Arsène Wenger was ambling off the pitch, his back turned on the shuddering pyrotechnics as the Chelsea players bounced jubilantly on the stage with the Carling Cup aloft in their midst. The Arsenal manager does not generally take defeat well.
This, after all, is a man who once had to stop the team bus as it departed from a game lost comprehensively by his AS Nancy Lorraine side at Lens in order to vomit, such was his sense of disgust.
Yet, for all the late squabbling which marred this occasion, there was hope to be had here, even in defeat. This youthful Arsenal team may not have claimed the silverware to cap their scintillating run to the final, but their time will surely come.
In the vision of Cesc Fàbregas and Denilson, the pace and threat of the lightning Theo Walcott and the power of the leggy Abou Diaby, Arsenal boasted a midfield quartet with an average age a little under 19, who had eclipsed Chelsea’s experienced pedigrees for most of the opening period.
At just over 21, the average age of Wenger’s 10 outfield players together was only marginally higher. No wonder the manager professed that his principal emotion at the end was pride. Yet for Wenger there was also regret to be had in the explosion of emotion at the end of the match.
”We lost our nerves a little bit with 10 minutes to go,” he said. ”You must keep those nerves but it’s a learning process. Until now we’ve been more lambs than wolves. You want an aggression level in your team, but you have to keep it under control.
”But I feel there is a great team spirit in this squad of young players and each time in the past when things have gone against us we have responded. That’s why I was disappointed, because if we had kept our calm, we would have had enough energy and mental resources to come back to 2-2. As it was, after the fight, the game never really got going again.”
Older heads may not have reacted as feverishly.
The scrap that erupted after Mikel John Obi’s tug on Kolo Toure’s shirt involved 14 players near the half-way line and drew both managers from the dugout in an attempt to douse the fury.
José Mourinho said, accurately, that the fracas had been born of Arsenal’s exasperation at chasing a game in which they had excelled for long periods. These emotions overtook them, and when Emmanuel Eboué went unpunished for striking Chelsea’s Wayne Bridge, the fracas was perhaps inevitable, given their smouldering sense of injustice.
”Maybe it was a consequence of some frustration in the last part of the game and some boys lost their emotions a bit,” the Chelsea manager said. ”I know that everyone will talk about how great this young Arsenal team is. Don’t forget that this young Arsenal team did in Liverpool what nobody has done [winning 6-3 at Anfield in January] and also beat Everton and Tottenham, so they are a young team but a very good team with a lot of really good players.”
That comment was designed to focus attention on his own team’s ascendance, with the power and pace they demonstrated ÂÂ- particularly in the second half ÂÂ- every bit as admirable as Arsenal’s slick approach. Yet it is frightening to consider just how potent a force these young Gunners could become.
There was delight to be had in Fàbregas’s passing and movement and in the slide-rule passes he sent down the right flank for the galloping Walcott. The England winger has been struggling this season, with ligament damage in his shoulder hardly helping him to make an impact in his first full season in the top flight, but he was irrepressible here. His first Arsenal goal has been a long time coming. That he was denied a winner’s medal was cruel.
”Theo was at a period in his career when it was important that he showed a good performance,” said Wenger. ”In my opinion, he had a very good performance and scored a great goal.”
There were others to admire: the clever Brazilian Denilson flitting in and out of the game but retaining his eye for a pass, and Diaby was arguably this contest’s most impressive performer for the opening hour.
The midfielder’s clever pass sent Walcott scurrying into the area to score the opening goal and Diaby should have added a second after the interval. Add to him the fullbacks Armand Traore and Justin Hoyte, as well as the substitute Eboué, and this is a generation of mouth-watering talent.
”They’re intelligent, they’re young, and they’ve produced another outstanding performance,” said Wenger. ”Think about it. The average age of those in the centre of midfield was about 18 and yet they’ve marshalled the middle of the park against outstanding players.”
For a while, they even pushed Chelsea back, but power and pace gradually made its mark. In the end, it was the streetwise side who prevailed. For Arsenal, slumped on the turf at the end, triumph will have to wait. — Â