A very sad day for the Gunners. After taking the league on a deserved Adebayor goal, William Gallas inexplicably puts his arm to the ball and gifts United a goal. After that our defence falls asleep and allows the overrated Hargreaves to fool us on a freekick which was given because of a phantom foul.
But ignore all that, the problem was still something very familiar: Arsenal’s inability to take easy chances. Adebayor being the guilty party yet again. We shoulda coulda woulda been up 3-0 in this game if we had a striker the quality of Henry up front. I don’t know why RVP was playing in midfield for most of the game, I imagine his finer finishing ability would’ve been put to good use up front.
We again dominated 75% of the game but somehow managed to lose off of set pieces, a problem that’s been there for quite some time. There’s very little solace in knowing that we were the better team yet again. Wenger needs to fix up the defense for good this summer. Alexandre Song starting in place of Senderos for such a crucial game is testament that we have very little depth in the back four.
The season ends with Arsenal playing some brilliant football for the first half, getting decimated by injuries to key players and finally putting forth a commendable effort to finish out the season. Unfortunately, the ref ended our Champions League campaign and its fitting that we lose at Old Trafford by gifting United a goal and being passive on a set-piece.
This year has been a learning experience and has allowed us to identify exactly where we need to get stronger: defense, concentration, experience and leadership. Its up to Arsene Wenger to address those issues in the summer. What would’ve been the outcome of this season if Eduardo, RVP, Sagna and Rosicky would’ve been healthy? For the most part, I do think we have the talent to compete, its the intangibles that seem to be missing.
