Source: Daily_Mail
Sunderland 1-0 Arsenal: Fuming Wenger needs flops to bridge title gap
Steve Bruce will kick his players' backsides if they fail to follow up another impressive home win over one of the top four with victory on his return to Wigan this weekend.[LNB]Arsene Wenger needs to do it before his side's next two games to stay on course in the Champions League and keep their fragile title hopes alive. They may be third in the table and have a game in hand, but they are already eight points adrift of runaway leaders Chelsea.[LNB]The Arsenal manager took the unusual step of criticising his players after their first defeat since early September, even though he felt they did enough to see off Sunderland.[LNB] Dejected: Arsenal trudge back to the centre circle after conceding at Sunderland[LNB]Wenger blamed the European break for their first failure to score this season. It has not only cost him Robin van Persie for at least a month but forced him to start with Andrey Arshavin on the bench.[LNB]The Russian had the visitors' best chance to cancel out Darren Bent's opener, only to slide Alex Song's neat chip over the Sunderland defence the wrong side of Marton Fulop and his post.[LNB] Making the difference: Arshavin gave Arsenal some oomph up front [LNB]Wenger knows there needs to be an improvement, although four consecutive home games will help, starting with tomorrow's routine European clash with Standard Liege, followed by Sunday's showdown with Chelsea.[LNB]Exasperated: Wenger laments poor Arsenal finishing[LNB]'Mentally it's a blow,' he said. 'It's a big disappointment because we know this was a very big game that we couldn't afford to lose. [LNB]'I don't feel there was a lack of desire to win the game. We choked a little bit but it's difficult sometimes. People forget when you go away on international duty how difficult it is in England to win a football game.[LNB]'If this game had been at home, we would have won it. We could have scored four or five but we lacked the final ball.[LNB]'Sunderland, credit to them, defended with a lot of heart and great desire and they fought for the ball. We were not good enough. I don't deny that.'[LNB]Bruce is enjoying life at Sunderland following his move from Wigan, where he can expect a warm welcome next Saturday from his former chairman, Dave Whelan.[LNB]Bruce said: 'The first thing I said to them when they came off the pitch was if we do not perform at Wigan I will kick all their a**** and they can walk home. We have had to change the team's mentality. It has been too long up and down and that is difficult to change.[LNB]'It will take time, three, four, six months, maybe a couple of years, but I am delighted when I see the crowd today: 45,000, fantastic.'[LNB]One concern for Bruce is the hamstring injury suffered by Bent after he had seized on a loose ball at an Andy Reid corner to score his ninth of the season. The full extent will be discovered today.[LNB]
