Arsenal and Man City must pick themselves up

Footballers move on from disappointments much quicker than the fans. With an important job to do, they must. Even so, it is hard to imagine how Arsenal and Manchester City’s midweek flops are going to fully reinflate their squashed egos in time for the key battles that lie ahead tomorrow.

Both managers must scrape their players’ chins off the floor and tell them, for now at least, to forget the mortifying way they were crushed in the Champions League.

For Manuel Pellegrini, the job should be easier. His richly-assembled squad may not have covered themselves in glory in front of a crestfallen home crowd on Wednesday morning, but at least they can say they were second best to the mighty Barcelona. Arsenal, out fought and out thought by an unheralded Monaco side shorn of several star players, do not have such a comforting excuse.

The reigning Premier League champions backed themselves to blitz Barca with a dashing brand of attacking 4-4-2 football at the Etihad, but as it transpired those tactics were preposterously over-confident.

Has anyone ever dared to let the Catalans outnumber them in central midfield and survived to tell the tale?

I cannot recall such an episode and City were humiliatingly reminded at times, why that is such a scatterbrained and foolhardy idea. For their manager to believe it was possible with a pairing of James Milner and the lumbering Fernando almost defied belief. Lessons were surely learned.

Luckily for Pellegrini, his engine room will not spend as much time stranded in the slipstreams of Liverpool’s stars at Anfield. With Yaya Toure back in action alongside the industrious Fernandinho, they should be more than a match for their counterparts in red. They will be able to keep up and maybe, even gain the upper hand.

Liverpool are dangerous up top though, so if City are to close the gap on leaders Chelsea, Vincent Kompany will need to (finally) put on a performance of note. Since containing Diego Costa excellently back in September, it is hard to recall the last time the City captain provided much inspiration. If he has not been sat on the treatment table, the Belgian has been regularly dumped onto the seat of his pants by front men instead. For a 28-year-old of his ilk, it has been a hideous campaign.

Manchester City are not as bad as Barcelona made them look. They missed the glue that holds them together (Toure), got their tactics horribly wrong and came up against a world-class side that wanted to show off their tenaciousness in addition to their talent. To only get beaten 2-1 when so much was wrong could even be regarded as a positive.

For the Gunners, a 3-1 spanking at home to the minnows of Monaco was a catastrophe. No excuses. No sugar coating it.

Playing well, winning games, and seemingly slipping into a groove that would take them into the last eight of the Champions League at a canter, nobody inside the Emirates (including myself) foresaw what was to come in a hellish 90 minutes.

Bad habits — not only one but several at once — resurfaced calamitously. Easy chances were squandered, speed and urgency was non-existent, the shape of the side became disfigured, and the star turns tied themselves in knots by over complicating passes. Most upsetting of all for the fans, Arsenal’s death wish defending was also back in earnest. One slip, one mistake, one misplaced pass and suddenly the French side were racing through on goal. The cover was staggeringly non-existent.

What will irk the north Londoners most is that Monaco were nothing special. They boasted a strength advantage and blocked the spaces well, but aside from that they did not seem to have the tools to dismantle a team of Arsenal’s class. However, thanks to a “suicidal” approach from Wenger’s players (his words), the door was left so wide open that they could not fail to capitalise on the counter.

It was a true confidence-shattering loss. Trudging off to a chorus of boos, the men in red know they would not be forgiven until they put things right.

Can they do that against Everton tomorrow evening? Yes they can, and to keep their season on track they really have to. With an FA Cup quarter-final tie at Old Trafford on the horizon and others breathing down their necks for a top four spot, this is not the time to serve up another demoralising display that prolongs the mood of misery.

On their day, Arsenal and Manchester City are class acts. They can beat anyone in Europe. Anyone. Neither side is as second-rate as they appeared on Europe’s biggest stage this week, and Everton and Liverpool could feel the backlash.

A return to form in the Premier League would appease the critics who have gleefully savaged them in recent days, and it will take more than one good win this weekend to pump them full of self-belief once more.

But footballers at the highest level are resilient creatures, and I expect a positive reaction from those that let themselves down this week. If they cannot manage it, the agony will continue and their season might begin to peter out. It’s a big day.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Adrian Clarke is a former Arsenal midfielder who has played at every level of English football. Now an experienced sports journalist, he writes for publications around the world. Follow him on Twitter @adrianjclarke.

English Premier League on TV:

Today:

West Ham v Crystal Palace — Singtel TV Ch102 and StarHub TV Ch227, 8.45pm

Newcastle v Aston Villa — Singtel TV Ch103 and StarHub TV Ch228, 10.55pm

WBA v Southampton — Singtel TV Ch104 and StarHub TV Ch229, 10.55pm

Burnley v Swansea — Singtel TV Ch105 and StarHub TV Ch230, 10.55pm

Stoke v Hull — Singtel TV Ch106 and StarHub TV Ch231, 10.55pm

Manchester United v Sunderland — Singtel TV Ch107 and StarHub Ch232, 11pm

Sunday:

Liverpool v Manchester City — Singtel TV Ch102 and StarHub TV Ch227, 8pm

Arsenal v Everton — Singtel TV Ch102 and StarHuv TV Ch227, 10.05pm