Another round of the Europa League down, another schizophrenic Arsenal performance, and another night of Roy Keane glowering in response in the near-deserted realm of Europa League Highlights on ITV.
Keane, having pounded the road to Damascus on Liverpool last night, was in no mood for a similar conversion on Arsenal who predictably diced with humiliation in Moscow before eventually squeezing through against CSKA. Having fallen 2-0 down, Arsenal were only a goal away from going out, only to rescue the tie with late goals from Danny Welbeck and Aaron Ramsey.
Keane admitted that he was "sick of saying it" when discussing Arsenal's appalling start.
Obviously they were dreadful for the first 75 minutes. I'm sick of saying it if you start a game slowly you're in for a tough night. We've seen it over the last week: better teams than Arsenal starting slowly and heading for trouble. Arsenal did exactly the same. They got out of jail with a bit of quality from Welbeck, but yeah, the first 75 minutes, Arsenal were shocking. Really bad.
We've seen the best and worst of Arsenal. Once they got the goal back you thought they'd get a positive result. But football is about setting yourself high standards, and I felt they got out of jail tonight.
Where was the intensity? You have to play the game with a but of intensity. No one closing the ball down.
The danger for the manager at Arsenal is you don't know what you are going to get and that is a worrying trait to have as a team. They have the quality to hurt teams, but in the semi-final they won't get away with the mistakes they have been making.
Jack Wilshere once again drew criticism from Keane, with the Irish assistant manager criticising Wilshire's fitness record, which seems exceptionally harsh.
First of all, we keep hearing he is not fit and you need to be fit if you are going to be a footballer. Every time I see him he is getting treatment or he is carrying a knock.
Listen, maybe people think I have been harsh on him, but I have never been a big fan. For an attacking player, he doesn't get enough goals, he doesn't get enough assists. The guy's career is drifting. As bad as Arsenal were, he was really bad.
Has he been offered a contract? If I was him I'd sign it quickly because if he thinks he is going to be getting big offers in the summer I'd be surprise. Again, the big question mark over him on top of what he lacks is he never seems to be fit. That is a big problem.
Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger admitted his side were not at their best as they struggled to match CSKA Moscow's intensity as they secured a 6-3 aggregate win, with Keane less diplomatic than the Gunners boss as he summed up their display.
The Europa League semi-final draw is later today, at which point the Gunners will learn the opponents against whom they will come agonisingly close to blowing a lead in the second leg before Keane criticises Wilshere again.
[ITV]
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