Pathetic collapse piles pressure on Wenger.

With eighty minutes on the clock yesterday we still had an outside chance of winning the league but the team proved how much they cared about that. The manager stood by as the side drifted through the second half, ignoring the opportunity to improve our goal difference. When he finally did decide to make a change Wigan already had their first goal and they seized upon the momentum to condemn us to defeat. It was the first time that we had lost a game that we had been winning by two goals since 1998.

The match had been a drab affair before the 80th minute mark. Either side of half time we looked slightly livelier and were rewarded with two goals. The first came after Bendtner’s fine pass found Theo Walcott who held off the defender’s challenge before rolling the ball past Chris Kirkland. Theo played reasonably well yesterday but bizarrely chose to pass rather than shoot when one-on-one just before his goal and he fired wide with a good effort just after his opener.

We started the second half brightly but Abou Diaby made an abysmally lazy effort to finish. I have defended the Frenchman for a long time as he has a unique ability to take the ball past defenders but he was atrocious yesterday with poor control and persistent laziness throughout the match. He was at serious fault for Wigan’s first goal as he showed no drive to get back into the area to defend the cross. There were 4,000 Arsenal fans at the DW stadium but Diaby’s contribution summed up the team’s, they couldn’t care less, Theo was the only player to applaud the fans at the end and the club is going to have to prove their desire to compete next season with some serious outlay in the summer. We have drifted since moving to the Grove despite paying the highest ticket prices in the league and there is a limit to even the most reasonable fans’ patience.

Still, despite Diaby’s worst efforts, we did find the net from a corner soon afterwards as Nasri’s quality delivery was steered home by the unmarked Silvestre. We looked dominant for about five minutes after the goal before proceeding to go through the motions. The team was crying out for a substitution. Diaby and Rosicky both had shocking matches and were proving to be a liability in the midfield, losing possession too regularly and leaving Eastmond badly exposed. But the manager did nothing so the team followed suit.

Wenger’s lack of pro-activity with regards to substitutions has always irritated but it cost us the win yesterday. Wigan were very poor but our lack of desire and effort eventually gave them the motivation to push forward and they took advantage to punish some suspect defending and predictably terrible goalkeeping.

Another season with only marginal improvement and the manager will have to look beyond the usual one or two signings this summer. Chamakh looks a certainty to sign and among the other rumours, deals for Joe Hart and Brede Hangeland seem plausible. Next season will be decisive in deciding which direction the club moves forward in and after admitting we now have substantial money to spend, the manager will have run out of excuses by next May.

Photo: Action Images

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