The question was not over, but Arsène Wenger felt compelled to step in. “Leave Mourinho out of here,” the Arsenal manager advised his interrogator, his tone somewhere between playful and serious. “It would be much better.”
You might have heard about José Mourinho’s appearance on the Goals on Sunday sofa last weekend and, among other things, the Chelsea manager took it upon himself to innocently wonder why Arsenal – “a team I like very much” – are not challenging for the title.
Wenger was not in the mood.
Yet Mourinho got his answer when Arsenal, a team who would surely blossom into the finest the world has ever seen if they could just find the final two, three or maybe four missing pieces of the jigsaw, imploded in trademark style against Monaco on Wednesday night.
Not even Wenger could bring himself to defend his players in the aftermath of a witless 3-1 defeat that leaves their Champions League hopes hanging by a thread so flimsy that it could be mistaken for a member of the Arsenal midfield.
There was nowhere to hide. All of Arsenal’s weaknesses were ruthlessly exploited by Leonardo Jardim’s disciplined, organised and streetwise Monaco. Many individuals were to blame – David Ospina could have done better for Monaco’s deflating third goal, Per Mertesacker left the defence exposed when Dimitar Berbatov made it 2-0 and Olivier Giroud and Danny Welbeck missed several excellent opportunities – but this was a collective failure from a team who remain horribly naive and callow against elite opposition.
It was like watching a side that had never played in Europe before. If Berbatov’s breakaway goal had come when Arsenal were throwing bodies forward in the final minute of the second leg, it would have been easier to accept. That happened to Barcelona when Fernando Torres confirmed Chelsea’s victory over them in 2012. Yet to be caught out like that 53 minutes into the first leg at home hints at a lack of game management and foresight. Is this a team that looks properly drilled?
There was still so much of the tie left to play, yet Arsenal had already flicked the gung-ho switch. Even after Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain pulled a goal back in the 90th minute, there was still time for one last raid from Monaco. Arsenal do not learn from their mistakes.
Yet before Geoffrey Kondogbia gave Monaco the lead, what stood out was the sense of drift. Wenger warned that Monaco would be tough, but Arsenal played without tempo, without width, and they were poor out of possession.
The consensus after last month’s 2-0 victory at Manchester City was that Arsenal had finally discovered a strategy against the top sides. A limp defeat to Tottenham Hotspur suggested otherwise, however, and the old flaws came flooding back against Jardim’s side.
Wenger offered a revealing line when he explained why Theo Walcott has been left on the bench recently.
“Offensively we have lots of solutions,” he said. “We have to find a team balance. It is more about team balance than any individual. When you have the ball in the modern game you have to attack, when you don’t have the ball you have to defend. All the players who can’t do that cannot play.”
There are a lot of Arsenal players who fell into that category on Wednesday and there must be a strong response when they host Everton on Sunday afternoon.
What made the Monaco defeat so galling for Wenger is that Arsenal’s form had been impressive. They are third in the league, having won five of their past six matches, and are on course to qualify for the Champions League for the 18th successive year. Regardless of whether you think that Arsenal should be breathing down Chelsea’s neck, that record is worthy of respect. But here comes a defining period in their season.
The visit of Everton is followed by a trip to Queens Park Rangers on Wednesday, before next Monday’s FA Cup quarter-final against Manchester United at Old Trafford. Eight days later, Arsenal travel to Monaco, more in hope than expectation.
Arsenal have ground to a halt at this point of the season in the past and their more gloomy fans fear a feeble effort against United. Wenger and his players must blast away the growing cynicism. Arsenal need Alexis Sánchez firing again and for Mesut Özil to strike up a rapport with the Chilean. They need Giroud, hauled off after 60 minutes against Monaco, to rid himself of his reputation for flakiness in the big games (or perhaps they just need a better striker than Giroud; something else for Wenger to address in the summer).
“We have massive games in front of us,” Wenger said. “The reactions today are always very emotional but life is not always on a high.
“You have to go through lows and highs and, at the end of the day, it is about how consistent you have been in response to disappointments that makes your life. I think everything went against us as well on the night – and after that you get slaughtered.”
Wenger still talks a good game, but it is time for Arsenal to do some slaughtering of their own.