Arsène Wenger’s Arsenal a snapshot of self-destruction in Champions League

Despite the 17 consecutive qualifications, recent history suggests the manager increasingly finds it difficult to build a team who are not vulnerable to ambushing themselves with the same old mistakes

• Jonathan Wilson: squad must get back to basics

• Match report: Arsenal 1-3 Monaco

Snapshot one: it is 0-0 and the overture to Arsenal versus Monaco is cagey enough. Santi Cazorla is in possession and looks up. All he sees is blue roadblocks. He needs to see a flash of red and white movement, an angle, a pass but everything is blocked off. We have seen this film before.

Snapshot two: Olivier Giroud wears the stricken expression of a man who is being cruelly exposed. He looks almost paralysed by what is happening to him. What a time for his form to disintegrate, in front of a big Champions League crowd and an intrigued French audience back home. The most striking part of this image, however, is that nobody goes to him. He just stands there, by himself, while there is a pause in play. After a third gilded chance turned to stone he needs a team-mate to say something to him, pat him on the back, give him some encouragement. Nobody does. The charred old chestnut about leadership is there for all to see.

Continue reading...





source Sport | The Guardian http://ift.tt/1zirteA