The former Arsenal and England international star Ian Wright has had some criticism for Arsene Wenger in the past, but he was quick to stand up for the Frenchman today as he commented on the FA cup exit at the hands of Watford.
Wright was full of praise for the Hornets, their game plan and the way they executed it but when it was put to him that the result would put increased pressure on the Arsenal boss he was not having any of it. As the former striker pointed out, Wenger had actually treated the tie and the visiting team with respect and named a strong Arsenal starting line up, with Ozil, Alexis, Giroud, Coquelin, Campbell, Mertesacker and Gabriel.
The problem, according to Wright, was that too many of our players did not give it the full go. The slow tempo of our play in particular was picked up by the pundit and it was very noticeable how much quicker we passed the ball around once the second Watford goal went in. And the defending for their opener was downright awful, while Gabriel was lucky not to be sent off for a reckless tackle.
There was not too much more Wenger could have done and he did react to the problem by making a triple change which nearly paid off in the dying minutes. I am sure there will be plenty of Arsenal fans ready to hammer the boss over this loss, but I for one think that would be unfair. How about you?