Arsenal Analysis: Finger of Blame Must Turn On Arsene Wenger

Arsene Wenger must look in the mirror more closely when he is preparing to point the finger of blame.

After their third defeat of the season at Sunderland on Saturday, he took the unusual step of criticising his players.

He also alluded to the problems of an international break, the resultant fatigue for some players and a lack of sharpness.

But, in truth, he failed to pick the right team to do the job and failed also to put them in the right frame of mind for such a challenging fixture.

He admitted as much in his concession that he and Arsenal had under-estimated Sunderland. That is a tacit signal that Arsenal did not do enough to prepare for Steve Bruce's team.

The fact, for example, that William Gallas was on a Eurostar train back from Paris to London on Thursday evening, and signing autographs for disgruntled Irish fans, is just one example of this.

Andrey Arshavin did not return until later still and Wenger's normally meticulous pre-match preparation was wrecked. Minds were still looking back, when they should have been looking forward, on Friday.

And if the selection of Armand Traore, for his first Premier League outing this season, was surprising, it was nothing compared to the choice of Samir Nasri - also making his first league start of the campaign - ahead of Arshavin.

The Russian may have been another latecomer, after his disappointment in a World Cup elimination, but with Eduardo also starting a new job as centre-forward, it meant too many changes and a weakening of the team, particularly on the left where Mikael Silvestre's experience could have been critical for so many of the men around him.

This is not to say that Traore played poorly - although he collected a yellow card for a very late challenge that demonstrated his rustiness at this level - but to realise that this fixture needed experience, grit and physical power from the start.

Arshavin had every reason to want to play and make an impact after that historic defeat by Slovenia and his understanding with Cesc Fabregas and Eduardo would have been valuable. He was missed and his arrival as a substitute on the hour, in a slightly confused line-up, proved the point.

Humbled | Arsenal were ill-prepared for Sunderland

Arsenal now face a potentially decisive Premier League meeting with leaders Chelsea on Sunday after trying to regain form and performance in Tuesday evening's Champions League match against Standard Liege.

Wenger knows that only two good victories will suffice if his ambitions are to be fulfilled this season. A defeat at home to Chelsea would leave Arsenal trailing by 11 points and virtually knocked out of contention for the title.

Saturday's defeat not only ended Arsenal's unbeaten run of 13 games, but also dented the team's momentum and confidence. After creating and scoring goals for fun, they recorded their first blank and were unconvincing.

It was as if, for some reason, everyone at Arsenal had taken his eyes off the ball, metaphorically, in the hoo-hah that followed Thierry Henry's handball in Paris. The focus was Stade de France not Stadium of Light.

Wenger, too, struggled to absorb the impact of this defeat - because it was unexpected. And it was unexpected because he and his team had been riding on the crest of a wave - and went into the game with the wrong attitude.

"Mentally, it's a blow,' he conceded. "It's a big disappointment because we know that this was a very big, important game for us that we couldn't afford to lose.

"I believe, maybe, we didn't realise enough the importance of the difficulty here.

"We were much better at Man City, we were much better at Manchester United than we were today that is for sure. We were not good enough, I don't deny that." 

He talked also of a "lack of penetration" and said "in some positions we were not strong enough". He added: "It is a massive setback because you need consistency to win a title. And today we were not capable of doing that - and it raises question marks."

Yes. And the question marks are about the same old issues as usual.

This team is wonderfully talented, capable of precocious purity and dazzling delights, but remains fragile. There is no doubt Robin van Persie was sorely missed as a focal point in attack; but, more seriously, where was the mental and physical strength that is required for these contests?

Remember the old adage 'when the going gets tough, the tough get going'? Now Arsenal need their tough guys to stand up and be counted so that by February 6, when they are scheduled to visit Stamford Bridge, they still have some reason to believe in Wenger's ambitions.

Tim Collings