How to save the FA Cup

 

The third round of the FA Cup is traditionally one of the great weekends in the sporting calendar. A great way to start a new year where giant killings can occur as equally as cricket scores on the football pitch take place.

However, the third round of the 2014/15 edition of the world's most famous cup competition had a somewhat poor showing on all fronts. Poorly attending matches, poor match ups and predictable television coverage meant that the magic of the cup is again put into question. Who to blame though?

Can you blame Premier League sides from ringing the changes after four league matches in quick succession over the Christmas period with many playing on New Year's Day and then again two or three days later.

Do you blame the clubs who scheduled their games on Sunday or a Monday in the case of Burnley v Tottenham that was so poorly attended they closed a major stand as pictures will attest to.

Do you blame the television companies for picking obvious big name teams no matter who they were playing.  Yes it was a repeat of the final in May, but did we really need to see an all Premier League tie in  Arsenal v Hull on a tea-time Sunday night slot when Wimbledon v Liverpool or Everton v West Ham would have been more appealing. Why did the BBC who have first choice pass over Yeovil v Manchester United, admittedly they clawed for the 1988 repeat yet the scheduling of that game on Monday night did no favours.

Wimbledon v Liverpool was a showpiece event, but for Steven Gerrard would have garnered the giant killing the competition so desperately needed. Yet the BBC who have put the main round proper draws on Monday night to increase awareness and attention decided to screen the draw live from Wimbledon in the main clubhouse, thus belittling the draw from the professional and formal occasion it deserves to that resembling a church raffle.

Why pass over the chance to screen Sheffield United away at QPR, a known cup entity in Nigel Clough's side from Yorkshire versus Harry Redknapp's strugglers. Many knew Redknapp would play a reserve side and focus on Premier League survival, gifting the Blades another top flight cup scalp.  Perhaps United are guilty of their own success, they are on televison twice later this month playing Tottenham Hotspur in the semi-final of the Capital One Cup, so maybe schedulers felt why give them anymore exposure than they are already getting. Yet United held up their part of the deal by eliminating QPR easily in a 3-0 victory, chance missed for programmers.

My biggest gripe is the positioning of replays for the competition. The tournament's history has been flooded with great memories in replays down the years but this is a knockout competition, lets make it knockout competition, one game to a finish on the day with extra time and penalties.  As much as we hate them, penalty shoot-outs bring added drama to proceedings and for all those travelling fans and home supporters who have to fork out so much for their ticket post Christmas; I feel the bonus of seeing a final result will instigate a renewed interest and fervour in proceedings. This alteration will save our eardrums from the constant moaning of managers about fixture congestion and fatigued players

The argument will be that lower league sides will relish the opportunity of drawing the first match to get a bigger share of gate money in the replay.  Yet those games are replayed in midweek, an immediate precursor of lower attendances and if there are not many replays will more than likely get screened on commercial broadcasters; the teams split the gate money anyway during cup games so as much as it was great for Cambridge to draw Man United at home in the fourth round, do not be fooled into thinking Cambridge would not mind an away draw at Old Trafford with all those receipts coming their way. The television fee for the tie will help swallow that pill for certain.

A resolution to the problem of teams missing out on big away days and also the big clubs always being drawn at home, would be to follow the Davis Cup method of drawing.  In that tennis competition, the home nation take turns in playing host due to the long gaps in playing opponents.  For instance, Great Britain had to play away at Italy last year as they hosted the Azzurri the last time they were drawn together many years previously.  A similar sort of method in football would mix it up and avoid such issues as Arsenal playing at home in every round as they did last season and remove the big boys from their comfort zones; and once the draw is done throw more intrigue into the competition.

These are merely ideas and this writer does not envisage anything changing drastically but changes must occur if the competition is going to keep its allure for years to come.  The FA itself needs to be stronger and not allow games to be played over five days as we had in this round and restrict it to Saturday to Monday play only; otherwise the competition will fall even further down the pecking order of priorities behind the race for Top four and the need for Premier League survival.

Men in Black in the dark

Over the past weekend, the Premier League saw two of the least desirable refereeing performances of this season in the accumulated time of four hours.

