Football’s various stages of denial

AFTER being written off by Arsene Wenger last November as a player who, “doesn’t do much”, Didier Drogba looked rather surprised to find himself accepting a congratulatory handshake from the Frenchman on the final whistle.

Having single-handedly destroyed Arsenal’s hopes of the title, a shrug and a glare would have been the politest treatment that he could have hoped for. Perhaps though, Wenger had come to realise that Drogba wasn’t just the difference between the two teams on the day, but that he was the difference in the entire ethos of the two clubs.

Perhaps this was the moment that Wenger would acknowledge that a more robust approach would be required if Arsenal were ever going to win the league again. After all, this year’s title challenge is dead and he had just visibly sped through the first four stages of grief on the sidelines already.