Arsène Wenger admitted his Arsenal side lacked spark, sharpness and were below par in "every department" as they succumbed to a 1-0 first leg semi-final defeat at Ipswich Town, though he remains confident his side will still progress to the Carling Cup final.
The home side, struggling in the Championship and hammered 7-0 at Chelsea in the FA Cup on Sunday, have secured a well-merited if narrow lead to take to the Emirates Stadium in a fortnight. Arsenal were exposed defensively and sluggish in attack, unable to make their possession count, to leave their pursuit of a first trophy since 2005 in the balance. "We had no spark and Ipswich were sharper," said Wenger. "I'm disappointed and the players are as well. We had a lot of the ball but didn't make a lot of it, while Ipswich defended with heart and commitment. They showed a team can have 70% of the ball and still lose. We were not sharp, not creative, and had an off night.
"Every single pass was a problem from the start. We rely a lot on our sharp and crisp passing, but that was always a problem tonight. In every department we were below our usual level. In the second half we looked more vulnerable defensively and I'll put that down to fatigue. But I believe we'll turn it round. We got a good warning tonight ... and we will not always be as lacking in creativity as we were this evening."
Ian McParland, the Ipswich caretaker manager who also oversaw the thrashing at Chelsea, is expected to leave the club tomorrow morning when Paul Jewell takes over. "I'll dust myself down and get on with it," McParland said. "My departure's not been confirmed directly, but things will be sorted out in the morning.
"I don't think I'll be going to the second leg, but hopefully I'll have a new job by then. I guess they might give me a free ticket. The lads sweated blood. They were fantastic and showed so much character bouncing back from Sunday's game. I'm dead proud of them."
Ipswich now have a chance of reaching their first domestic cup final since 1978, when they beat Arsenal to win the FA Cup and the defender Damien Delaney said: "Arsenal weren't at their best but, to stay in the tie, we had to be above our best and pray to God that they would be somewhere below average if we were going to get close to them. That's what happened.Now we'll go and park the bus in front of the goal at the Emirates, like [José] Mourinho once said. We've got something to hold on to. They'll be breaking out all the big guns trying to do well after not winning any trophies for so long. But we can have another huge performance in us."
Wenger will continue his attempts to strengthen his defence ahead of that second leg, with interest in the likes of Gary Cahill at Bolton Wanderers and, potentially, West Ham United's Matthew Upson to be pursued. "But we didn't lose that game because of our central defenders," he added. "We are short because we only have two centre-halves, but it's too early to say we'll definitely get someone in. But, as a team, we did not perform tonight."
Source: Dominic Fifield, The Guardian on 12 Jan 11
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