On Wearside, Chris Foy and company had three hand-ball decisions to give at the same end of the football pitch in Sunderland and only got two of them right.  The first one was the most clear cut one with Norwich goalkeeper Mark Bunn racing out of his area to stop Danny Graham from giving the Mackems the lead.

Although the ball hit Bunn's midriff before hitting his underarm and tricep; the decision to dismiss him from the field of play for denying a clear goal-scoring opportunity whilst on the face of things may seem harsh was by the letter of the law correct.

Norwich had to play for nearly an hour without a full quota of men, not helped 10 minutes later by the award of a penalty against Sebastian Bassong for handball.  This was one of those that you have seen given and not given, a skidding ball hit the turf hit Bassong's chest then brushed his left bicep.  The decision to give the penalty fell onto the assistant referee, who did not hesitate.

Sunderland converted the penalty to level it up at 1-1.  However, more drama was to follow when in the second half, Norwich City were denied a penalty of their own when a clear handball was awarded but as a free-kick on the edge of the box and not a penalty.  The fallacy continues in replays when defender Danny Rose is shown to be inside the box when airborne and still inside the box when he lands.

The refusal to award a penalty makes it a bizarre double bill of wrong when you recall Marouanne Fellani's handball versus Manchester City at Goodison Park, when the Belgian blocked a Carlos Tevez shot a full three yards inside the box only for referee Lee Probert to award a free-kick.

The discussions between the referee and assistant referee's would be interesting and this is where I feel the need for transparency and the broadcasting of the dialogue needs to be a healthy step forward for officiating.

At my level, I am told by my match official whom I am assisting to help with matters regarding if it is or is not inside the box; on both of these occasions the referee can give the penalty and then look across to the assistant for clarification.  We are always told we also have more time than we think.

Ten days ago, Mark Clattenburg took the time to ask his assistant referee for clarification about a last minute penalty award.  Clattenburg blew for the foul, looked across conversed with his assistant and then pointed to the spot.  This upset the Southampton players (who have since been charged by the FA for failing to control themselves) because the penalty award was not instantaneous - the fact that the end result was correct was by the by.

Then in Wigan, we witnessed the most horrific tackle in recent memory as Calum McManaman launched himself over the ball to 'tackle' Newcastle midfielder Haidara who it is feared has sustained left knee ligament damage.  The most worrying thing about the whole incident was the award of not even a free-kick to Newcastle, let alone a booking for McManaman where a red card would have been the mandatory enforcement.

Yet the FA chose to not charge the youngster with violent conduct due to an agreed stance by the PGMO to not re-referee games in retrospect.  Ultimately, one official did see the tackle but did not bring it to referee Mark Halsey's attention.

So instead of getting the decision right at the end of the day, the FA have chosen to respect the referee's decision is final even when it is wrong.

It is fair to say that we are learning more and more that the referees in the Premier League need to be younger and fitter, both of the guilty referees are the wrong end of their 40s in the twilight of their careers and yet whilst the referees do do an excellent job.  For me at Level 4, such decisions are difficult to defend when talking to colleagues and the average fan.

The English game has been at the forefront of many things and in terms of refereeing we are regarded as the best in the world, yet the governing body is not helping matters and in some respects the referees are not helping themselves by remaining behind this veil of secrecy and pride - if you stay in the dark too long, you may become that what you want to be, invisible.

Premier League 2011/12 Review - Week#2 - Tuesday 23rd August

Week 2 of the Premier League will be remembered as one where the wheels came off at Arsenal, and the two Manchester clubs laid down markers for the season.

Firstly, lets start with the bad news at the Emirates.  Arsenal lost 2-0 at home to a cohesive Liverpool side, admittedly it took the needless sending off of Frimpong (two in two for Arsenal on that front) and the introduction of Luis Suarez to inject something into the rain-soaked affair.  Suarez's intervention led to Aaron Ramsey putting through his own net, though a clearance ricocheting off his chest over the stranded Sczezeny can be construed as unlucky, and then Suarez tapped in the sealer in injury time.  
    Before that Arsenal looked limp in attack - devoid of creation and impetus.  The encouraging aspect was that Frimpong was the best player before his dismissal, but the constant ill discipline (81 players sent off in the Wenger era) coupled with absentism through injury of vital players such as Wilshere, means that Arsenal have started the season with no continuity and no formula for success.  Along with the uncomfortable saga of Samir Nasri's move to Man.City and you have an anguished Wenger on the sidelines cluthcing at straws putting a team together as best he can. 
    And all this before a vital Champions League play-off game on Wednesday night in Italy against Udinese, where Arsenal hold a tentative one-nil lead - though Udinese showed enough combative effort to make sure that the second leg will not be easy.  Arsenal may well score, but the lack of Wilshere travelling means Wenger may force City's bluff and play Nasri rendering him cup-tied for the season in that competition.

