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Back to Schooldays
Rowson's Comment
Around the Block
News in Brief
Stop the War
Mini-march
Lysistrata Day
Fringe Festival
Straight to the Point
Time to Finnish
Day in the Nick
Starting Over
Readers Letters
Herbal Cleansing
Local Music
Tripping Out
Tippling at the Tup
Property
Housing Matters
Very Testi
Art Happenings
Vietnamese Food
Entertainment
Gardening
Marathon Man
Surfing N16
Man in North Bank
Xword
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• Early elimination from the Champions League is becoming a habit.
The outcome in Valencia was hugely disappointing, but wholly predictable. Four times in
the last five years Arsenal have failed to advance beyond the group phases. Europe is
becoming the gap in Arsene Wenger's CV. The nearest he's ever come to a European trophy
was in 1992, when his Monaco side were beaten 2-0 by Werder Bremen in the CupWinners Cup
final.
• As in the 2001 FA Cup final, the Gunners committed suicide from a position of
strength. Four points from two second phase games and an early goal in front against Ajax
at Highbury promised swift qualification. But Ajax coach Ronald Koeman's negative tactics
curbed Arsenal twice. Then the Gunners frittered away a one-goal and one-man advantage
over Roma, a cardinal lack of discipline that set up the (needless) showdown in Valencia.
• The problems we've been banging on about for ages were highlighted starkly in the
Champions League campaign. Arsenal's lack of a killer instinct. Their failure to finish
off wobbling opponents. Their tendency to admire their own approach work rather than
capitalise on it.
• It was ironic that the Gunners were dumped out of Europe by the sort of player that
Wenger has never signed - John Carew, a tall centre forward who can head the ball. He did
for Arsenal two years ago and he did for them again in 2003. He may not be lightning fast,
nor aesthetically pleasing. But the Gunners need that type of striker, to give them an
option they desperately lack.
• How many close range goals do Arsenal ever score? Very few, because Franny Jeffers
and Freddie Ljungberg are the only Gunners prepared to make runs into the six-yard box. So
nearly all their goals have to be candidates for goal of the season, with passes threaded
through the eye of a needle. Don't they realise that a two yard tap-in counts just the
same?
• Then there's something else, something we've also banged on about for months. The
Arsenal back line has too often been a shambles. The slackness that allowed Antonio
Cassano to score Roma's equaliser at Highbury really said it all. The absence of Martin
Keown in Valencia was a major blow, hard though the barely fit Sol Campbell tried to plug
the gaps. But Pascal Cygan looks hesitant at this level and his confidence is shot to
pieces. Is it a coincidence that he's started in all Arsenal's defeats this season? As for
Igors Stepanovs, the least said the better. Is either better than the departed Matthew
Upson? A quality long-term replacement for Keown is a must this summer.
• There is a growing uncertainty about this side, the feeling that no game is safe
unless they have a comfortable cushion. Witness Carew's winner a few minutes after Thierry
Henry had seemingly hauled Arsenal back into the last eight. Witness the closing minutes
of the FA Cup tie against Chelsea at Highbury, when Arsenal failed to protect a lead. Not
to mention the home games against Ajax and Roma.
• The Gunners still have to show they can compete at the most exalted level in
Europe. Wenger may need to employ radical surgery if they are to reach that plateau.
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