Arsene Wenger admitted Arsenal's humiliating 4-0 defeat to AC Milan in the first leg of their last 16 clash at the San Siro was a "shocking performance" which has shattered his side's Champions League ambitions.
The Gunners were never in the match as former Tottenham midfielder Kevin-Prince Boateng fired the Italians ahead on 15 minutes with a sublime strike, before a brace by ex-Manchester City frontman Robinho and a penalty from the impressive Zlatan Ibrahimovic completed a miserable night for the Gunners, who suffered their worst European defeat.
Wenger, however, must lift his squad again for what is now a crucial FA Cup fifth-round tie at Sunderland on Saturday ahead of the north-London derby with Tottenham when the Gunners will look to keep alive hopes of qualifying again for the Champions League with a top-four finish.
"It was a shocking result and a shocking performance. It was of those nights you never forget. It is our worst night in Europe. We were punished and deservedly do," said Wenger. "The result is a disaster. Were never in the game we were very poor offensive and defensively.
"There was not one moment in the 90 minutes we were really in the game, and it was always the same problem, balls over the top and we were well beaten.
"It is difficult to analyse, so it is better not to talk too much, to analyse with a cooler header and regroup for the next game."
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Last week when I wrote a comment about Arsenal weakness a comment was made that AW at a meeting stated that he was limited by the board that every year they had to pay 15 million pounds for the new stadiums financing. If that is true than it is not rally AW who should be blamed but it is the board of directors who limit what AW can spend on good players. They are not like Abramowich who really care about his club’s glory and willing to spend the money on good players. Ours (Arsenal’s) are here to make money. They don’t care about the glory and the supporters. Yesterday it looked like arsenal was mesmerized with the Italians game that paralyzed them. In fact often it looked like that there were more Milan players on the field then Arsenal players. What a terrible shame. I hope it is not only a good slap on the face to the directors but also a kick on the a.. to some of the directors.
Poor didums was down, feel sorry for the broke fans paying to watch this sorry excuse of a manager and his lazy, overpaid, misperforming troup
it was so disjointed we looked second rate against a fast strong team we need some muscle in the middle ,Walcott was like a fairy,gibbs out of his depth,the only players doing a good job were as ever verm, kos, and rosiky played a true game,
RVP back to his mediocre best ?
Instead of playing English football,they played Italian football against an Italian team. Speed beats Milan.
What was the travel arrangement? Do they had enough rest in Milan before the game? They played few hours after they landed?
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