Man.City kept up there 100% record beating Bolton 3-2 at the Reebok thanks to goals from David Silva, Gareth Barry and Edin Dzeko. 
   Silva was inspirational, whilst Agureo looked a little off the pace in his first start - later to be substituted by Tevez in a like for like situation.  Dzeko led the front well and relishes the prospect of having two people behind him feeding balls to him, and he took the third goal well.
    However, it is in defence where the questions will be asked.  Kompany and Lescott could not handle the imposing presence of Kevin Davies, who scored Bolton's second with a header simply by outjumping Lescott.
    If Mancini, has the belief that they can outscore every team then they probably are capable but teams will ask more questions of their defence than Bolton did, and last year's incarnation of City would probably have dropped points.

As for Man.Utd, they joined their neighbours and Wolves as the only teams who are perfect.  United continued their impressive PL record at home against Spurs, not losing at home to them since 1989 when Gary Lineker scored a winner.  Gazza did not cry until 1990, now he cries all the time, thats how long ago Spurs last won at Old Trafford.
   Spurs, playing there first league game of the season, following the postponement of their home game to Everton following the civil unrest in the area looked a bit of the pace by the end of the game, but for an hour more than held their own against the Champions.  Good in possession, creating chances and with Van der Vaart employing a shoot on sight policy against the ropey David de Gea, Tottenham looked good for a point.  Until the hour mark when a cross from the ever stable Tom Cleverley was met by the head of Danny Welbeck who again started with Rooney. 
    After that, the wind fell out of Tottenham and the fight left them and United with the lead and the superiority and a typical boisterous crowd roaring them on, had the wind in their sails.  And it was scary at how good United looked, the last half hour was a passage of irresistible passing and movement, never more apparent than the second goal when Welbeck in a one-two with scorer, Anderson, backheeled to the Brazilian who had an easy task of scoring past Brad Friedel, who was impressive in goal on his Spurs' debut and was blameless for any of the goals. 
   Jermain Defoe hit the post on 88 minutes, and that might have made it interesting but the introduction of a trifecta subs of Hernandez, Park and youngster Giggs meant United could keep possession of the ball and Giggs duly teed up Rooney for the third with a well-placed header.

City may be going to plan at the moment, but United worryingly look a better side at this stage with a stronger squad this season compared to last year's Champions League finalists.  With Vidic and Ferdinand injured, Phil Jones and Jonny Evans did an admirable job and maintained a clean sheet, no matter how many times De Gea fumbled the ball - Cleverley is growing slowly in stature, Ashley Young is offering something different on the wing and Welbeck's loan spell at Sunderland has paid dividends as he looks stronger and hungry to impress up front this season.  And Fergie has Chicarito and Berbatov available on the bench, and he could still add to the squad with nine days left of the transfer window.

United were my prediction for the title and so far (apart from that worrying keeper) they remain the favourites in that degree.

K&S Festival - Tom Watt Interview

Following on from the 'Kicking and Screening' preview I wrote last Thursday, I was granted an interview with curator and programmer for the September festival, Tom Watt (actor and broadcaster) on the telephone.

I asked Mr.Watt, how did the idea to have a London football festival come about:
'Well, there is already an American festival currently in its third year in New York which was originated by Rachel Markus, who took the idea back to America with her.  I have served on the advisory board of that festival, and it was inevitable to get a football/soccer festival in London.  We sat down with the CEO of Everyman cinemas, Andy Myers who is himself a big football fan and he got the gist of it straight away and that got the ball rolling immediately'
 
What can we expect on the schedule?
'We hope to have a lot of things happening, but we are conscious to make sure that it is not like a typical film festival experience where it is too dry and a bit too buffy. We are hoping to have an opening night as a New York night with 'Once in a Lifetime' screening, and on the Saturday to have a combination of a premiere for youngsters along with Arsenal in the community. So we are getting actual football clubs involved and there definitely being something for everyone.

