MANCHESTER CITY 3 – 0 ARSENAL

1 – 0 Ireland (45)
2 – 0 Robinho (56)
3 – 0 Sturridge (pen 90)

A deliberate choice not to post yesterday. In view of the outcome at the City of Manchester stadium, I decided to take a step back.

The result was not surprising nor was the performance. A patchwork quilt of a side gave a bits and pieces of a performance. The decisive action Arsene made in removing Gallas as captain unsurprisingly meant he was not included in the squad for this match. I doubt his inclusion would have changed much, if anything. Under normal winning circumstances, the result could have been seen as inevitable but taken as a blip. These are not normal circumstances. The result is very much a continuation of the poor run of form exhibited by the squad in recent weeks.

Typically, the media reaction has been anything from vaguely reasonable to totally hysterical, the honour for which falls to Rob Beasley of News of the World infamy, who decided that the colour of Nicklas Bendtner’s boots summed up the crisis. Is there are crisis at the club? In terms of ability, no. In terms of confidence? Most definitely. Problematically for Arsene Wenger, that feeling will not be lifted in the stands by a win over Dinamo Kyiv this week. This time, sustained results, particularly against Chelsea at the weekend, are required.

Inevitably, the Gallic shadow cast by William Gallas’ actions is large and darkening Arsene’s doorstep. The media had been baying for blood and having stoically fought them off since St Andrews, little doubt that Wenger felt hugely let down by his compatriot. Stripping him of the captaincy was a swift and decisive action by the manager. Omitting him from the squad shows the effect it has had on Gallas mentally. He probably sees himself as the scapegoat. Reports suggest he believed the conversation with the journalist to have been off the record. How much truth there is in that is unknown by as much as it is believable, the opposite is also true. I was going to suggest that this could be an interesting chapter to read in his memoirs but it certainly will be in the paperback version, if not the hardback when it is released over here.

What does Wenger do with the defender? Unsubstantiated reporting suggests he has taken the relieving of his duties badly. Quotes attibuted to the player in Saturday morning’s press look suspiciously like old sayings regurgitated as far as finishing his playing days in France are concerned. For the match against Kyiv, it will take an enormous showing of character on Gallas’ part to participate. It will be a humiliating experience, his chastisement already public, his downfall confirmed as someone else leads out the side. It has been suggested that he and Fabregas – the people’s captain – do not see eye to eye, an easy and cheap accusation to make in the circumstances, the media knowing that no-one in the club will confirm or deny in light of Wenger’s refusal to broach the subject of the captaincy going forward.

Gallas’ character is going to show through in the coming weeks. As much as the media wanted to hang, draw and quarter him, they now need him to close the chapter. Indeed, that is a strong argument to get him to do an interview with ATVO or ATV to put things out in the open and, provided contrition is shown, draw a line under the affair, at least until he has left the club. If that is to be in January, Wenger will presumably only do so with a replacement lined up.

So to the match. There were few positives to take from it, save for the relief that it is out of the way. They can consider themselves unfortunate to have gone in a goal down at half time yet it was more comedy defending which put them in that position. Once more it was the left side with Clichy and Silvestre producing a gentleman’s excuse me for Ireland to capitalise on. Heads went down mentally and they were picked off in a counter-attack, Robinho showing impudence when finishing for the second. The penalty award in the last minute was almost irrelevant, harsh but symptomatic of the afternoon.

Bendtner has been criticised for being ineffective yet a forward is only as good as the service provided which on Saturday was negligible for the most part. That said, he should have done better with the limited opportunities which came his way, the difference between ‘making it’ and not is as marginal as the distance by which the Dane failed to make contact with the ball.

In defence, Djourou had a decent enough game in the circumstances providing the hope that a happier team situation might produce more solidity with the Swiss youngster in the side. Wenger will be hoping no doubt that Kolo Toure is fit for Tuesday for Hoyte was exposed for pace and positioning. It does not mean that he is not good enough, simply that he is not ready to come into a disrupted defence. Ramsey came on as a substitute and injected some urgency but to be honest, the circumstances before the game had too much impact for differences to be made, despite Wenger’s protestations to the contrary.

Arsene made much afterwards of not answering questions about Gallas, save to say that he had a future at the club publicly at least. That was a mistake in my opinion, not in the aspect of Gallas having a future but not answering questions in detail. It was surely better to have got that hurdle out of the way for he will have already made his decision about a long-term replacement before admonishing the former captain.

Wenger believes the team needs to have more than one leader. He is correct in that there has to be a show of character. He is wrong in that this team needs a strong leader, someone whose opinion and word they all respect. If that is Fabregas, so be it. Wenger’s other options appear only to be Toure or Almunia. Nothing against the goalkeeper but it is a position that cannot influence the game very readily. If there were other leaders on the pitch, that might be a solution but so far this season, there has been little to suggest that there has been.

’til Tomorrow.