BARCLAYS PREMIERSHIP Wenger is radio ga-ga as Emirates gives him new ground for concern
IT might be stretching it to say that the beauty of the new Emirates Stadium is lost on Arsene Wenger. But only a bit.
http://www.londonpictorial.co.uk/emirates7/index.htmlThe sight lines at Arsenal's new home are wonderful and the sweeping design is breathtaking. But Wenger's still behaving like the home-owner who's worried the living room's the wrong shade of red.
There are some things he just doesn't like about the new place and it's going to take time for him to get over it. He spent much of the second half of a frustrating Saturday afternoon whipping round on the touchline and glaring ferociously at the top deck of the main stand. Somewhere up there, the stadium announcer was getting more and more excited about chaos on the London Underground.
Arsenal's attempts to draw level with Middlesbrough and then edge in front of them were accompanied by a jarring soundtrack. It was just that by the time the announcer had finished, any of the 60,007 supporters could have done Closures On The Victoria Line and Maintenance Works At King's Cross.
"I was very annoyed about the constant announcements said Wenger. "I think he has to respect people and not talk too much. We are not on the radio here. There are people who want to watch a football game without a debate going on. "It's really disturbing. I don't know if it puts the players off but for people watching it's disturbing. "You wonder why there's one guy reading a book up there on his own and nobody is interested in what he says."
There are other, more fundamental, things troubling Wenger about his team's new abode, too. Notably, the size of the pitch. The Emirates is bigger. Highbury was 101 metres long and 67 metres wide. The current playing surface is 105 metres long and 68 metres wide.
Arsenal have not adapted well and their discomfort is one of the reasons why they have made their worst-ever start to a Premiership season. They have fallen behind in each of the three matches they have played at their new home this season.
New pitch dimensions have also been a contributory factor. The extra length means Arsenal have already found it harder to squeeze the life out of opponents with their pressing game than they used to.
Arsenal's lightning-quick counter-attacks have a few more metres to travel now, too, allowing grateful defenders a few more seconds of recovery time. "We have to use the extra width better and be more penetrating from deep and be sharper in front of goal," Wenger said.
He insisted Arsenal would soon adapt to their new surroundings and that he was more concerned about a new habit of going a goal down than he was about a set of measurements.
Middlesbrough boss Gareth Southgate was quite rightly full of praise for the efforts of his players, But he returned to the theme of Arsenal's new surroundings to point out that visiting teams no longer have to cope with the emotional baggage of bad memories of Highbury.
"The pitch here is bigger and maybe makes a difference to the way Arsenal press teams," Southgate said. "But it's more of a mental thing. "So much of the game at this level is played in the mind and you are not dealing with the ghosts of the past. I don't know if it will help other teams but it was significant for us. We let in 23 goals in our last four games at Highbury. "Other teams probably won't have that issue with it but we didn't like it there very much.
This place is a lot nicer." Arsenal will have to learn to love the Emirates, too.
Otherwise, their new home will soon lose its lustre.