Are you going to have Q&A's?
'We will be, but we hope to not have Q&A sessions with just the directors and writers of the featured films, for instance we hope to have One Night in Turin screening, where you are just as likely to see a featured player from the 1990 England World Cup squad as the director, Pete Davies.  It is important we make the festival as inclusive as possible.'

I mention to Mr.Watt, how all the more memorable films involving soccer seem to be feature documentaries why does it not serve drama better?
'I feel that is because football is fluid and unpredictable, which is also why it is the most popular sport in the world.  Unlike American football and baseball [which we agreed were better served by dramatic film], which are very stop and start in their action; football is difficult to capture and that is in the nature of the game.  Although I do hope we will be able to screen In the Hands of Gods, which was about a group of guys travelling to meet Diego Maradona, which was set up and shot like a documentary but the journey lent it a dramatic direction in its action.

'The more I talk about the festival and the more people hear about it, they are confident it will work. We have a London film festival, a Jewish film festival, a Horror film festival; I am convinced it can become part of the festival calendar.  Also, along with the work of Everyman cinemas who will get us the films, and with support from our sponsors at Sky Sports and the 'Hawksbee and Jacobs' show on TalkSport, I am hopeful we will be showing films to packed sold out houses and that people will see the festival as a series of events rather than a series of films'.

And for the closing night?
'I am hopeful, we will be able to screen Escape to Victory [John Huston's 1981 picture which featured the star-studded line-up of Sylvester Stallone, Michael Caine, Pele, Ossie Ardiles and Russell Osman] on a big screen.  The film is fondly thought of, and yet I do not know anyone who has seen it in a cinema, we have all seen it on video or DVD late night with a beer, so to see it in a communal cinema is a dream of mine.

I end my interview there with Mr.Watt and wish him well for the festival which will run between September 23rd-29th at the Everyman Cinemas across their numerous sites in North London.

Follow the festival on twitter @KSFilmFest and on Facebook
http://www.kickingandscreening.com/

Kicking and Screening Film Festival

Great news from the Everyman cinemas chain based in London; during September (23rd -29th) they will be presenting for the first time in London the Kicking & Screening Film Festival across their brands of cinema in North and North West London at Hampstead, Belsize Park, Baker Street and Screen on the Green - Islington.  Screening the best films about the world's greatest and most popular game.

K&S was the first film festival in North America devoted entirely to football/soccer films.  The unprecedented success in 2009, led to a second one in 2010 with satellite festivals taking place also in Washington DC, Houston, Boston and even, Amsterdam.  The third annual K&S/New York festival will be staged at the famous Tribeca cinemas later this month.  And in September, football cinema is coming home.

Everyman cinemas however are asking upon film-makers to submit football-inspired shorts and/or features to be considered for this year's schedule.  Anyone wishing to do so should go to the following links:

http://www.kickingandscreening.com/blog/submissions.html or http://www.everymancinemas.com/

The deadline for submissions is August 1, with the full festival line up announced on August 31st.

It is worth noting that on the K&S advisory board, and those likely to have a say on the line-up include Grant Best (football live director with Sky Sports) and Tom Watt (renowned football historian and Arsenal fan, and broadcaster for BBC London)

And with such successes as The Damned United, Zidane and Once in a Lifetime released in recent years; the time is right for a glory tinged football festival. 

Spread the word of this young festival, and if you can get down to any of the screenings, even better.

Abramovich's Last Gamble

So it has happened, Chelsea have gone and got another special manager.  A special manager for a special team you may say, that is certainly what they will think on the Kings Road.  Following the swiftness and harshness of Carlo Ancelotti's dismissal after the last game of the season in a corridor of Goodison Park, it became apparent that Chelsea were urgently requiring a newly appointed manager sooner rather than later, two reasons: can you imagine another top four contending side unable to get a manager before July when one is required, also the transfer window is open and they need to start refreshing the squad that was left trophyless following a double in the season previously.

