The Drogba dive for which Fabregas got carded and led to the Alex goal is par for the Chelsea striker. He does what he does. It should not become a rationalization for the rout.
The reasons are many and an ostrich in the sand attitude only ensures their prolongation. “In Wenger we trust” has been the 11th commandment but if your response is going to be:
“I don’t think the squad needs major investment. I believe we need to continue to improve. I’m not as doom-and-gloom as everybody wants to make it after a defeat and of course we play in a strong league against top quality opponents.”
There is a major problem.
The improvement is not going to come out of thin air. We have a back four which is porous at its best. With injuries, the rejiggered line is a broken levee. We have given up 36 goals. 10, 13 and 14 more than Liverpool, Chelsea, and Man Utd.
Lets put it this way, we actually lost the season in the first half.
Conceding goals to Fulham, Hull, Stoke, Sunderland, and Boro. The Spurs match was a killer. We gained three points from those matches. That was when we had our first team back four with Gallas in and out with injury. Remember Wenger blamed it on the lack of inches. Toure and Gallas do not inspire confidence because as a duo they are undisciplined with suspect man marking skills. Clichy has his inexplicable moments but he runs back hard and is not afraid to tackle. Sagna is solid, although he has appeared lethargic at times. But there is no escaping the fact that it is a reactive defense.
Anelka’s goal should not have come as a surprise. Samir Nasri might be at fault but we have had Geovanni, Jenas, and Grant Ledbitter making us pay because of the free space that we give them. One of the reasons why Man Utd is in first place is because they have the best tracking back forwards in the business. Tevez and Rooney are standouts. When you get that sort of help, the defense responds too.
Seeing Mathieu Flamini play for Milan against Juve yesterday was a poignant reminder of why he was our biggest loss.
2 comments on “Arsene, the fault lies elsewhere: It’s not Drogba”
stupid report. No one blamed the rout for the Drogba cheating antics. Wenger specifically said they should have still cleared the cross.
Wenger’s point on Drogba is that this kind of cheating is rewarded in the game and shouldnt be. They need to start banning him, Ronaldo and others (notably Adebayor at the weekend) each time they take an obvious dive. Needs to be done after the game as its impossible for the ref to know at the time whether there was contact. Of course there should be video replays on all the key decisions to resolve these but I dont see this coming in any time soon.
As for Arsenal, there isnt too much wrong. They beat both Man U and Chelsea earlier in the season so reading too much in these recent losses is silly especially given the number of injuries in the defence and resting of players.
That said, a little more steel in the midfield and defence would vastly improve the side and hopefully make Arsenal the top team rather than just a little behind the other 3 at present. Not sure who they should buy but certainly a steely midfielder and someone that win balls in the air as they concede far too many goals from set pieces. Perhaps Toure’s brother or Toure could be moved himself to the centre as he has the engine I believe and seems to be suspect at corners
I agree, you can bash Drogba all you want but players going down with little contact is nothing new. Surely no one can be proud of this fact. I feel Wenger has made quite a few mistakes in his team selections past week or so and his statements puzzle me also. Surely Arsenal missing big presence in the midfield and at this time. Since beginning of the year I felt that Arsenal lacks veteran leadership and prev mentioned midfielder. Defenders also should be looked at. While Left and Right back positions seem to be filled, at least on central role should be addressed.