More misery as all hopes go Dutch

LAST WEEK’S ignominious European exit was all the more difficult to take, with the other three Premiership sides all occupying highly-prized berths in the last eight of world football’s most prestigious competition.

What’s more, with Barca out and Milan struggling for form, it appears that the one trophy that continues to elude our illustrious club, is there for the taking this season. Hopefully Valencia’s David Villa might yet have some say in this argument. Yet I can’t help but feel that Bayern Munich could be the only team left with the necessary Champions League credentials, to be capable of perhaps putting a spoke in the pretensions of the Premiership sides.

At the time, understandably, Alexander Hleb was crucified for sacrificing our last remaining chance of any silverware this season. However I was left feeling sorry for him, as although he was the obvious scapegoat as a result of his naïve and utterly needless foul which led to PSV’s all-important away goal, his was merely the penultimate act in the miserable pot-boiler of Arsenal’s failures in the past couple of weeks.

What’s more, while the Dutch might have nicked a crucial couple of feet to whip the ball in from a far more threatening angle, the massed ranks of our defence were tasked with taking care of one player.

This was merely another example of the sort of defensive failings that have plagued us for far too long. While most successful sides are founded on a regimental back-line that reacts like clockwork, our shambolic approach to defending set-pieces means that we’ve had to rely on outscoring the opposition.

Some Gooners contend that the circumstances might’ve been different if we were involved in an encounter with one of Europe’s footballing superpowers.

Yet I have to admit to being jealous of the way the Scousers fulfilled their 12th man obligations by raising the roof at Anfield the night before.

With us being out of every other competition and with this being the biggest occasion under floodlights, at our new stadium to date, after the baptism of the Spurs and Man Utd matches, I was hoping to hear the sort of noise which might truly cause the hair to stand up on the back of my neck for the first time at our new home.

Okay, so PSV might not be the most glamorous opposition, but considering our entire season rested on the outcome of this game, I would’ve at least expected the two teams to walk out into our grandiose arena, to be greeted by the same sort of wall of noise that we’d witnessed in Liverpool the night before.

Instead of which we had to wait until the second half for a concerted assault on PSV’s goal. When in truth, with our two-goal target, we really should have been turning the heat up from the opening whistle, producing an intensity which might’ve put PSV under pressure and resulted in a much needed early goal, rather than allowing the visitors all the time they required to settle into a defensive rhythm.

Prior to this match some suggested that we needed to guard against going at PSV too gung-ho. Yet this was always unlikely in light of the lukewarm climate on the night. Sadly, as is all too often the case in over-priced, all-seater Premiership stadia these days, instead of producing the atmosphere to inspire events on the pitch, an hour passed before our crowd raised the decibel level, but only in response to the goal.

While the atmosphere at every ground has suffered from football’s gentrification, it seems that elsewhere there are still some fans who recognise when a “big game noise” is needed and they continue to pull something out of the bag as far as crowd participation is concerned.

Corporate hospitality is essential to ensure the finances at our new stadium stack up, but I have to wonder if it’s going to end up costing us on the pitch, possibly because we’re dependent on a much higher proportion of these high-rolling hordes than other clubs. Perhaps it’s just me, but where European nights at Highbury were invariably high-octane affairs, I get the sense of a strangely subdued mood at the new gaffe. It’s as if the place has been invaded by an army of less partisan suits, wandering around at half time in search of grub and grog on offer gratis to guests of UEFA’s ubiquitous corporate partners.

Yet considering the club’s proud “never say die” traditions, what really bothered me last Wednesday was the reaction to PSV’s goal. You’d have never seen the likes of Keown and Adams lie down and accept their fate. Even with only five minutes left on the clock, they’d have gone out of the competition kicking and screaming to the end. And although such staunch characteristics might exist amongst certain members of Wenger’s current squad, they were hardly likely to demonstrate them amidst a mass walk-out, with thousands heading for the exits with their backs to the action.

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