Wenger in a state of denial

ARSENE WENGER is a man in denial; in denial about the shortcomings of his squad and in denial regarding the strength and contribution of Drogba to Sunday’s game.

Until he realises that without a bit of steel in midfield, a proven goalscorer and a decent goalkeeper, then the trophyless period in the red part of North London will continue.

For an intelligent man, Wenger seems determined to make an ass of himself by not addressing these glaring shortcomings.

His talented teenagers will eventually grow frustrated at playing beautiful football but having no silverware to show for it – just as their fans have.

The phrase that was heard again and again following our demolition of Arsenal was “men against boys” – it was heard in the ground, on the tube home, on the TV interviews and repeated in almost every paper report I read and it’s is hard to disagree.

Compared to the Chelsea team, the Arsenal players looked, well .... small and rather insignificant. Even Gallas, who was immense for us, seemed to have shrunk in stature and definitely in attitude. He is a shadow of the player that played in royal blue.

We Chelsea fans desisted from booing him, but we did let him know in no uncertain terms that we felt he had not really made a fruitful career choice. As “should have stayed at a big club” echoed around the Emirates, he stared stoically ahead and seemed determined not to hear us.

Ashley Cole on the other hand was booed from the moment his name was announced to the moment he limped off in the 72nd minute – but at least on two of those occasions he made the boos stick in the Gooner throats as he demonstrated perfectly just one dimension of what his ex-club were missing, pin-point crosses – the kind that lead to goals.

But it is difficult to pick out who had most influence on this game – whether it was John Terry with his imperious defending and focussed leadership, Drogba, often shrugging off three players at a time, Anelka whose mastery of the ball and unselfish supportive play allowed Didier to position himself where he could be most influential or indeed someone else – each man played his part.

One must not forget Ancelotti who had finely tuned the diamond and changed its dimensions slightly to make this a far more defensive display. Only when he and the team were satisfied that they were in control, did Chelsea stretch out and become more expansive.

This led to a very short revival for Arsenal right at the beginning of the second half, but Terry and the defence simply cranked it up another notch and Arsenal’s brief flurry was quickly and decisively quelled. If this was a spoken soliloquy, I would be whispering this so please imagine this in hushed tones – this was a league winning performance . . . it was rather Mourinho like in fact.

That said, despite what the pundits, the bookies and some Chelsea fans that should know better say, there is a long way to go and we need to prove that we have learnt the valuable lesson that Wigan taught us.

I believe Wenger’s Arsenal are beginning to form a mental block when coming up against Chelsea, exactly as we had with them prior to the Champions League quarter-final where we beat them at Highbury in 2004. Once that kind of psychological obstruction is in place it can be difficult to shift even with changes in playing personnel or management.

Wenger knows that a defeat like last Sunday could have a detrimental effect on the rest of their season – so rather than face the truth he is trying and persuade them (and us) that it was bad luck that lost them the game.

Anyway as good as this result, we need to move on and concentrate at the next job in hand – that being the Carling Cup against Blackburn tonight and the contenders v pretenders game against City at the weekend.

City are under some pressure at the moment and would know that a win against us would be a real statement of intent. We have been guilty of dropping the baton following outstanding displays by believing the plaudits of the press – that needs to stop. We have opened up a small gap on United, but as Newcastle proved, even a lead stretching into double figures guarantees you nothing. Focus is the key now.