Wenger blames Referee after Edwood defeat

The game summed up the season for Arsenal, which promised so much and delivered absolutely nothing. The game which had no real meaning, turned out to be a big disappointment for the Gunners.

Wenger started with Vela, Van Persie and Walcott up front with Nasri, Diaby and a surprise inclusion of Arsenal cult hero Eboue in the midfield. Clichy was replaced by Traore at left back. Arshavin, who was injured for over 3 weeks, was on the bench along with Eduardo, Djourou and Gibbs.

Arsenal took the lead through Van Persie who headed in the corner 13 minutes after kick off. His first goal since his return and it was just a matter of time for him to score against Blackburn.

The hosts started bombarding the Arsenal penalty box with long balls on every possible occasion. Throw-ins anywhere in the final third became a corner and free kicks anywhere on the pitch for Rovers became a chance, thanks to Paul Robinson. Fabianski survived this assault for 45 minutes before finally making a costly mistake just before half time. A corner which was not punched properly ended up falling perfectly to Keith Anderson, who crossed it immediately for Dunn to score the equalizer.

Second half continued in the same fashion, with no spirit, no energy and no drive. Van Persie had a snap shot and Salgado almost put it in his own net. These were few of the mentionable chances before Van Persie was denied a definite penalty. A superb shot fake which sent Salgado to the ground fighting against momentum. Just when he was about to take a shot, he was hacked down by the former Real Madrid player. Referee waved play on.

With about 25 minutes left to play, the home side took the lead. A good corner into the crowded 6 yard box saw Samba score an easy header right in front of the goal. Fabianski was once again as helpless as a villain who fights Rajnikant. Wenger bought Arshavin and Eduardo on for Vela and Eboue respectively in search of a goal, but the game ended 2-1 and left the Arsenal fans all over the world in shame and disbelief.

A shameful result and a disgraceful performance by Arsenal. It speaks volumes when your best central midfielder was Eboue, a right back/winger who has played only a handful of games in the middle. Diaby and Nasri failed to step up, loosing possession and creating nothing from the centre. Likewise the wingers, Vela and Walcott, were not effective enough. Thought there was a bit of threat from both of them, but failed to deliver the final ball as usual.

Wenger’s one sentence said it all when asked about the performance –

“I think it was a poor game. And that’s it.”

He did however defend Fabianski when the whole world of football looked to crucify the young Polish keeper. Wenger turned the blame on the referee for not protecting the keeper and tactics used by the home team. He said –

“I think it was a foul on both goals. There is no purpose to play the ball from the Blackburn players.”

“But I think the referee cannot allow that. You have no chance as a keeper to go for the ball if every time you go somebody pushes you. The two players in front of him every time had only one purpose – to stop him from getting the ball. They did not even watch the ball.”

With one more game to go, Arsenal need one point to secure the third spot. Arsenal lead Spurs by 5 points and Man City by 6. Both of them locked in the battle for Champions League spot have 2 games remaining.

One month ago, Arsenal were fighting on two fronts. Facing Barcelona in the Champions league and snapping at the heels of Chelsea and Man United in the league. After 4 losses in the last 5 games, we fans are just waiting for the season to end and hoping for a fruitful transfer window. But somewhere in our minds, we still fear Wenger’s spending habits.