Arsene Wenger says that Arsenal’s performance lacked some of the desire and determination that has brought about so many good results recently.
In a physical, but fair, game, the home side seemed to have that little bit extra in the tackle, and for Wenger that was what made the difference. It might only have been a small drop in performance, but in the Premier League that’s all it takes.
“Our performance was not good enough to win this kind of game, especially in the duels,” he said. “They had a little bit of extra special commitment that took advantage of us in some specific positions defensively.
“Overall we can only congratulate QPR for their attitude and be unhappy with our own performance.”
Two uncharacteristic mistakes from Thomas Sendermaelen brought about both QPR goals but the manager rightly didn’t point fingers and again focused on the team’s performance.
“I do not want to single anyone out but of course we made defensive mistakes. It is a good shock to come back to what has made our strength recently. Subconsciously something was missing today. In the Premier League, if you miss something on the commitment front you are beaten. That is what happened today.”
And after seven straight wins, it’s telling that one defeat has opened up so many old wounds and made people nervous about what lies ahead. Arsene knows the response will be crucial.
“We know how to respond, we have been exposed to this situation this season. We have a good opportunity on Sunday but it will be needed after giving away the points today.”
Calling a spade a spade.
Sendermalen?! To be fair, TV5 did have a Senderos-like game. But the fear is that it might trigger a collapse like it did last season, which is the reason for the outrage. And that we lost to Joey Barton, of course.
They looked half asleep today. Walcott didn’t look interested, Ramsey wasn’t good enough. But at least it’s only city next game 🙂
Could work in our favour… If the motivation wasn’t quite there for QPR, they’ll surely be able to pick it up for a huge game like City. I reckon we can do them. We were bound to have a blip after 7 wins on the bounce. I was disappointed we didn’t nick an equaliser at the end yesterday though.
I AM concerned that we may have another collapse, last season took away our title challenge and left us in fourth, a collapse this season and we’ll be on Channel 5 by September. The outrage – certainly that I and a few of my mates feel – is more that the team has no excuse why they didn’t show up today. I wouldn’t say they were “slightly” off the game, they were abysmal. Really, really bad. If they did this at the start of the season, then I’d have shrugged it off as a poor result in a good run,… Read more »
It is the same EVERY season, I would have taken a lose at Everton a lot easier than today. Against those bottom teams away, we play with no heart and fear in the league and cups. This problems never been addressed for 7 years!!!!!!!!!!!!
I remember last year games against WBA, Bolton, Fulham and Villa at home and how we collapsed, it brings bad taste to the mouth, and after a good run we managed to do it again against the worst team in the league. We pay the Manager and players good money and the problem still there, WHY???????????
His reaction as to why he played ramsey on the left in his press conference, i’m sorry to say, was beyond arrogant.
We had no business getting 3 points out of that game. Wenger is right. It meant more to QPR and they attacked ferociously on defense.
Watching the Southampton / Blackpool game now and it’s the same thing. Blackpool want it and they are attacking with real purpose.
QPR want it more than us?????? If they did, then non of our players deserve to wear the shirt. We want EVERY point in the EPL as much as any team, if the player don’t fight for every point no matter what they don’t deserve to wear the shirt, simple as. This week they should be ashamed when picking the 50k plus wage.
Lets see on Monday if the Manures would say Blackburn wanted it more than us as we already 2 points ahead of City even if we lose!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Didn’t Manure lose 3-2 in OT? Pretty sure SAF said Blackburn want it more too!
I won’t say QPR wanted it more either, an uncharacteristic performance from the verminator gave them the 2 goals. The lack of any creativity at times and lack of direction is troubling though.
It is true, but Manure have the odd slip up against the small teams. For us it is a fixture, small teams now lick their lips when playing us at home and those points we drop against small teams lose us the league EVERY year. Take last season we lost 10 out of 12 points JUST to Newcastle and WBA (both were bottom 10 last year, not going into how many we lost points to the other bottom 10 teams), that is criminal to repeat the mistake 7 years in a row for a team wanting to win the league.… Read more »
Sendermaelen??Surely that’s hard on the big Swiss fella,I think TV5 was a bit Cyganish today-I’m sure he’ll have a stormer against Na$ri’s new best friends next week though & nick a 98th minute winner!
Arsene has stated the obvious but at least he hasn’t tried to say we deserved something or played well when we clearly didn’t.
Ramsey was played out of postion for reasons only known to arsene. So not only the players fault. But having said that lets hope it’s just a blip and what better game to get our mojo back than against city.
This side has shown that fabled charachter in recent weeks so I really believe we will crush city and get back on track.
Keep the faith and let’s see what happens come may before the recriminations start.
I’ll take a stab at the reason why Arsene might’ve played Ramsey. Whenever we play away , we can’t afford to be gung ho and go all guns blazing against the opposition. If you remember AOC at HOME against Newcastle and AWAY at Sunderland didn’t really do much and these are big physical teams . Any team under Hughes is exactly the same . So Wenger probably thought it made sense to focus on ball retention more and Ramsey would also help a bit defensively . With Gibbs as LB one does need to cover his position once he goes… Read more »
Interesting observation. I think the lack of attributes that characterised a winger in Ramsey is offset by the overlapping/gung-ho qualities of Gibbs.
