Wenger believes that the managers suffer more after defeats:

It is much harder [for managers]. You look at the tape again but it is always very difficult after the game. Those first 48 hours are very difficult for every manager.

Judging by some reactions of supporters, he must be suicidal right at this moment in time. Presumably Mrs Wenger has the number to hand, of her local Samaritans. Either that or has a few bottles of red lined up for his homecoming, locking away the cat to save it from one hell of a kicking.

Arsene has always hated international week, stopping him from building on a victory or in this case, snapping the players out of the lethargy that was evident in the performance against Villa:

It is frustrating we can’t pick them up because of the international week. At some stage, we would have liked to focus on something different then come back and re-focus again.

That’s before he has even begun to count the cost in tiredness and injuries which will deprive him of the services of players for upcoming matches. Already missing from the squad for Saturday’s trip to Manchester City is Carlos Vela who will apparently return on Friday from playing in Mexico’s World Cup Qualifier against Honduras. I suppose there is little point in Arsene trying to bully Sven the way that Mourinho and Ferguson did when he had the England job and demanding that Vela only plays in the opening half, jumping into a speeding car and on the first plane back to Heathrow. Not that you would expect the Mexican to be anything other than a sub on Saturday, just that it gives Arsene options.

It is hard to know where he would have started with the squad. According to him:

It’s been unbelievable. We won on Saturday and Tuesday and were on a high. But you felt there was no energy left in the side. I don’t have a rational explanation because we tried to make sure that everybody was on top of their game. It didn’t work.

What is unbelievable is that you get the impression that the same players participated in all three games. They did not, an entirely different XI took the field on Tuesday from that which played in the two Saturday games. For tiredness to creep in after a week without a game suggests one of two problems. Either the training was too strenuous during the week, something that seems incompatible with the commonly held belief that everything is scientifically worked out and meticulously timed or more plausibly, the attitude of the players was wrong, believing that they simply had to turn up to claim the victory.

Anyway, enough of Villa and the navel gazing as three points are gone and nothing is going to change that.

Back to Vela. He was the subject of speculation at the weekend with Hull touted as a destination once the Carling Cup run is over. Burnley may see to that with a tough tie at Turf Moor to be expected. An Arsenal player going to Hull on loan might seem somewhat at odds with Arsene’s footballing philosophy but it would serve two purposes. Firstly, it should give Vela more Premier League exposure than he might otherwise get but also, training with some ‘honest’ pros, being involved in performances that are based on discipline and hard work would stand him in good stead. Alex Song meanwhile believes that he has a great future in the game. If reports at the weekend are to be believed, that might well be in Spain with Real Betis looking to secure his services on loan for the remainder of this season, making the move permanent in the summer.

’til Tomorrow.