Not many expected Arsenal to beat Man City at Wembley in the FA cup semi-final on Sunday, but I think even less will have expected a resolute, fighting and determined performance from all the Arsenal players to get it, especially after some of the lily-livered and lacklustre dross they have been serving up since christmas.
So how do we explain such a speedy return to that ponderous, nervous, error strewn and basically bad show from the side in the oh so lucky win over Leicester? Is it a fault in their characters? Some will say yes but one of our most disappointing men on the night was Alexis Sanchez and no matter what you think of the Chilean he is well known for giving his all.
I personally think that the team selection and tactics used by Wenger did the players out on the pitch no favours at all.Taken individually I can understand the changes. Theo Walcott was fresh whereas the Ox was maybe not even fully fit, for instance, but on the whole it felt like Wenger had ripped the heart out of a team that had just saved his bacon and just to add to the confusion he shuffled and tweaked an already new system.
Why no target man if you are going to used width? If we and the TV experts were confused imagine what the players thought. Even the fact that the boss had got it wrong might not have been so bad if he had reacted to fix the problem, but instead he sat on the bench saying nothing and waited for over an hour before making the change that most felt was needed about a minute in.
Is it just me? Am I being too harsh?
Darren N.