What was witnessed in the San Siro last night wasn’t a footballing contest. It was a massacre that covered every inch of the pitch, from AC Milan’s irresistible attacking verve to Arsenal’s alarming defensive fragility.
The most painful aspect of Arsenal’s performance was that it could have been avoided had the manager called the right shots in his team selection. The win over Sunderland at the weekend, which must now feel a lifetime ago for Arsenal fans, provided a blueprint for success over the next one or two months. While Thierry Henry, Arsene Wenger’s prodigal son, will be missed after making a positive impact since last month’s loan move from New York, the team has been garnering good results over the last few weeks.
What hasn’t helped the cause have been injuries to defensive regulars Per Mertesacker and Laurent Koscielny, the latter’s likely absence for several weeks leaving Arsenal once again threadbare at the back. In general however the team has been clicking well, and one player who was bafflingly left on the bench last night (until the tie had long been put to bed) has given a fresh attacking impetus and incisiveness to his team’s endeavours.
Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain has been gathering momentum faster than anyone on the English stage, and it is no coincidence that his absences in certain games have costed Arsenal in attack. His rampaging runs out wide and deadly crossing meant that Ivory Coast’s Gervinho wasn’t badly missed during the Africa Cup of Nations.
Despite his obvious assets and value to the team, in key games Wenger has elected to demote the winger to the bench. Well documented was the decision to replace Chamberlain with Andrey Arshavin, Arsenal’s basket case forward, against Manchester United in the second half of last month’s league encounter. The Englishman had just instigated his team’s equaliser having completed a mesmeric darting run into the United box, squaring the ball beautifully for Robin van Persie to tap in.
Now in the ascendancy, Arsenal were hunting for a winner, with Chamberlain the driving force. Wenger then inexplicably removed his team’s fulcrum, a decision that cost Arsenal the game. The crowd’s, and Van Persie’s, dismay at the change was palpable. Arshavin’s inertness allowed Antonio Valencia to run unopposed into the Arsenal box, who slipped the ball to Danny Welbeck to fire in the winner. The manager has experienced his toughest year yet in English football, but he has invited much of the criticism with his increasingly frequent poor decision-making.
That decision transformed that game, and a perhaps more mystifying decision was to leave Chamberlain out of the starting line-up at the San Siro last night. It has been well documented that Milan are strongest through the middle, with full backs that struggle to keep pace with zippy wingers. This should have played into Arsenal’s hands, in particular Oxlade-Chamberlain.
As it was, he made way for the out-of-form Aaron Ramsey, who has looked out of his depth this season. Arsenal’s only other change was to bring in Kieran Gibbs at left back, with Thomas Vermaelen, who has been played at left back a lot lately, moved into the middle. This was understandable given the lack of cover in the full back positions, but Ramsey’s inclusion mocked Wenger’s determination to send out a potent attacking team.
The midfielder, along with the rest of the side, was flattened by the runaway freight train of Milan’s attack. Theo Walcott was a letdown again on the right flank, where along with the left flank the turf had been relaid, but the set-up of Arsenal played straight into Milan’s hands. Mark Van Bommel shielded the back four faultlessly, but Wenger would have been long aware of his, and Milan’s other midfielders’, qualities, but did not exploit their weakness on the wings.
Tomas Rosicky, who has lately given a good account of himself in midfield, was wrongly put on the left wing, the place where Oxlade-Chamberlain should have been put. Credit where it is due, Milan were brilliant, and the wrongly maligned Zlatan Ibrahimovic was imperious as Milan’s spearhead. Mocking the myth that he goes wanting in big games and against English opposition, the giant Swede ripped open Arsenal’s defences and fairly destroyed Vermaelen. A man-of-the-match performance was deservedly capped with a penalty to give Milan their fourth and put the Gunners to bed.
Had Wenger got his tactics right, this tie could be delicately poised by now, perhaps even in Arsenal’s favour. The inclusion of Chamberlain in the starting line-up may have seen his team pick up one, perhaps two, away goals, but now the manager will be left to wonder what might have been. With Gervinho back in England and set for Saturday’s FA Cup encounter against Sunderland, Walcott’s place in the starting berth could at last be under threat from a fellow compatriot. It seems only Wenger would feel otherwise.
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