The San Siro - so often the scene of triumphant Arsenal performances in the past - was last night a stark canvas displaying the failed artistry of Arsene Wenger’s side. From the beginning there was a startling lack of desire, application and fight with Milan taking ruthless advantage of defensive failings.
Pre-match, many were saying Arsenal would score and take back a result to the Emirates. The general consensus was that this Milan side were a poor imitation of years gone by. Apparently, Mr Zlatan Ibrahimovic failed to read the papers. His performance inspired Milan to inflict Arsenals heaviest ever European defeat.
Arteta
It has been evident that Mikel Arteta has become the heartbeat of this Arsenal side, sitting deep in the midfield and pulling the strings, protecting the back four and rarely losing the ball. Last night saw his worst game in an Arsenal shirt – the Spaniard looked bewildered by the speed and quality of his Milan counterparts. The likes of Walcott, Rosicky, Song and Ramsey did little to ease the burden on Arteta, with players seemingly afraid to take responsibility and influence the game. This midfield malaise left our defence hopelessly exposed throughout the game. Kudos to Allegri and his players, they clearly had their tactics right and performed them on the pitch admirably. Stopping Arteta meant stopping Arsenal.
The defending
The goals were all fairly cheap giveaways. There was clear nervousness throughout our backline, particularly on the left-side where Kieran Gibbs played his first game since October and Thomas Vermaelen slotted back in at centre-back. Vermaelen was not his usual self and was another who reserved his worst performance for Arsenal for this game.
Laurent Koscielny looked as though he was the only defender who could deal with Ibrahimovic, despite the incompetency of Vermaelen causing him more than his fair share of work. Unfortunately Koscielny – arguably our player of the season – was removed just before half-time after sustaining a knee injury. His replacement, Johann Djourou, was not too bad, but did give away a penalty. Gibbs frequently went missing at left-back and there were numerous slips on the freshly-laid turf that had our defenders appear as if they were filming some slapstick, spoof version of a real football match. Carry on in Milan.
The penalty was ‘won’ by Ibrahimovic and Arsenal were denied their own spot-kick almost immediately after when Phillipe Mexes wrapped both his arms around van Persie in the box and tugged him down. Perhaps the ref thought this was some extension of Valentines celebrations from the Frenchman? Who knows.
Wenger
Perhaps the most surprising aspect of the night was the reaction from the manager. After watching what was a record-breaking ineffectual performance (even for Walcott), Arsene hauled Theo off at half-time and replaced him with Thierry Henry for the last appearance of his loan from NYRB. After full-time, Wenger slated his players, something almost unheard of:
On general performance: “Disaster, shocking, no unity”.
“During the 90 mins we were never really in the game ... our worst night in Europe ever”.
“It's our worst night in Europe, mistake after mistake”.
On progressing through to next stage of CL: “We don't play in dream world. We may have 2 per cent or 5 per cent chance. But realistically, we are out."
Humiliation
The worst part of this result is the feeling of utter embarrassment. I’m sorry for Henry that he had to play in that game. One of my favourite Arsenal memories was of us smashing Inter Milan at that very stadium, with Henry inspiring us to a 5-1 victory that shocked Europe. Another favourite was the way we outclassed them four years ago. It is frightening to think only four years ago we were that good. What became of that Arsenal?
Theo Walcott compares most harshly with his former self – he was brilliant as a sub in Milan in 2008, coming on and burning past a Milan defender to set up Adebayor with a pin-point cross. He also provided that tremendous assist for Adebayor against Liverpool in the next round. Has he regressed? He certainly isn’t much better.
Forward
Where does this leave us? Well, the absolute key is to remain focused. The players can write this one off as a bad day at the office and show us how much they care in the next game. We absolutely CANNOT allow this result to take the wheels off of our season in the same way as the last 2 or 3 seasons. Whereas it has now become traditional for us to go on holiday from March-April onwards, this season that will cost us our CL spot. We are still currently in 4th place and have a winnable game against Sunderland on Saturday to progress to the Quarter-Finals of the FA Cup. There is still much to fight for, the future of the Club lies in the balance. It’s time the players understood that – for all the criticism of Arsene Wenger, nobody can accuse him of not loving Arsenal – can you say the same of all the players?
Patrick Vieira said it best on Twitter: “You cannot only blame Arsene, the players must take some responsibility as well”.
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