Arsene Wenger has played down suggestions that Arsenal are a one man team after Robin van Persie came to the rescue again, scoring twice late on to give Arsenal a 3-1 win over arch-cunnies Stoke.
“I don’t have that feeling at all”, he said in his post-match press conference. “When you want to be a team with quality you always have a player who stands out and who gets on the end of things. We had Thierry Henry before. Robin has exceptional quality and so you get these questions”.
The boss surprisingly rested van Persie but revealed the Dutchman wasn’t even sure to take any part in the game.
“He had muscular tightness and I took 19 players yesterday because I was not sure whether to involve him on the teamsheet. He made a check this morning and he was medically alright to be on the bench. Before you leave him out you always think 15 times ‘should I really do it or not?’ but if you look at the number of games he plays and the history he has, you are a bit cautious”.
Ensuring the fitness of the only striker at the club who can score goals is probably prudent but after another ineffectual performance from his replacement, Wenger defended Marouane Chamakh.
“I think he worked very hard. He is running after a goal at the moment. I felt there were two or three occasions in the first half where he was nearly there on crosses and just didn’t get in front of Shawcross. I am pleased with his effort. I think he knows in his mind that at the moment Van Persie is untouchable.
“He will get confidence by playing games and scoring goals like all strikers”.
Yet with only one goal in the Premier League since he scored against Aston Villa on November 27th last year, you have to ask whether or not Chamakh is the man to deputise for the captain. And with Park seemingly decorative, we have to hope Robin remains uninjured.
Arsenal now have 6 wins from their last 7 games and the final word goes to the manager.
“Overall it was a good, spirited performance and the crowd feels that this team wants to do well because they stood behind the team again and that is very positive”.
—
Watch Wenger’s full press conference on Arsenal Player.
Van persie needs to be rewarded now before it’s to late we’d be lost up front without him, only seven points behind the manc scum now, let’s keep up the steady progress, come on the gunners
“Wenger: We’re not a one man team”
Everyone else: Yeah we are.
Nope we ain’t but we are as near to one as you can get right now. Just sign the bloke up and make him whatever promises it takes about January signings and lets move on to champions league football and 4 th place.
We’re miles from a one man team. Credit goes to Koscielny, Song, Ramsey and did anyone else watch Gervinho today who set Van Persie up twice and scored a goal?
We just need a better replacement than Chawakh
One-man team? It’d be a bit smarter for the press to call us a two-man team after Gervinho’s great performance. Then again, Aaron Ramsey being in the 4th spot for most assists in the Premier League must mean that we really focus too much on one man right? If not he should be #1 right? Then again, when you take how many goals we’ve scored in total, Aaron’s stats are pretty damn incredible. If I remember correctly David Silva just has one or two assists more than Ramsey, and he’s in a free-scoring Man City side! You gotta have mad… Read more »
Of course we are not a one-man team….we are a one-striker team. We have a decent goalie, some good midfielders, a couple of top defenders, when fit, and an outstanding Captain…stop insulting the other lads: Wilshere, Song, Vermaelen, Kos, Rambo et al
A decent goalie ? BLASPHEMY, BLASPHEMY I SAY !!
We’re not a one-man team, we’re a one-striker team.
I see goonergirl beat me to it :/
did anyone else feel that song had a lot of turnovers today? sometimes he takes a touch too many i think
Yeah we’re a one man team.. that’s why Gervinho had 1 goal and 2 assists. He counts for nothing right?
Fuck off Football365
Kos has had some good games recently, perhaps Mertz is bringing out the best of him. Gervinho showed his potential today, let’s hope it continues. We do need signings and I’d like to see Park
Koscielny was playing well before Mert signed my friend. One mistake in the Carling Cup and everyone thinks he’s the worst player in the world. smh
I wish we could have 12 players on the pitch, so that we can have Per, Vermaelen and Koscielny together. I can’t pick between them.
Anyone else having little sneaky peeks at the table again now…? Chelsea without Drogba is such a tempting thought.
Just keep climbing.
[…] the game, Arsene acknowledged that Van Persie is important, but insisted that Arsenal is not a 1 man team. Honestly, I am fine with that. Every big team has that one special player who stands out above the […]
Just saw an article about Pavlyuchenko is unhappy. That could be a nice piece of January business for us. Never understood why ‘Arry never starts the guy. He seems to score whenever he comes on. Would take him over Chamak