Wenger NOT to blame for Arsenal loss! by Sam P
Hindsight is a wonderful thing and most Arsenal fans have perfect 20-20 vision when it comes to looking back. But how many of us before the Champions League away game against Dinamo Zagreb last night really wanted Arsene Wenger to play his strongest side, with less than three days to recover before the more important away game at Chelsea in the Premier League?
Because of the scheduling, Wednesday night away and the early kick off on Saturday away, and the fact that Arsenal were faced with a long flight home while both of Chelsea´s games were at Stamford Bridge, Wenger would have been slaughtered for not resting some key players. We have not forgotten what happened when we travelled to Man City for the early Saturday game after playing away in Napoli the previous Wednesday have we?
Was six changes too many? Possibly, but that is why we have, supposedly, a squad with strength in depth. Players like Gibbs, Debuchy, Ospina, Arteta and Chamberlain are no mugs and they need to play. Perhaps they would not have looked so rusty if they had been given more playing time before last night but because Arsenal struggled at the start of the season, Wenger could not do that until the cup games.
Can we really blame Wenger because Arteta forgot how to play football, Chamberlain switched off and Gibbs chose not to bother going for a header? The fact is that these players have proven quality and we should be able to expect a lot more from them. They let us and their manager down, It´s as simple as that. Wenger was right to rotate in the circumstances and it was not arrogance because that Arsenal team should have been able to beat the weakest team in the group.
The Frenchman is not a fortune teller so can we just cut him a bit of slack please Gooners?