The wheels come off in Italian job III

14 April 2012

You have to hand it to Arsene Wenger. Even after what must surely have been the most disenchanting nights of his Arsenal reign, with his ragged bunch beaten so black and blue by Internazionale's Nerazzurri, the master of myopia seemed to surpass himself by this time apparently not seeing any of the 90 minutes.

Inter, felt the Arsenal manager, were certainly not worth their three-goal margin. It had been a tight game which would have been very different if Wenger's side had scored first or Thierry Henry had converted his penalty when they were two down. His boys had "given everything" in the second half and this result didn't prove that his side needed new defensive resources at this exalted level.

Classic Arsene speak but utterly unconvincing. His side were outclassed in a manner which was almost shocking in its nonchalance by a side missing its two star strikers. His defence, just as naive as their opponent Marco Materazzi had suggested they often were in elite company, was panicked every time an electric 18-year-old Nigerian understudy, Obafemi Martins, charged at them.

Rather than being tight, the hiding could have been more fearful if Inter had harboured any ambition to build on their three-goal half-time advantage. And did Arsenal's men really give everything? Even with 20 minutes left, some of them looked to have given up the chase and were clueless at how to break down a defence as secure as theirs was vulnerable.

On such a night, no wonder Wenger felt it better to see nothing amiss. When your limitations are shown up so brutally, all you can do is to try to accentuate some imaginary positives.

Wenger said: "We have lost a game at home and can still qualify for the knock-out stages, we have good spirit and it's a good way to show it on Sunday against Manchester United."

A positive? Meeting the champions next up at Old Trafford just after they've made a buoyant start to their own Champions League campaign? Wenger now seems to almost be selling it as a game Arsenal cannot afford to lose at the start of a monthlong spell in which they will also meet Newcastle, Liverpool and Chelsea in the Premiership and have two daunting European awaydays in Moscow and Kiev.

"There's not only points at stake in this United game. It's about showing how strong we are mentally and how good our togetherness is. Maybe they're on a high at the moment while we're on a low, but we have four days to work on that." He was asked about the trip to Russia, where defeat by Lokomotiv Moscow could be potentially calamitous, but reckoned he could not see beyond United. "We've got to get something out of it," he said.

The character of his side in adversity has been proven enough times for Wenger to feel confident that quality and resilience will still see them reach the last 16 of the Champions League. Not if they play like last night, though.

For even if you buy Inter manager Hector Cuper's boast that his side were "almost perfect" - they certainly looked equipped to go one better than their semi-final place last year and may find getting shot of Hernan Crespo to Chelsea is good business now they've got a raw diamond like Martins - Arsenal were inexcusably poor in their worst-ever home defeat in the European Cup.

They were bright for the first 15 minutes and then the lights went out. Robert Pires disappeared and so did the defence, first getting caught out from a throw-in which led to the Argentine Julio Ricardo Cruz, who's no Christian Vieri but didn't need to be here, nipping in to chip over Jens Lehmann.

Kily Gonzalez was then given yawning acres on the left flank to set up a second for Dutch winger Andy van der Meyde, whose volley should never have beaten Lehmann.

In contrast, Francesco Toldo made a stunning first-half penalty save from Henry before Turkish midfielder Emre, who with another top performance here again suggested England are going to have their hands full in Istanbul, seemed to hypnotise the back four before exquisitely setting up Martins, whose wonderful duel with Kolo Toure was the game's highlight. Three down in 41 minutes and game over. It was a first-half indignity Arsenal haven't suffered at Highbury for 13 years.

Wenger must have felt green, watching the masterful defensive organisation orchestrated by Javier Zanetti and Fabio Cannavaro while there seemed to be no obvious leadership in his own side's rearguard - even though Sol Campbell's distracted air was quite understandable after the stroke suffered by his father.

"I think it's possible to do well with what we have (in defence)," Wenger insisted, adamant that he hadn't missed out in the summer transfer market. "We have to stick together."

Sticking together. The old spirit. It is what his Arsenal have counted on for so long and it would be foolhardy to rule out an immediate, stirring response at Old Trafford. They are, after all, still top of the league.

Yet forget the domestic skirmish. In the Champions League, it's now one win in the last 10 and last night's defeat felt so crushing, even numbing, that you wonder how in Europe Wenger's men can rediscover the confidence and self-belief to make them anything more than annual bit part players on the biggest stage.

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The wheels come off in Italian job III

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