Alan Shearer: Pathetic Arsenal lacked energy and desire and defended like an Under-10 team
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IT was men against boys from start to finish.
There was not one moment in yesterday’s Carabao Cup final where I, or probably even Arsenal fans, thought that Arsene Wenger’s team were going to win.
It was a pathetic effort — admittedly Manchester City were too quick, too sharp and better in every single position.
But Arsenal looked beaten before they started. They had no energy, no desire.
Nacho Monreal dived to try and win a penalty and Jack Wilshere dived to try and get Fernandinho sent off — everything about the performance was inept.
And you would be lucky if you saw defending at an Under-10s game as bad as that which led to Sergio Aguero’s opening goal.
For Shkodran Mustafi to be touched off the ball, not even pushed, as easily as he was summed up Arsenal’s performance — it was pretty embarrassing.
You can’t turn up to any football match, irrespective of who you’re playing — let alone the best team in the land — and perform with that little fight and desire to work harder than the opposition.
Arsenal didn’t do that once against City, who didn’t even have to play that well to beat them 3-0.
City didn’t have to get out of second gear in the first half or even third gear after half-time and that is the reason Arsenal were so comprehensively beaten.
If you’re going to go down then at least do it with a fight. They were totally and utterly stale.
They look a stale football club and it was a desperate performance.
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Let’s not forget how good City were — and they’ve done that to many teams this season — but you’d expect a lot more from Arsenal in a cup final at Wembley in front of 85,000.
Almost all of the Arsenal supporters had disappeared by the end of the game and I’m surprised they lasted that long.
These two now play in the Premier League on Thursday at the Emirates.
Arsenal aren’t going to finish in the top four, so it’s a more important game for title-chasing City than it is for them.
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Arsenal’s priority now is winning the Europa League as a way of getting back into the Champions League.
But they have no chance of winning that competition either if they perform against AC Milan like they did against City.
Thursday’s game will now be about pride.
But why shouldn’t they have played for pride against City at Wembley when there are more than 32,000 of their fans there?