Facts: ARSENE WENGER must win the FA Cup or go No more excuses: Arsenal must end their trophy drought this season Arsenal fans have grown bitterly accustomed to disappointment since they last tasted silverware in the 2005 FA Cup final. In fact, so long has the gap been, Pep Guardiola has found the time to retire from playing, coach Barcelona B for a year, win 14 trophies as Barcelona manager, have a sabbatical and then break a ridiculous number of Bundesliga records with Bayern Munich. Arsenal fans, meanwhile, have been forced to live a life of almost unyielding misery when it comes to major competitions, giving weight to Jose Mourinho’s claims that Arsene Wenger is “a specialist in failure”. In 2006 they took a 1-0 lead against Barcelona in the Champions League final, only for their 10 men to eventually wilt and concede twice in the closing stages; 12 months later they lost to Chelsea, again 2-1 after going a goal up, in the final of the League Cup. Both of these results were eminently understandable, if disappointing, coming as they did against better and more experienced teams. Rather, it is the annual league collapses, the cup capitulations and, above all else, the League Cup final defeat to Birmingham City in 2011 that have hurt so badly and cut so, so deep. But now, following Manchester City’s shock exit to Wigan Athletic, Arsenal are the huge favourites to lift the FA Cup, facing Wigan in the semi-final and then, if they make it, one of Sheffield United or Hull City in the final. Quite simply, Arsenal cannot mess this up now; the cards are so heavily stacked in their favour. Even a team as chronically afflicted by the jitters as Arsenal can’t let this chance slip, can they? The Gunners looked rather magisterial in the second half of their 4-1 quarter-final win over Everton and their squad puts any other left in the competition to shame. It is not just about technical quality though: if it was, Arsenal would have won a trophy long ago. It will come down to mental strength and durability, and if, from this position, Wenger suffers disappointment yet again, there can be no case for keeping him in charge of a team that would have only cemented its pathological defeatism. Win the FA Cup or go. SOURCE: uk.eurosport.yahoo #AAdmin
Posted on: Fri, 14 Mar 2014 12:13:36 +0000
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