Unfair to put the blame on the defence - Arsene Wenger
Arsenal suffered a shocking Carling Cup defeat against Ipswich on Wednesday. Earlier, Arsenal had defeated http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Chelsea-c38786 3-1, and Chelsea had thrashed Ipswich 7-0, so the outcome of this match had been expected to be in favour of Arsenal.
However, Ipswich won against Arsenal 1-0 and has created panic in the Arsenal camp. In this first-leg match of the Carling Cup semi-finals, Tamas Priskin scored the only goal of the night in the 78th minute.
“We had no spark and Ipswich were sharper," said Arsenal’s manager, Arsene Wenger. "I'm disappointed and the players are as well. We had a lot of the ball but didn't make a lot of it, while Ipswich defended with heart and commitment.
They showed a team can have 70% of the ball and still lose. We were not sharp, not creative, and had an off night.”
Arsenal’s defence has lately been rather vulnerable and oppositions are exploiting the fact. For some reason, the Gunners’ defence has been looking particularly fragile against minnow teams: on January 8, Arsenal played a 1-1 draw
against Leeds in the third round of the FA Cup; not even the part of the English Premier League, Leeds stunned Arsenal with the first goal.
Arsenal’s top and regular defenders are currently missing from the starting line-up due to injuries. http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Thomas-Vermaelen-c35002 is out with an Achilles’ injury and Sebastien Squillaci with a hamstring strain. Another defender who wasn’t
at Arsenal’s service on Wednesday was http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Laurent-Koscielny-c21742 were Arsenal’s only fit centre-backs for the game.
Wenger was just recently voted the world’s best football manager of the decade, but fans still criticize his tactics. Over the years, Wenger has been panned for his preference of fitting in makeshift players rather than buying
new ones for the team. After yesterday’s match, Wenger said: “Let's not think that we lost the game because we haven't bought a central defender. We lost the game because we didn't play as well as we can.”
The Frenchman was emphatic about dealing out the blame equally rather than laying it squarely on his team’s defence. “As a team we did not have the performance we wanted,” he said. “We were below our usual level in every department
and it would be unfair to put the blame in the defence.”
Wenger was critical of his team’s performance, but still expressed optimism that Arsenal still had chances of making a comeback in the championship. “Every single pass was a problem from the start,” Wenger said. “We rely a lot
on our sharp and crisp passing, but that was always a problem tonight. In every department we were below our usual level. In the second half we looked more vulnerable defensively and I'll put that down to fatigue. But I believe we'll turn it round. We got
a good warning tonight ... and we will not always be as lacking in creativity as we were this evening.”
Speculations are growing about the new induction in Arsenal’s camp. As per long personal tradition, Wenger is not yet willing to publicise his choice. “We have only two central defenders and we are short,” he said, “but I do not
want to speak about any particular name. Frankly I am just disappointed about our defeat tonight. It is early to talk about a player coming in.”
The fact remains, however, that with some crunchy games ahead, Arsenal need to strengthen their defence line. The Gunners are due to play Barcelona in the UEFA Champions League, and if the defence is not strong, Barcelona can punish
mercilessly.
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