LONDON: When the dark clouds descend on Arsene Wenger, when the sexagenarian worry lines tighten, when another result has gone against Arsenal, the Frenchman rarely bites his tongue. On Sunday, in a single extraordinary post-match interview, Wenger accused an opponent of cheating, offered succour to refereeing conspiracy theories, and insisted that Manchester City had been allowed three offside goals in his team’s past two visits there.
Wenger on Raheem Sterling winning the penalty that gave City a 2-0 lead: “We know that he dives well, he does that very well.” Manchester City are infuriated by the claim.
Wenger on ultimately losing 3-1 to a Gabriel Jesus goal laid on by David Silva: “You can accept that if City wins the game in a normal way you say ‘well done’ because they are a good side, but the way it happened for me it is unacceptable. It’s the second time in two years now. We concede two goals offside last year and we concede a goal offside here again.”
Wenger on why Silva (twice) and Leroy Sane were not flagged offside in the build-up to that trio of contentious goals spread over last campaign’s meeting and Sunday’s: “It’s by coincidence always the mistakes are made for the home team, as we know.”
Perhaps it’s the longevity of his tenure in England’s top tier but the 68-year-old has a history of pushing such matters farther than most managerial rivals are permitted to. He was right about the failures to flag for offside — Silva was clearly ahead of Arsenal’s fractured backline on Sunday, just as he’d thrown a leg at Sterling’s shot in December as Petr Cech moved to save it. Sane also ran into an illegal position on his way to equalizing last year.
Wenger’s suggestion that the weekend’s match officials had systematically favored Pep Guardiola’s high-flying, praise-laden home side was phrased just carefully enough that the English Football Association can avoid charging him with questioning the integrity of match officials. Former referees’ chief Keith Hackett even declared that “the wider point he made about declining standards of refereeing was right."
Wrong, however, was the accusation that Sterling had dived when Nacho Monreal ran into the forward as he prepared to shoot on goal. The England international was moving at pace, Monreal clattered into body, not ball, and was fortunate not to be sent off for denying a goalscoring opportunity. While Sterling has a reputation for engaging in zero-contact simulation in the past, he was fouled here. As the Englishman was when an outpaced Saed Kolasinac subtly shoved him over to prevent a conversion into an empty net at 0-0 (another red-card offense).
The build-up to Kolasinac’s unnoticed foul was symptomatic of the problems Wenger caused his own players in this match. Concerned by City’s ability to counter with precisely applied pace, the Frenchman shifted personnel and had his team sitting deep without the ball — a five-man rearguard sandbagged by a line of four midfielders. At the centre of his back five he stationed Francis Coquelin.
Normally a holding midfielder, Coquelin’s loose pass instigated City’s attack, while his poor positioning stretched Arsenal’s defensive line. Sterling deployed a significant advantage of pace to bypass wingback Kolasinac’s rear and should have earned penalty or goal. In this shape and mentality, Arsenal’s passing was uncharacteristically poor, with much of their strategy consisting of firing long balls at 1.69m central striker Alexis Sanchez.
Exchanging leading scorer Alexandre Lacazette for Coquelin and switching to a back four brought Arsenal back into the game, but only after City had established a two-goal lead. The way Arsenal lost a third underlined the visitors’ failings. Kolasinac handed over possession 35 yards from goal then dawdled rearwards as City attacked his vacant left-back berth.
Though Silva ran offside to collect his pass and cross for the third, there was actually no need to — so great was the space left to him.
So Arsenal supporters were treated to another post-match treatise in which Wenger blamed officials and opponents, while simultaneously claiming that his team had been close to taking something from the game. The reality is they were not. And that’s a reality that has become commonplace under a manager who no longer ranks alongside today’s very best.