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| Arsène Wenger: a day in the strife of Arsenal manager's torture chamber | Arsène Wenger: a day in the strife of Arsenal manager's torture chamber |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| Coming up to the age of 65, sometimes you have to wonder how much you still need this. Midway though what appeared to be an intolerable ordeal of a semi-final, Arsène Wenger looked as if he were being tortured. How much could he possibly withstand? | Coming up to the age of 65, sometimes you have to wonder how much you still need this. Midway though what appeared to be an intolerable ordeal of a semi-final, Arsène Wenger looked as if he were being tortured. How much could he possibly withstand? |
| With an hour gone, his players had wilted. They were sleepwalking into the abyss. They looked emotionally shot, struggling to find any kind of groove, and punished by a penalty as Wigan Athletic's gameplan was plotting out nicely. | With an hour gone, his players had wilted. They were sleepwalking into the abyss. They looked emotionally shot, struggling to find any kind of groove, and punished by a penalty as Wigan Athletic's gameplan was plotting out nicely. |
| Wenger was so fraught, he looked dizzy when Per Mertesacker's equaliser allowed him to breathe again. Still the tension ate at him, as an air of the unpredictable descended. | Wenger was so fraught, he looked dizzy when Per Mertesacker's equaliser allowed him to breathe again. Still the tension ate at him, as an air of the unpredictable descended. |
| Both teams players were dropping, cramped up, exhausted. Alex Oxlade‑Chamberlain found one last ounce of energy to crack a shot against the woodwork but the game drifted with a sense of inevitability towards a penalty shootout. Wenger, who had not stopped his worried pacing for 120 minutes, looked beyond strained. His fate was in the hands of players it has become difficult to depend upon at crucial moments this season. | Both teams players were dropping, cramped up, exhausted. Alex Oxlade‑Chamberlain found one last ounce of energy to crack a shot against the woodwork but the game drifted with a sense of inevitability towards a penalty shootout. Wenger, who had not stopped his worried pacing for 120 minutes, looked beyond strained. His fate was in the hands of players it has become difficult to depend upon at crucial moments this season. |
| For all the fear of a penalty shootout, in actual fact Arsenal's confidence grew with each spin of the roulette wheel. Lukasz Fabianski built the foundations by saving Wigan's first two penalties. Mikel Arteta and Kim Kallstrom, that curiosity of a winter loan signing, got the ball rolling and as the nerves eased, and the colour returned to their cheeks, Arsenal at last had a moment of elation to lose themselves in. | |
| When Santi Cazorla steered the decisive kick down the middle of Scott Carson's goal, Wenger grabbed Aaron Ramsey, embracing him like a son, then about turned and disappeared down the tunnel. Lord only knows how he felt inside. This emotionally turbulent season takes another twist. Arsenal are in the FA Cup final. | When Santi Cazorla steered the decisive kick down the middle of Scott Carson's goal, Wenger grabbed Aaron Ramsey, embracing him like a son, then about turned and disappeared down the tunnel. Lord only knows how he felt inside. This emotionally turbulent season takes another twist. Arsenal are in the FA Cup final. |
| The nine-year itch that dates back to Patrick Vieira's thumped penalty against Manchester United gets closer to being scratched. An enduring memory of that, Arsenal's last trophy, is of Vieira and Roy Keane crossing each other on the last, fateful, walk between centre spot and penalty spot. | |
| Keane was at Wembley on Saturday and in his inimitable punditry style had said before kick-off: "If you feel under pressure playing an FA Cup semi against a Championship side then you don't deserve to play for a big team." While the pressure did seem to gnaw at Arsenal for much of the game, the way they reacted, certainly in terms of attitude, was creditable. They had to dig deep into a reservoir of bloody‑mindedness to overcome a woefully inhibited start. | |
| With the season's edifice shaking, as Arsenal dropped out of the top four shortly before kick-off, Everton leapfrogging their way in with a victory at Sunderland, this semi-final was overloaded with significance that could trickle into the league campaign and the broader discussion about Wenger's future. It felt like a triple prize – or indeed a triple failure – rested on the outcome. | |
| Great swaths of Wembley were decked out in red and white, as the Arsenal support outnumbered the travelling Wiganers by around three to one. It was not long before the initial enthusiasm gave way to a kind of torpor, as the pattern emerged. Uwe Rösler's men were tightly organised, comfortable with their plan to sit securely and break with menace, mostly via Callum McManaman's indefatigable galloping down the right. | |
| Arsenal's stodgy tempo, which has been a particular problem during the months that Theo Walcott and Aaron Ramsey were out simultaneously, creates a kind of slow-release anxiety. All in all it tended to fizzle out at the feet of the day's chosen front man, Yaya Sanogo, who played as if the ball took him by surprise. | |
| Across the white line in the dugout, Wenger stood fidgeting, as if in a doctor's waiting room. Arms folded. Arms unfolded. Pacing from one side of his technical area to the next. He looked so stressed. You could feel his nerves 200 yards away. | |
| Wigan had been happy to bide their time. Cometh the hour, cometh McManaman, with a lung-busting burst into the area that was ended unceremoniously by Mertesacker. Indisputable penalty. The first of the afternoon. Wenger could barely watch. Rösler couldn't at all, as he hugged the hoardings in front of the dugout. Jordi Gómez was calmness personified, unerring. | Wigan had been happy to bide their time. Cometh the hour, cometh McManaman, with a lung-busting burst into the area that was ended unceremoniously by Mertesacker. Indisputable penalty. The first of the afternoon. Wenger could barely watch. Rösler couldn't at all, as he hugged the hoardings in front of the dugout. Jordi Gómez was calmness personified, unerring. |
| Wenger has not once deviated from his guaranteed strategy this season: back four; two midfield anchors; three attacking midfielders; big man. It spoke volumes that they offered so much more threat when Wenger was forced to play two up front late on to try to salvage the game. | Wenger has not once deviated from his guaranteed strategy this season: back four; two midfield anchors; three attacking midfielders; big man. It spoke volumes that they offered so much more threat when Wenger was forced to play two up front late on to try to salvage the game. |
| It was revealing that the noise that greeted Arsenal's equaliser, as Mertesacker stooped to steer a glancing header past Scott Carson, was an outpouring of visceral relief, which somehow crystallised the emotion of the entire occasion. | It was revealing that the noise that greeted Arsenal's equaliser, as Mertesacker stooped to steer a glancing header past Scott Carson, was an outpouring of visceral relief, which somehow crystallised the emotion of the entire occasion. |
| How long Wenger can suffer the pressure seemed a moot point. | How long Wenger can suffer the pressure seemed a moot point. |
| Thankfully for Arsenal, it is a subject for another day. | Thankfully for Arsenal, it is a subject for another day. |