However, the appointment on Wednesday 22nd June of FC Porto's young manager, Andre Villas-Boas, following his resignation from the team he led to the Europa League title in May; means that he like so many has followed the money to London town and the chance to follow in the footsteps of his Porto predecessor, Jose Mourinho as one of the few men to win back to back the two major European trophies. 

Whilst Mourinho's achievement of winning the UEFA Cup (defeating Celtic) and then the next season winning the Champions League was a watermark for the nearly men; Mourinho showed that coaching and an experienced unified side can win it all.  Unfortunately, this was the last time a Champions League was won by a team outside of the powerhouse nations of England, Spain and Italy.  Villas-Boas has a greater chance of winning the continent's premier competition with England's second best side, than he would with Portugal's championship side

However, this appointment is less about the man being appointed and less even about the men overlooked for the job - the whole Hiddink compensation game was getting messy; it is again about the man who has hand picked his new manager.

For Roman Abramovich, this is seemingly the last throw of the dice to cement Chelsea as the dominant club side of the nation.  Manchester United are the champions, and in pole position to reclaim that title with a rejuvenated Fergie at the helm and with the promise of fresh faces.  Manchester City may have got into the Champions League, but look likely to lose their talisman Tevez and in spite of unlimited funds look likely to add little to the squad.  Arsenal maintain to toe that line between transition and unable to fulfil their definite promise, and look likely to lose captain Fabregas to the Catalan capital.  Liverpool seem resurgent with new squad members already joining the second Dalglish revolution.

The reason this appointment means more about Roman than Andre, is that Roman needs to retain the Premier League title and get back to the Champions League final.  Boas will be under no disillusion, he will be expected to create results and win trophies in his first season - quite a baptism of fire for a 33 year old manager in his first season of managing his first club overseas.  Having been unable to appoint his first two choices in Hiddink and unable to entice Mourinho back to his previous home, Roman has appointed a man with a fine looking CV; however Porto have been dominant in the Portugese league for many years and do not be surprised if their new manager wins the league title.

Boas does not need to live up to the example of Mourinho, although the similarities between the two are very apparent - both started as translators for Bobby Robson, both did not fulfil great playing careers, both managed Porto and now both left for the pastures of Kensington and Chelsea.  However, he is in danger of possibly ruining his reputation before it has even started.

Will Roman give Boas the necessary two seasons to garner the rewards? Will Boas (who is fluent in English) be able to cripple the apparent player-power of brokers Terry, Lampard and Cole and create a new sense of unity and stability that Mourinho did in his stint?  And what if the appointment proves to be disastrous, with results not reflecting the faith Roman has?  Will he pull the trigger if necessary, and will we be looking at another Roy Hodgson situation, where a good manager gets the big club appointment too soon.

And what if Abramovich does prove to be ruthless again in his sacking of another manager, that might be the end of his tenure as any manager would rightly suggest why go and coach for a man who is so ruthless as to not give you the real time required to gain results.

Whatever the outcome the £13.3m compensation Porto has received suggests that Chelsea may well have pulled off the transfer coup of the summer, and he it is not even for a player.

Lance and Ryan - Two Peas in a Pod

In spite of it being the last day of the Premier League season, with five teams at risk of joining West Ham United in the Championship and all the clamour and passion that familiar last day frenzy throws our way.  In spite of it being the European Rugby Cup final in Cardiff, which served up the equivalent of the Liverpool comeback with Leinster proving triumphant against a shellshocked Northampton.  In spite of the best European golfers dualling in Southern Spain for the World Matchplay title - it was two non-competing sportsman who took centre stage.

Both Lance Armstrong and Ryan Giggs have had their names dragged through the mud in recent days.  Armstrong (the 7 time Tour de France winner and spokesman for anything is possible after his winning battle against testicular cancer), was called out by former teammate Tyler Hamilton on the prestigious US show '60 Minutes' stating that both he and Armstrong injected themselves with EPO.  Hamilton has since returned a medal he won at the 2004 Olympics as a rite of passage and redemption. Whilst Armstrong remains silent on the matter except for a tweet on Thursday night after the broadcast which read, "20+year career. 500 drug controls, in and out of competition, worldwide. Never a failed test, I rest my case."


