Lessons from Arsenal’s defeat yesterday.
1. In 2004, football ushered the era of Pragmatism, pioneered by Mourinho, at Porto and Chelsea. Remember how effectively it worked at Inter Milan where he stopped the Barcelona machine with 10 men, ahead of the Diego Milito brace that won him his second Champions League in six years.
Diego Simeone did the same with Arsenal. In the future, defensive discipline will be key. No team, plays more openly, exposing their backside than Arsenal. They have the attention span of a dead goat. Three lethal strikers will be on offense and Arsenal defenders will be trailing them from behind and the rest of the Arsenal team will care no less. All players must be defensively minded.
In the era pragmatism, winning dirty is normal. So sentimental coaches like Wenger who still think that ideal football is posssible are living in the ancient past.
2. Fortune, or luck favours the brave. There is no winning anything in life when you are pussy-footed. You need some courage. Arsenal is always too timid, like Wenger. They rarely shoot from outside the box, and players rarely take their chances, especially when faced with a mortal enemy like Atletico that defends like nonsense.
3. Arsenal needs a coach who will instill more defensive discipline and an attacking nerve. Strikers must earn their dues. The whole team needs to be overhauled. There is no dedicated player in Arsenal. Nobody deserves that shirt.
4. Everything Arsenal is going through is deserved and self-inflicted. We even deserve relegation, if it can make people to wake up.
5. Wenger deserved no good send off. There are no happy endings in life. Not unless your name is Alex Fergusson and you demand nothing but the best even from average players.
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