Thursday, March 3, 2011

Have Arsenal and Arsene Wenger Lost Their Old Cup Magic?

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Gael Clichy, Samir Nasri"It's down to our results - that will decide the championship," declared Arsene Wenger when quizzed on Arsenal's chances of pipping Manchester United for the Premier League crown. "Do we win our games? It just depends on us. Every game is a cup game for us."

Ah. It all sounded so convincing until that last bit. Are Arsenal actually any good at cup games any more? For every Barcelona (first-leg) there has been a Leyton Orient (away) or Birmingham City (Wembley).

The naughty boys of Sunday - Wojciech Szczesny and Laurent Koscielny - were left out so the naughty boys of the previous Sabbath could complete the task of knocking Leyton Orient of League One out of the FA Cup.

Which they duly did, with flat-track bully Nicklas Bendtner netting a hat-trick and fellow back-up striker Marouane Chamakh also on the scoresheet on a night when 19-year-old Irishman Conor Henderson was handed a debut in midfield.

Orient always knew it was likely to be thus and Arsenal's reward is the chance to travel to Old Trafford to try to deny United passage into the semi-finals.
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Yet it is the other tussle with Sir Alex Ferguson and Co - the one that the spiky Scot insists is also a two-horse race - that is occupying Wenger's mind.

Losing the Carling Cup final to a club at the bottom of the Premier League was annoying but only because it prevented a six-season trophy drought from finally ending; Wenger had never previously cared much about that particular competition.

Often the Frenchman had treated the FA Cup in much the same way as the Premier League and the Champions League have always been at the top of his priority list, and understandably so.

"The most important trophy is the Premier League because you win the league after 38 games and you win the Carling Cup after five, six games," he added. "The race is tight, exciting. I don't rule out Chelsea or Manchester City because everybody can drop points everywhere. If we maintain our consistency we have a very good chance."


Indeed, United still have to come to the Emirates and will do so on May 1, by which time the pressure cooker could be vibrating violently. That means that currently both clubs can claim they have their destiny in their own hands and Arsenal's next task is to beat Sunderland on Saturday.

But they are likely to have to do so without captain Cesc Fabregas, who is recovering from a hamstring injury. The Spaniard is unlikely to be risked at the weekend and instead given further recovery time to get ready to face Barcelona at the Nou Camp. Robin van Persie is already out for a month but should be back not only for the United showdown but clashes with Tottenham and Liverpool too.

Without those two and Arsenal's chances of success will be slashed dramatically; perhaps even to no chance at all. Right now Arsenal are in danger of becoming known as the footballing equivalent of a Monet painting: pretty to look at and technically impressive but no practical use whatsoever.

Arsenal are a team that will always be in contention but as it stands they remain incapable of actually lifting any silverware, whatever their manager may say otherwise.

 

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Source: http://www.fanhouse.co.uk/2011/03/03/have-arsenal-and-arsene-wenger-lost-their-old-cup-magic/

Thomaz Bellucci Tim Clark Tomas Berdych Torsten Frings Vicente

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