Well it does not really rest there unfortunately for Lance.  Having formally retired now from his illustrious cycling career, the feats remain in doubt in fact they have done since he returned from surgery to win the Tour; you came back from chemotherapy and won, and better than you did when properly healthy.  Now in the development of human beings, even that is miraculous.  Armstrong has these feats at stake, as well as his role as spokesman and ambassador for many charities and organisations, nevermind the endorsements he is still paid for the use of his image.  Now not only is the national exposure of Hamilton's testimony, but also Hincapie and Floyd Landis (another cheat) also state that Armstrong cheated knowingly.

As for another cheat in Europe, for the past few weeks, there has been a big campaign by freedom-of-speech lobbyists stating that the constant use of super-injunctions used by celebrities to sustain their wall of privacy.  The biggest one doing the rounds and offering lots of opinion in papers and call-in shows, is the one concerning a high profile footballer with a clean cut image had an affair with an ex-Big Brother contestant Imogen Thomas.  The crux comes because Ms.Thomas has been vilified for wanting to gain income off of her stories, whilst the footballer is allowed anonymity.

Until today, when MP John Hemming used parliamentary privilege to name the footballer as none other than Ryan Giggs of Manchester United.  Giggs the 12 time Premier League winner, one of the most decorated footballers of his generation, and recipient of both the PFA Footballer of the Year and BBC Sports Personality of the Year in the last two years.  Giggs is less than a week away from the Champions League final at Wembley against Barcelona.  The clamour from the press - front and back page- will be immense to get quotes from him, and I am sure his manager Sir Alex Ferguson will not welcome the unwanted distratction to his preparations.

The problem I have with things and the irony of the situation is that you have two esteemed sportsman both nearly the same age who have peaked on the highest stage and have spent the majority of their careers in the limelight of adulation and the fine line between sportsman and celebrity.

Armstrong feels he does not have a case to answer owing to his record in drug tests, and yet he responds to accusations via the slightly anonymous method of his twitter account.  Giggs on the other hand has had his legs swept out from under him, even though the Herald on Sunday in Scotland, did produce a picture of him with his eyes blanked out to keep the guessing game going - the irony being that jokes and rumours have circulated the internet for a number of weeks implementing Giggs as the man who slept with Imogen Thomas (herself a lady of Wales - hence the affinity between the two). 

My problem with both though is that Armstong and Giggs through their established personas as role models and model professionals have let themselves down further, by not coming out to face the music.  America has had this soap opera before in it's national pasttime of baseball during the steroid era as Mark McGwire, Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens, Sammy Sosa all kept quiet as the whispers grew louder - now players are freely admitting hoping that time heals better than wounds. 

Armstrong is an institution and his record is unbelievable but all the more reason to fit for it surely, by coming out in a press conference and stating categorically that he did not do it.  When the whispers first started, I felt that if it were true and lets face it, it is slowly becoming that way, that it would be the end of cycling - the greatest example of the sport would be a fraud, and leaving proper figures like Mark Cavendish with no reason.  Armstrong may not only ruin his own vaunted reputation, but also that of cycling itself.  People will switch off and turn away from the sport.

As for Giggs, for so long a quiet man is it any wonder he kept quiet for so long or wanted to keep his privacy to himself - but he would not have been the first married footballer with children to play away from home and he certainly will not be the last.

My problem is that with footballers we know what they get paid for approximately three to five hours work a week, and in this business much like heads of large corporations they should act accordingly and appropriately.  Football clubs are multi-million pound businesses and should expect their employees to toe the line in regards to conduct.  The players seek privacy yet if they were grieving over the sudden death of a family member, or had been diagnosed with a serious illness they would announce a press conference and state that they would like their privacy to be respected; so what is the difference here, come out and admit it, ask for privacy then.  We football fans are not stupid yet we do not want to be treated like cretins when it comes to matters of what we should and should not believe, especially when it is the average football fan that pays the wages of said footballers.

The old adage of straight from the horse's mouth has never seemed more appropriate, and yet we seem to have found not one but two mute stallions.

Wenger and the blame game

Being a Tottenham Hotspur fan, I suppose I should not give two hoots about the goings-on and latest title surrender from the Emirates nor care that Arsene Wenger is going a sixth season without any silverware.  But I feel a little bit miffed at his continual approach this season to take the blame, football is fast becoming a blame game more and more.

