Noted Indian cricket commentator Harsha Bhogle walked on unchartered territory on Monday. Known for great insight on the 'gentleman's game', he decided to offer his views on a matter one wouldn't familiarise with him.
Harsha, a prolific tweeter, took to his favourite social media platform once again to share his views on English football club Arsenal.
Having lost to Manchester City in the League Cup final late on Sunday, Arsenal were in the news all morning. Clearly, Harsha was tuned it too.
The Gunners' embarrassing 3-0 defeat to the current English Premier League leaders, perhaps, compelled Harsha too put out a rather stinging tweet. In his post, he wondered why Arsenal, who he reckoned are 'a No.4 or 5 team at best', were given such extensive media attention.
"For a football club that is really a no 5/no 6 club and which, at best, could aspire for no 4, Arsenal gets a lot of media attention. Maybe even more next year when they have to have a new manager," he wrote.
He went on: "Currently that is what they are and emotion rarely covers reality. Yes, great club, no doubt at all about it and hopefully, will go back to where they should be. When a new manager arrives and everyone can offer a genuine thank you to a great manager."
Here are his tweets
While Harsha does have a point - Arsenal are in no way contending for any title anymore - he, perhaps, forgot about the rich history the London based club enjoys. Arsenal have won 13 league titles and several other major trophies in the past. Although the club hasn't won the Premier League in almost a decade and a half, it still has a huge fan base across the world because of its considerable success in years gone by.
Thinking on these line, Indian cricketer Ravichandran Ashwin was one of the first ones to call out Harsha's harsh criticism.
"Oh no Arsenal ain’t so bad Harsha, all teams go through ups and downs," he tweeted.
Here's his tweet
Harsha, however, stuck to his guns and insisted Arsenal aren't a force to reckon with anymore. "Of course. But currently that is where they are and the many Arsenal fans that I meet say the same thing. They want more. Heard a lovely, passionate clip about the club as it now stands from @ThierryHenry who I am a fan of," replied Harsha.
Here's his tweet
While Ashwin's reaction to Harsha's take on Arsenal was polite, die hard fans of the club, known as 'Gooners', didn't take kindly to the veteran cricket commentators words. Many requested him to stick to cricket and not share his views on a subject he clearly lacked knowledge of.
Here are some tweets
Meanwhile, Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger rued his team's defensive errors after their 3-0 loss to Manchester City in the League Cup final on Sunday, but he also said the video replay system should have ruled one of the goals out.
The north London club have now lost a record six League Cup finals -- three under Arsene Wenger who has never won the trophy -- while City have triumphed three times in five years.
"We self-inflicted our punishment", the Frenchman told a news conference after the game at Wembley Stadium. "You can never say you're not disappointed when you concede goals the way we conceded goals. But you take the good and the bad when you're the manager and that's part of the game."
Goals from Sergio Aguero, Vincent Kompany and David Silva gave City an easy win in the first ever domestic final clash between the sides. Former Tottenham Hotspur striker Teddy Sheringham told the BBC: "If Arsenal were going to have a chance today they all needed to be 9-out-of-10s, and I don't think any of Arsenal's players were more than a 5-out-of-10 today - no-one performed. Arsenal's fans will be more disappointed with the performance than the result," he said.
'OFFSIDE' GOAL
Wenger said Kompany's goal in the second half should have been ruled offside by the Video Assistant Referee (VAR), being used on Sunday for the first time in a cup final in England. "The second goal is offside. I don't know, we accepted the VAR, I just watched it again. It's a mystery for me how you can watch that on replay and not give offside," said the Frenchman.
He also defended his decision to field three at the back instead of four, saying that formation had worked well for the team before, including against Manchester City. "The goals we conceded could not be explained by the fact that we played with three at the back. I don't think the system was especially questioned on that," he said.
Arsenal are sixth in the Premier League standings, 10 points behind the top four Champions League qualifying places, meaning their most likely way into Europe's elite club competition next season is by winning the Europa League.
But Wenger insisted the focus would be on their next Premier League fixture rather than their last-16 tie against European heavyweights AC Milan in the continent's second-tier event. "We have to prioritise the next game first before we concentrate on the Europa League," he said.
Arsenal's next fixture is at The Emirates on Thursday against runaway Premier League leaders Manchester City, who are 27 points above them and already heading for the title. "They will be on a high, and we have to recover from the disappointment," Wenger said. "On that front, they have the advantage."
(Inputs from Reuters)
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