Porto was Fabianski's fault, not Wenger's

The whole world, according to Uefa, watches the Champions League. If so, the whole world was laughing at Arsenal last night. Lukasz Fabianksi's blushes won't fade for some time, and nor should they.

Has there ever been a worse performance in Arsenal's Champions League history? Kanu away at Juventus in 2002, perhaps? The whole team in the 4-1 defeat at Spartak Moscow in 2000?

Possibly. But last night, Fabianksi went beyond bad, sunk past shocking, and ended up somewhere around barely believable.

Why? Because, when goalkeepers have played poorly before, they've failed to react. They've dived over shots, for example, or missed a cross. In other words, some danger - however slight - already existed.

Fabianksi, on the other hand, was pro-active for Porto. He single-handedly created their two goals. Twice, when there was no danger, he gave them something. That takes some doing.

You know when you dream about work, and everything that can go wrong, does go wrong? Fabianski had that dream, for real, in front of 45,000 people last night.

And that's why last night - despite what the phone-ins and message boards say - wasn't Arsene Wenger's fault. How could it be?

When Manuel Almunia dropped the cross against Liverpool at Anfield, that was, ultimately, Wenger's fault. It was a mistake you could have expected; a mistake that poor goalkeepers - which Almunia is - are likely to make. Therefore, Wenger should have seen it coming. He should, in the summer, have bought a better goalkeeper.

Last night, though, Fabianski's mistakes slid off the scale. Yes, we expected mistakes. But not those mistakes. They were, genuinely, shocking.

What if Wenger had picked - say - Luke Freeman, and he'd missed two open goals. Would they have been the manager's fault? Of course not - because scoring open goals is something you learn at Primary School. It is, like kicking back-passes into the stand, a basic skill.

Somewhere, there's a limit to Wenger's responsibility. When players sink that low, he can't take the blame. Last night, Fabianski took incompetence to new, unseen levels.

That doesn't mean Wenger is right to have Fabianksi as second-choice. Far from it. The Pole, as he's proved before, isn't good enough, and certainly isn't old enough. But even if the 16-year-old from Rochdale reserves was Arsenal's second choice, he wouldn't have made those mistakes.

Put it this way: if you made lunch using cheap meat from Lidl, it would be your fault if it tasted bad. But, if the cheap meat made you ill, it wouldn't be your fault. There's a limit to responsbility.

What Wenger should do, but won't, is bring back Bob Wilson, who left the club in 2003. Not to play in goal - though, even aged 68, he couldn't do any worse - but to choose a goalkeeper. Unlike Wenger, he knows one when he sees one.