The FA Cup: “one of Wenger’s finest achievements”
All season long, Arsène Wenger was written off, said Jason Burt in The Daily Telegraph. “Yesterday’s man. Too old. Time to move on.” Yet last Saturday, his Arsenal side confounded expectations to defeat Chelsea 2-1 and win the FA Cup for a record 13th time – their seventh triumph in the competition under the French manager. It was “an extraordinary performance of intelligence, organisation and resilience”: the Gunners dominated and outplayed the Premier League champions. Watching Arsenal, it was hard to believe they only finished the season fifth in the league. “Why can’t the team play like this every week? Or even just slightly more often?”
Arsenal pulled off one of the FA Cup’s most memorable victories, said Oliver Holt in The Mail on Sunday. Chilean forward Alexis Sánchez “ran the show”, scoring his 30th goal of the season. Midfielder Mesut Özil “caressed the ball and his opponents into submission”; Per Mertesacker was a “colossus” in defence, despite having played just 37 minutes all season. “Even in Wenger’s canon of works, this must rate as one of his finest achievements.” The manager is “rarely praised for his tactical acumen”, said Michael Cox in The Guardian. But on this occasion, at least, his decision-making was “spot on”. He selected the speedy Danny Welbeck up front, forcing Chelsea to defend “incredibly deep”. And he stuck with the three-man defence that has brought the side a run of nine wins from ten matches. Yet there were still signs of the “fragility” that has hobbled Arsenal this season, said Matt Dickinson in The Times. This, after all, is a side that recently lost 3-0 to Crystal Palace and 3-1 to West Brom. With Wenger’s contract newly extended for two seasons, it won’t be long before “the old questions return about whether Arsenal can, truly, compete for the biggest prizes”.
Chelsea had a “superb” season, said Burt. But you wouldn’t know that from this performance. They looked “undercooked” – as if they considered themselves so superior that they expected to “simply roll Arsenal over”. As Chelsea struggled to get the better of the Gunners, one of their players resorted to “deception”, said Ian Hawkey in The Sunday Times. With 22 minutes to go, wing-back Victor Moses dived in the box in a bid to get a penalty. Fortunately, referee Anthony Taylor made “a courageous decision”: he showed Moses a second yellow card and sent him off. Coming at the end of a season in which diving has “contaminated an especially high number of elite” matches, the punishment was all the more significant. It may prove to be a watershed for the sport.