Arsene knows???

Arsenal 1-2 Manchester United

As Arsenal fans walked out of the Emirates stadium yesterday, all were shaking their heads as for the first time in fifteen years they seriously queried Arsene Wenger’s position at the club. The greatest manager in Arsenal’s history had only himself to blame as his poor decisions cost Arsenal dear at home to Manchester United. Never have I witnessed the home crowd turn so vociferously against the manager. As the boos that echoed around the Emirates at the substitution of the excellent Oxlade-Chamberlain were quickly followed by chants of “you don’t know what you’re doing.” There was a distinct feeling that this was a watershed moment, the straw that broke the camel’s back.

With Arsenal once again having to field centre-backs in both full-back positions, Manchester United sought to exploit this weakness from the very start, switching the ball to the wings as quickly as possible to expose Arsenal’s lack of cover in these areas. Although Vermaelen was clearly not comfortable at left-back and struggled at times against Valencia, it was the continued lack of cover on the right side of defence which was most worrying. Manchester United continually enjoyed time and space in this position as Djourou was constantly faced with the prospect of trying to defend against two opposition players. He was extremely tentative and slow to close down when confronted with Nani’s pace, who easily had the beating of the Swiss defender. Throughout the first half it was clear that United would most likely score from an attack down the right side of the Arsenal defence. 60,000 people at the Emirates could see that something needed to be done to prevent this, but Wenger just sat on the bench, refusing to make the necessary change. Then just before half-time, the inevitable happened. Ryan Giggs was given all the time and space in the world, as Djourou failed to close him down quickly enough, allowing the Welshman to cross into the Arsenal box for Valencia to simply head past Szczesny.

At half time Wenger finally made a change in an attempt to solve Arsenal’s defensive problems. Why he had to wait for his side to concede before taking off Djourou and replacing him with Nico Yennaris is beyond me. With the start of the second half Arsenal also began to get into the game. Where in the first half they had been pinned back by United and struggled to get out of their own half, the Gunners were now applying pressure to the United defence. Thomas Rosicky pounced on a slip by Chris Smalling and raced into the United penalty area, laid the ball square to Van Persie who seemed destined to score, but somehow hit his shot wide. Nevertheless Arsenal were back in the game, creating several chances, with Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain at the heart of the Gunner’s attacking play. On his full Premier League debut the man signed from Southampton in the summer was simply excellent. Every time he received the ball, he made direct, incisive runs and quite frankly made Patrice Evra look distinctly average. It was no surprise that he set up Arsenal’s equaliser. Receiving the ball on the wing, he cut inside before sliding a wonderful, perfectly weighted pass to Van Persie, who in turn applied an exquisite finish to level the game.

At this point the Arsenal fans could smell victory. United were on the ropes and Oxlade-Chamberlain was on fire. This feeling soon disintegrated into utter disbelief however with Wenger’s inexplicable decision to replace Arsenal’s most potent attacking threat with the utterly useless Arshavin. Walcott as usual had been practically invisible, but had somehow managed to stay on the pitch! Even Robin Van Persie was seen to shout “No” to the bench as Arsenal seemingly surrendered the momentum they had built up from the start of the second half. The fact that Arshavin was directly at fault for United’s winner did not help either. The Russian’s poor attempt at a tackle resulted in him easily being beaten by Valencia on the wing, who then cut the ball back for Welbeck to shoot past a static Arsenal backline and secure all three points.

In the press conference after the game Wenger refused to be drawn into why he had taken off Oxlade-Chamberlain saying he had made thousands of substitutions in his long career. However he looked like a man who no longer has the answers. Arsenal’s defending was yet again woeful at times as they remain utterly clueless when the opposition are in possession. This has been the case for the past five or six years and still shows no signs of improving. The club which he had taken to such dizzy heights during his early tenure is going backwards and the most worrying aspect is the fact Wenger does not seem capable of halting the slide. Year after year he has allowed our best players to leave and brought in average replacements who are clearly not good enough for this club. Make no mistake, the club we love is in serious trouble and Wenger should be made accountable. There are those who suggest he should be given time to rectify the situation. This was true three or four seasons ago, when he was in-fact provided this luxury; but nothing has changed. The time has sadly arrived for Arsene Wenger to step aside. This club needs a new manager with fresh ideas, or else we will be stuck in terminal decline.