I think instead of just criticising Arsenal’s approach, QPR deserves credit for how they played against Arsenal. Lets hope we can pull our socks up and march on.
@Josh. I agree. QPR played well and the Arsenal players should well know that the referees aren’t going to help regarding the thuggish play of the opposition. Rosicky was also not upto the mark and that’s the reason why the passing became slower as he is the guy who keeps the ball rolling with speed
There are always a couple of games like this in a season but there had already been too many before today.
Having collapsed twice this season, we need to get things back on track. Maybe the fact that we HAVE to beat City (just because they are cunts) will provide the extra motivation required, just like the Sp*rs game a few weeks back.
Like that’s going to happen. If they cannot be bothered with beating QPR and to have Sp#rs breathing down our necks….
Well. Nothing to say really.
LETS START FROM THE TOP – THE MANAGER WAS AT FAULT FOR MESSING AROUND WITH A WINING FORMULA. WHY DOES HE FIND IT NECESSARY TO ACCOMMODATE RAMSEY? WHY CHANGE A TEAM THAT HAS WON 7 GAMES IN A ROW? WHY DOES HE HAVE TO START WALCOTT EVERY GAME( WHO IS USELESS)? WHY IS HE NOT STARTING AOC, WHO IS OUR BEST ATTACKER BEHIND RVP? I HAVE SAID MANY TIMES – WENGER IS A VERY GOOD MANAGER BUT A POOR COACH!
And u sir are an idiot
about 3 of those points contradict each over. good job on the capitals too…
shouting in writing form, always a sign of a point well made…
..do you work for talksport radio?
Is something wrong with your caps lock key? and that guy Walcott whom you say is useless was the one who scored today.
Walcott has what, 4 goals in 6 games and you say he’s useless after SCORING today? one bad day and all the doomsayers are out as usual
Arghhh!! I’m too annoyed by your lack of common sense! 1) Walcott is our best attacker behind RvP, the statistics back it up and the recent performance (coinciding with return of Sagna) has play consistently well. 2) If somehow you know how to develop players better than Arsene and his back room staff then your point of using AOC is completely utterly pointless. 3) A manager picks the team and makes important decisions, which you criticise his selection. A coach oversee the training and development. 4) Why do you blame the management of the squad and players like Ramsey and… Read more »
So Wenger should:
1. Keep the same team
2. Drop Walcott
Yes.
I don’t agree with the poor coach thing, Wenger has faith in his players. But I have to agree – why on earth start with Ramsey ahead of Chamberlain? Chamberlain is one of our best players. It confuses the fuck out of, especially that Ramsey is not a winger.
I’m sorry, but Ramsey sucks, play like Denilson. To many side ways and back ways passing that slows our attack.
Looked one of the easier games on paper .
It’s going to be tough getting in the top four
look at the fixtures only Wigan and norwich at home
look easy then we need another three wins
from Chelsea, city, Stoke, west brom and wolves
never make like easy arsenal. Chelsea win
next week and they could be two points behind!
it looked like one of our easier games.. but liverpool, spuds and everton didn’t look like 9 points either.
we make it hard for ourselves.. but we were 7th a few games ago.. and chelsea are still 5 points away.
crazy season so far. but i think finish with some dignity.
Barry Johnson – are you serious?
Walcott. Useless? The same guy who’s provided more assists to the PL’s top scorer than any other player and scored our only goal of the game?
I agree the OX should have started but to say Wenger is a poor coach is a huge over exaggeration, I didn’t see you commenting during our 7 match winning run, but one slip up and the knives come out – suddenly everyone’s ‘useless’….
Barru, how can you complain about messing with a winning formula and in the next sentence ask him why we play Walcott all the time. Go straight to the medicine cabinet and take a couple of pills from the bottle marked ‘chill’ this instance.
I however thought Koscielny acquitted himself well today.
Someone should slap Vermaelen with a fish. He was terrible today. The game really lack direction from an Arsenal point of view. There seem to be no conformation from the players to deal with the strong-arm strategy of QPR.
It was basically a game won by the team with the least mistake at the back.
People are criticizing Ramsey here but it was Verminator who screwed up and gave away the 2 goals. Ramsey has to do a lot of work and clearly he cannot play completely on the left. He is a central midfielder and not a winger. Not really fair to criticize him for the loss.
Frustrating it may be, but can’t we all just take a couple of hours (and beers) after a game like today to calm ourselves down, think rationally before spewing doomsday predictions and finger-pointing? Yes mistakes were made but it’s hardly the end of the world (yet) is it? Our graduated Academy products put 3 past Citeh today so what’s to say we can’t do the same eh have a beer and some faith.
As I said recriminations can wait till may, I’m not one who thinks just finishing in the top four is good enough for this club. But to be where we are having been handicapped with our pre season dealings in the transfer market and injuries is remarkable. The one thing that worries me is what someone said in a previous post. And I hope it’s wrong. But maybe we have played so well because the pressure was off and now we have that 3rd place and spurs and Chelsea breathing down our necks the pressure is on and the worry… Read more »
Fucking hell the vultures are out already. Get a grip. Even a broken clock’s right twice a day. TV needs a rest though as there’s been signs for a few games his heads not there.
