back it up with gumption, and the ability to perform in the most critical of games.
The manager may want to win only with French and African youngsters, but that is fast proving to be a pipe dream. And besides, how many more crushing defeats can this team take before its psyche is damaged irrevocably?
Stan Kroenke's takeover cannot come too soon.
Arsenal is not a bad team, but they are not great—destined to finish fourth in the league each year and reach the later stages of the CL.
But never to win it.
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