As soon as the game started to go against them, the Arsenal players went into a shell and collectively lost their voice, then their shape and, finally, their will, writes Daniel Taylor.
"We need to be soldiers," William Gallas had volunteered in his brutally honest assessment of Arsenal's shortcomings. But what did they get at the City of Manchester Stadium? A team lacking any form of togetherness and a centre-forward who decided this was a suitable occasion to wear pink boots. They were the brightest shade of Barbie-doll pink imaginable and, unless Nicklas Bendtner was simply being ironic, the ultimate fashion faux pas for any striker who wants to be taken seriously.
Gallas has been accused of a lot of things, but dishonesty cannot figure on the crime-sheet. He had complained of Arsenal becoming a soft touch, of dressing-room cliques and team-mates not being "brave enough in the battle." He has subsequently been accused of traitorous disloyalty and Arsene Wenger was so incensed he effectively suspended him. But who could possibly argue with the gist of Gallas' complaints after witnessing this dishevelled, utterly limp Arsenal performance?
Wenger did not even try, repeating the mantra that there was "nothing to discuss" in a series of post-match exchanges. "We can go on to midnight if you like," he offered at one point. "You appear to be ducking all the relevant issues," he was told, and it is difficult to think there have been too many times when he has looked so unhappy, almost grey with anger.
Leadership on the pitch can come in many different guises, of course, and does not necessarily have to involve players pumping their fists and pushing out their chests. Robinho, it could be reasonably argued, is not just a sublimely talented footballer but an inspirational leader for the way he always wants the ball and to take responsibility, no matter how many opponents are around him. It is known as competitive courage and, for any team to be successful, it is essential.
Arsenal have plenty of footballers with these qualities, just not all the time. Fulham, Hull City, Stoke City and Aston Villa have already exposed this soft centre and, against Manchester City, Arsenal conformed to just about every negative stereotype that has attached itself to Wenger's team since he moved on the last of his great tacklers. As soon as the game started to go against them, the players went into a shell and collectively lost their voice, then their shape and, finally, their will.
It was as half-hearted an Arsenal performance as any in the past few years and all this, remember, against a side that had been flirting with the relegation places after one win in the previous eight games. Wenger described it as a "flattering victory" but it was nothing of the sort and Mark Hughes was entitled to be irritated. "He's being a little ungracious saying that," City's manager retorted. "I don't think it flattered us at all. We created six or seven opportunities, they created one."
Wenger hinted that Gallas would "maybe" return to the side soon. Briefly he lifted that hard, impenetrable veneer to insist that "of course" Gallas still had a future at the club, but he would not identify which player would captain the side.
It was obvious he felt let down and betrayed but, whatever the rights and wrongs of Gallas' public criticisms, Arsenal certainly need ? him back judging by the defensive errors that, for example, allowed Stephen Ireland to sneak in and strike the ball confidently past Manuel Almunia for the opening goal at the end of an error-strewn, directionless first-half.
Thereafter the confidence came flooding back for the home side, with Ireland, Robinho and Shaun Wright-Phillips taking turns to torment the visiting defence. Wenger, in mitigation, was missing nine senior players, but it was still shocking to see an Arsenal team capitulate so weakly to their heaviest league defeat for 20 months.
Robinho, who deserves every superlative in the football glossary, doubled the lead when he was sent running clear by Wright-Phillips and clipped a millimetre-perfect shot over Almunia, the kind of exceptionally taken goal that only a small and exclusive band of footballers are capable of. The home supporters had been berating Darius Vassell and demanding the introduction of the out-of-favour Elano inside the opening seven minutes, but the negative vibes were long gone by the time the substitute Daniel Sturridge made it 3-0 from the penalty spot.
A fatal blow to Arsenal's title hopes? Hughes certainly thought so, pointing out that "no team can expect to win the league if you have lost five or six times" - especially, he could have added, when the season still has six months to go. Naturally Wenger begged to differ, but it was depressing to see such a noble football man sound so unconvincing.
As much as they love Wenger, the sorry truth for Arsenal's followers is that Gallas seems to be the club's only employee who is willing to say it how it is.
THE RESULTSNovember 23: Sunderland 0 lost to West Ham 1 (Behrami 20). Half-time: 0-1; Tottenham 1 (Pavlyuchenko 9) bt Blackburn 0. Half-time: 1-0.
November 22: Aston Villa 0 drew with Manchester United 0; Chelsea 0 drew with Newcastle 0; Liverpool 0 drew with Fulham 0; Manchester City 3 (Ireland 45+2, Robinho 56, Sturridge pen-90+2) bt Arsenal 0. Half-time: 1-0; Middlesbrough 1 (Pogatetz 77) lost to Bolton 3 (Steinsson 8, Taylor 10, Elmander 78). Half-time: 0-2; Portsmouth 2 (Crouch 20, Johnson 63) drew with Hull 2 (Turner 54, Pamarot o.g. 89). Half-time: 1-0; Stoke 1 (Sidibe 84) bt West Brom 0. Half-time: 0-0.
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