Blame Arsenal players not Wenger by Sam P
I know that a lot of Arsenal fans will be furious with Arsene Wenger tonight, after an awful first half performance and then allowing Liverpool to score an extra time equaliser to deny us a valuable away win against a big team and a vital three points.
But I don’t think it was the tactics of the manager that made us so bad today, it was the poor play of almost every Gunner on the pitch. I suppose you could say that the manager’s failure to sign another defender and a defensive midfielder in the summer left us short of options, but you would still expect better from players like Flamini, Mertesacker, Welbeck, Gibbs, Chamberlain and of course Alexis Sanchez.
I don’t think that Wenger’s tactics were wrong, it was just that the players failed to compete or even keep the ball and pass it as we know they can. Why on earth did we sit back when Liverpool went down to 10 men? What was Mertesacker thinking when he ducked out of a corner in extra time to give Skrtel a free header to equalise?
Wenger refused to blame his players as he always does, but I hope that he gives them a real rocket behind closed doors. It is about time they stepped up to give their manager the same backing he gives them.