How can he need a rest, he’s only played about 15 games? Prat.
You might want to check your facts there son and he’s either tired or something else is wrong because his lack of form recently is uncharacteristic.
This was typical Arsenal under Wenger. When they scrape the bottom of the barrel (AC Milan/Sunderland) they respond, but after they respond they get big-headed and standards drop again. This is symptomatic of a manager that simply cannot motivate. He’s been there too long and very few players are anywhere near the quality needed to be a title contending team. Arsenal fans are too happy to put up with this mediocrity, maybe because they have spent so long protecting Wenger they refuse to admit he’s not the manager he once was. They are as stubborn as he is, both damage… Read more »
Can someone please tell me why Ramsey was preferred to Gervinho and The Ox?
One defeat in 7 and the shit talk starts again get behind the fucking team and hopefully we get third and build for next season
Well said. Let’s show a certain cunt how passionate we can be next week.
Players and fans get right in their fuckin faces from the off.
Good game to have to get straight back on track.
1 defeat in 8….
I think they were just not quite there mentally.. TV was irritable all match n he is one of the key ppl keeping up the spirit in the team.. Playing Ramsey did not work.. Only Wenger knows why he had to start when we had Gervinho and the Ox on the bench..
But its just one blip in 8 games so lets see if they get back to usual next week.. also RVP needs to score!! Its been too long!!
Ramsey has an excellent touch and pass…until he is hurried or gets near goal. He can NOT take on a defender and his outside shot is too often weak or way off target. When hurried he looses the ball too often or passes back, slowing our attack. Both the OX and Gervinho can get around defenders with pace on the outside or with ball skill.
I feel for Rambo, but he needs to some confidence or a different position.
I was there today, make no mistake QPR were absolute crap and totally there for the taking but we lost the game before it started, Ramsey!?!? What?? So 4 central mids to pass sideways all game as we only had 2 not 3 to threaten, 33% less, so the inevitable happened, with 8 mins to go he finally went for it but 30 mins too late as QPR did work hard those last few minutes to hold their win, yes TV was awful but as soon as I read the team sheet I went from knowing we would win to… Read more »
We played too much with the handbrake on today,I’ve told Pat to give it a good spray of WD-40 to be sure it’s fully released by sunday…
Wenger showed his pecking order again today by playing Ramsey, he’s been getting away with it the last couple of games but if you look at he’s basically dropped AOC recently for no good reason other than he is not up the pecking order. The guy is our best player after RVP but no, Wenger decided he was going to play Ramsey all season at the beginning of the season, and that AOC was a squad player, so that’s how it remains, nothing to do with form. I also think admitting the other team wanted it more is very honest… Read more »
I rest my case with Ramsey…smh
Start the Ox all the time from now on! That is all.
I’m still so frustrated from today’s game. You could see from kick off QPR wanted it more and were hurrying us into errors. We started slowly and whenever we start slowly we go behind. Shocking defending on the 1st goal from tv5. More worrying for me was the lack of penetration.
Ramsey Song and tv5 had a torrid time and rvp was having an off day. Why oh why do we wait until the 80th min to bring on The Ox. Chamakh .. Gervinho pointless substitutions
Same failings cropping up again. Anyway we will do city next week
I’m going to sound like a cunt but do the people complaining about playing Ramsey realise it was the exact same team the snatched that cagey win at Goodinson Park? We haven’t found a good balance between attack and defence away from home yet – which is why Ramsey starts to help keep possession and offer more protection down that flank. Wenger is being (over?) cautious with AOC. If you look back Wenger has rarely played two wingers away from home. Most of the time it’s been Benayoun/Rosicky/Ramsey starting on the left. It’s not like this setup is a suprise… Read more »
am i the only one to think the winning run is mostly because of ramsey getting injured?
He was on the winning side against Everton. Remember?
The Ox only played a few game and he’s considered by some a world beater.
Wait until he has a few bad games, and those hater will rear their ugly heads.
That’s the reason why Wenger is so protective of him.
I think that at times like this we need to remind ourselves that (pretty much) whatever happens at WHL, come Monday we’ll still be in third place over our own noisy neighbours.
And as we have had one slip-up in 8 games. As for 5pur2 they have been losing most of the time and when they havn’t they have drawn. Overall we are in a far better position to finish 3rd.
And as for today:
Come on Swansea!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
😉
No logic in trying play Ramsey as a winger when we have gervinho the ox and benayoun waiting in the wings. Rosicky deserves his starting birth.
Yes spot on Sirchesney
Wenger has to take a bit of flack over this, he is with team almost 24/7 and surely by now he can tell by now in the chane room who is up for it and who is switched off and go and have little chat and try and get their mind where it should be.
I just think he is in love with Ramsey, like a loving hubby he just cant see the Mrs aint be cooking to well for sometime and smile as he chomps on the
GROUL…..Sorry