Players blame the referees, referees blame the clubs for lack of respect, managers blame referees, (okay I am a part-time referee aswell, and yes we do get the blame too often) but sometimes the blame should lay with the players who cock-up, the goalkeeper that drops a clanger, the player that gets needlessly sent off, the lazy defending at set pieces and failure to close out teams.

This has happened too often at Arsenal this season, they have squandered too many winning positions and dropped close to double digit points that have cost them a chance at the Premier League title. The one piece of silverware left to aim for, after being in all four major competitions come the end of February.

They lost the Carling Cup final to Birmingham, and the blame game started; but luckily it was the sort of clanger from Sczeceny and Koscielny that blame could easily be affixed, but it took away credit from a spirited Birmingham display and showed Wenger was out-thought by his opposite number Alex McLeish whose tactical nous prevailed, as he loaded the midfield with his triumvate of Bowyer, Ferguson and Gardner.  Their grit was too much for the Arsenal midfield and but for an offside flag, Arsenal might have had to play the whole game with just 10 men.

Then came Barcelona in the Champions League, a great draw at home gave hope but then followed Arsenal chasing shadows at the Nou Camp for the second year in a row, but the sending off of Robin Van Persie was used as blame in spite of the fact that Arsenal could not hang with one of the great teams of recent years.

The FA Cup dream died at Old Trafford, when Wenger's rotation policy and team selection seemed baffling considering they had the second leg in Spain still to come he chose to pick a weaker than usual side, and Man.United duly won 2-0 without much trouble.  This left the leg which three weeks ago was wide open owing to Arsenal maintaining a game in hand, they just needed to stay in arm's length before the May 2nd showdown at the Emirates against the champions elect. 

Alas, goal shy attackers and long injury times, have ended up with a nine-point deficit with four games remaining, not mathematically impossible but quite possibly that is all she wrote for another season, following a 2-1 defeat at Bolton with Tamir Cohen headed in a winner in the last minute of regulation.  No 11 minutes of injury time this week, and four minutes later Arsenal were cursing their luck again.

And yet following the game, Wenger was at liberty to take blame for another poor showing following a week of three league games, they have picked up just two points from two winning positions but the points at home to Liverpool and away at Tottenham were just indicative of Arsenal's season.

I wrote some weeks ago, about a lack of consistency and I used Arsenal as an example, a team that loses at home to West Brom and Newcastle, do not deserve to be considered title contenders - yet they were still there. And yet the players do not take the intiative, the attackers have gone backwards lacking bite and relying on the prolificgacy of young Jack Wilshere to take them to new heights, and the continual troubles in defence continue.  The lack of a marshalling keeper and the loss of Tomas Vermaelen meant that clean sheets and dominating defence were missing from this line-up.

But for Wenger to take the blame is okay in some respects but not on this occasion, now he has players who do not mind losing and do not take responsibility for their actions and poor performance(s).  Instead they realise, their manager will take the buck and the pressure off of their young shoulders. 

But we cannot keep saying this team is young, Emanuel Eboue's foul against Lucas in the Liverpool game was incredibly naive, he is 28.  Wilshere has looked at times older than 19, but he is growing an increasingly petulent streak for such a young man. Wenger likes to put his staple on a team a combination of youth and expert training; an accusation that has led to rumours of a rift between captain Cesc Fabregas and the manager over comments in a Spanish magazine.  Fabregas asked that Arsenal need to make a decision between challenging for Europe's biggest prizes or develop youth in the future. 

This summer with the funds of Kroenke coming into account, Wenger needs to make a new statement of intent, use money to convince Fabregas to stay and avoid another prolonged summer soap opera.  Arsenal need a goalkeeper, but they may have to fight Tottenham for Shay Given; a central defender to co-operate with the returning Vermaelen and a dominant midfielder who is a work-horse, like a Birmingham City midfielder and a goalscorer, unlike the one Chamakh hoped to be.

I should hate Wenger, but now I see a man who is becoming deluded in his appraisal of the playing staff.  And he is failing to remember that managers are more dispensable than players who command bigger wages than a one annual salary man; and managers are judged by their track record, and as we have seen in the last six years, that resume of success is looking particularly bare.  Even Steve McLaren has won more in those six years than the great saviour Arsene Wenger.