Arsene Wenger Blames Old Trafford Pitch for the Loss
Manchester United won their fixture against Arsenal, moving on top of the Premier League table as a result. Park Ji-Sung gave United the lead in the first half of the game which proved to be the deciding factor in the end. Arsene
Wenger, despite his credentials, failed against Sir Alex Ferguson once again, but the Arsenal manager was not ready to take the defeat lightly.
It was definitely a tactical victory for Ferguson who was superior to his counterpart in every aspect of the game. Ferguson made some decisions regarding team selection, as he played Park Ji-Sung instead of Dimitar Berbatov, which
proved fruitful in the end. Wenger, on the contrary, made his changes which proved worthless as the Arsenal attack failed on the day, while Robin Van Persie was sitting on the bench. Also, Wenger did not plan his team’s attack which remained ineffective throughout
the match. On the other hand, United did much better in their attack and they often threatened Arsenal’s goalkeeper.
However, Wenger was not ready to accept the defeat in an honourable way. Rather than accepting the tactical superiority of Manchester United, Wenger blamed the Old Trafford pitch for his team’s failures. There was no doubt that
Wenger was outsmarted but the Arsenal manager did not accept the superiority of his counterpart. Rather, he blamed it on something else, which is not unusual in Wenger’s case.
The Arsenal manager claimed that the pitch was rough and slippery which hindered Arsenal’s style of football. Wenger praised both sides for their good football but he said that the poor quality of the pitch made the game suffer.
The manager also reiterated that this defeat did not hurt his team’s title credentials this season.
This thing is not new for Arsenal fans as they have often seen their manager blaming it on uncontrollable things. Rather than taking the defeats seriously and improving his game plans, Wenger used to blame the referees or the physical
play of other sides. This season, Arsenal has shown the worst record in team discipline, with the most number of red and yellow cards. Therefore, Wenger has to find another excuse and that is why he is finding faults with the pitch. The only problem is that
no other team has ever pointed out any problems regarding Old Trafford, which is considered as one of the best pitches in England.
Sir Alex Ferguson quickly responded to these comments and defended his ground staff by rightly pointing out that the pitch was alright. Ferguson said that United played a much better game than Arsenal, who were not good enough
on the day. It was United’s defence that kept Arsenal away from scoring and Ferguson said that the pitch-excuse came as a surprise for everyone.
Even Arsenal’s own players were not ready to agree with their manager. Samir Nasri, the Arsenal midfielder, did not agree with his manager’s comments as he had a different theory explaining this defeat. Nasri said that Arsenal
was concentrating more on playing the beautiful passing-style attacking football and in this course they are totally neglecting the defensive part of the game. Due to this, Arsenal is finding a lot of goals but they are giving away a lot many as well. Therefore,
Nasri believed that Arsenal has to work on their defence in order to win important matches.
Samir Nasri has really explained the real problems faced by his team. If a player playing in the game has made no complaints to his manager then there is no doubt that Wenger is only imagining things on his own. This attitude would
only create problems while it would be better for Arsenal that their manager maintains his focus on areas that need immediate attention, i.e. the defence and goalkeeping problems of the team.
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