Former Gunners star Paul Merson could not keep his Arsenal fan persona down as he worked as a pundit for the Champions League game against Anderlecht tonight. And even the fact that Arsenal produced a stirring last few minutes to snatch a victory from the jaws of defeat was not enought to pacify him.
The former midfielder laid into the performance from Arsenal, declaring that Alexis Sanchez was the only Gunner who could be pleased with his showing. And it is hard to argue with his assessment, although he clearly feels it more than most. It was like the frustration and pressure had been building inside Merse and just had to blow.
He was dead right about the fact that we got out of jail and that the Belgians can feel terribly unlucky. And in saying that a better team than Anderlecht would have destroyed us, you cannot deny. So when goal scorer Kieran Gibbs and then Arsene Wenger spoke about the spirit to keep going, it just made Merson even angrier.
He suggested that the manager is not being honest with the Arsenal fans and that the season could be real disaster if things do not change in a big way. I don’t agree that we were the luckiest team ever to win the game, because we did score two good goals, eventually, but we were lucky and maybe that is just what we needed to provide a springboard.
It needs to though, because Performances like that are not going to win us many more games. Was Merson right?