Humiliation in Milan

AC Milan 4-0 Arsenal

AC Milan utterly humiliated Arsenal at the San Siro last night. The stadium where the Gunners had recorded two of their greatest European triumphs, (5-1 against Inter Milan and 2-0 against AC Milan) was on this occasion the scene for their worst ever defeat on the European stage.  From the very first minute to the last, Milan were absolutely outstanding; the hunger and appetite they had for the game, phenomenal. Having secured victory against Sunderland in the last minute, you would have thought the Arsenal players would have approached this tie with supreme confidence. Yet they appeared intimidated and inhibited as their opponents outfought and overwhelmed them, winning every battle and absolutely dominated the match with their supreme and intelligent movement. Arsenal just could not live with the Serie A league leaders allowing themselves to be completely and utterly outclassed.

Arsene Wenger decided to omit Oxlade-Chamberlain from the starting line-up, with Thomas Rosicky starting the game on the left flank and Aaron Ramsey coming into the middle of the park. Although you can understand the manager’s intention to protect the young Englishman from the high octane pressure associated with a last 16 Champions League away leg at the San Siro, in hindsight this was an extremely poor decision. In recent years Italian sides have proved susceptible to the searing pace that Oxlade-Chamberlain possesses; his removal therefore negated one of Arsenal’s key attacking outlets. This was further compounded with the decision to play with a midfield consisting of Arteta, Rosicky and Ramsey, none of whom are blessed with pace and all like to put their foot on the ball, therefore slowing the game down. Wenger therefore played right into Milan’s hands, as none of the midfield players made any forward runs to support Van Persie, leaving the Dutchman an isolated figure upfront, with Milan’s defence easily cutting out any balls played up to him. Essentially, Arsenal’s play was far too predictable as every time one of our midfielders had the ball the only forward pass available was to Van Persie and so time and again the midfield had to settle for a square ball, allowing our attacking play to stagnate. This was a game crying out for the inclusion of Francis Coquelin alongside Alex Song. The Frenchman is full of energy and his eagerness to press the ball and tackle the opposition at every opportunity would not only have helped the Gunners to win back possession, but would have also set a quicker tempo to Arsenal’s game. The deployment of Coquelin and Song  in central midfield would have provided a screen for the defence and allowed our attacking midfielders the freedom to get forward and support Van Persie.

As it was Theo Walcott was intended to be Arsenal’s attacking outlet with his pace down the right. However Walcott’s performance was an absolute disgrace. He was far too easily pushed off the ball time and time again, he never once picked up the ball and ran at the Milan left-back and looked completely disinterested. One moment in the first half highlighted this perfectly. With Arsenal having a throw-in, in Milan’s final third, you would expect Walcott to make a forward run, looking to receive the ball and get in behind the Milan defence. But instead Theo had his back to the ball as he slowly ambled forward. The fact he was taken off at half-time told its own story, although in truth Wenger could have taken off all eleven Arsenal players, such was their ineptitude. Even Vermaelen, playing in his favoured centre-back role, had a night to forget.

Arsenal’s performance was littered with errors. For the first Milan goal, Szczesny needlessly played the ball out to Sagna, who was under pressure and so passed it back to the goal keeper, whose poor clearance fell straight to a Milan player. Kevin-Prince Boateng was then played through to fire a wonderful effort past the Arsenal goalkeeper. The second goal came as a direct result of Sagna not playing to the whistle, as he slowed down, believing Ibrahimovic to be off-side when he wasn’t, allowing  the Swede to get to the by-line and cut the ball back for Robinho (who Arsenal had failed to pick up) to head home. Four minutes into the second half, Robinho had scored again, following Thomas Vermaelen’s slip (the umpteenth time an Arsenal player had slipped over).  And then it was the turn of the accident waiting to happen, Djourou, to get caught square-on, needlessly hauling down Ibrahimovic to concede a penalty which was duly converted to compound Arsenal’s misery. It could well have been more. Milan looked dangerous every time they attacked, easily slicing through Arsenal’s midfield and defence.

There are absolutely no positives to take from last night’s game and it may well prove to be a watershed moment as for the first time I can remember, Wenger did not reel off a list of feeble excuses in defence of his team. He finally called it as it is and described the performance as horrendous. All Arsenal fans can only hope that this display will ultimately lead to the significant changes in personnel we have all been demanding for several years now. With crucial league games set to follow in the weeks ahead, we must see a reaction from the players in the FA cup tie against Sunderland or risk seeing our season implode once again.