The Arsenal boss had just watched Tamir Cohen head Bolton to a 2-1 win over his side with a last-minute winner, the final blow to the Gunners’ title challenge.
In a sun-drenched Reebok Stadium on Sunday, Wenger was tempestuous throughout, his eyes shallow and his nerves frayed as he stalked his technical area. He kicked the turf, stretched his arms, he ranted and he raved, he picked fights with the fourth official, he bellowed at the on-pitch referee – but all that emotion was knocked out of him by Cohen’s late winner.
Never has he looked as flat as he did in the aftermath of this defeat, in which Arsenal once again displayed its beautiful football but also its obvious flaws as it conceded two goals from set-pieces.
Wenger has constantly talked up his team, hailing their tremendous mentality as fighters, men prepared to fight to the last drop of blood.
But it is Arsenal’s run-in that has been bloody. Bloody awful. Facing what Wenger admitted was their easiest end to the season for many years, the Londoners picked up just two points from three games in a week, extending their miserable run of form to one win in their last nine outings.
Arsenal should be right on Manchester United’s tails given the fixtures it had, instead it is nine points adrift, all but out of the title race as its barren run without a trophy extends to six years. If Wenger had the stuffing knocked out of him, so did many of the 6,000 traveling fans – but none were surprised by Arsenal’s utterly predictable defeat.
“Blame me, not the players,” implored Wenger after the game. Don’t worry, Arsene, that’s what we are doing.
Why did you not buy the commanding central defender everybody knew you needed?
Why did you not dip into that £40 million transfer kitty to sign a top-level goalkeeper?
Why rely so heavily on youth when great sides need experienced winners?
Why defend so poorly from set-pieces?
Continued here:
Arsene Wenger Is A Broken Man And So Is His Project – Arsenal Must Now Address Its Glaring Flaws