Arsene Wenger is pleased by his side’s performance against Manchester City despite the fact his touring side were defeated 2-0 in China.
In their second pre-season friendly of the week the Gunners played zippy, attractive football but were ultimately downed by two goals on the break by Pablo Zabaleta and Yaya Toure in the five minutes before half time.
Speaking after the match in Beijing’s Bird’s Nest stadium, the boss played up the positives of the showpiece fixture.
“It was lively and both teams tried to play. I think we were quite dominant in the first half but suddenly found ourselves down 2-0 against the run of play.
“I feel Manchester City played on a very solid defence with five real defenders and we played forward without calculating too much.
“We were a bit vulnerable on the counter-attack and that is where we got caught. But overall what is important for us is to see everybody play and give everybody competition. We lasted 90 minutes at quite a good level.”
In review, Gervinho ran with purpose in the first half, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain was bright after the break, Abou Diaby avoided injury and youngsters Ignasi Miquel, Chuks Aneke, Thomas Eisfeld and Benik Afobe all secured more game time.
Of course, despite the excitement on the pitch when it comes to post-match press conferences the media are drooling for only one thing – HEADLINES ABOUT ROBIN VAN PERSIE…
Obviously bored of such chat, the boss dismissively retorted:
“We could come back forever on Van Persie. We have our main strikers at home and Van Persie is one of them. But we have Podolski and Giroud who are at home, so we have plenty of strikers.
“For us at the moment it is to prepare for the season – it is more than any individual player.”
In a similarly bored fashion, Wenger also played down the report in Marca (subsequently revised) that Arsenal had sealed a deal to sign Turkish midfielder Nuri Sahin on loan:
“We did not sign anybody today, this report is wrong. We are not signing anybody at the moment – we are not close. In the future you never know.”
Denying is always the first step 😉
But there are too many players getting denied.
So are we gonna sign them all or is it a FALCAO situation.
In this case, I’m inclined to think the denial might be genuine (which will anger most of you, of course). The rumour was only that Sahin would “probably play in the Premier League” this season. Why should it be Arsenal? He could just as easily be moving to United, who are in the market for a playmaker / midfielder. And it could be hotspurm as part of a makeweight in the Modric deal. Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for improving the quality of the side, but it just seems there is little to no justification for imagining it’s Arsenal… Read more »
Oh Arséne, be a flirt will you and do a bit of transfer talking ?
That’s not how he rolls I guess. A punked up wenger with the new glasses and shit.
That’s not how he ‘rolls’ I guess. A punked up wenger with the new glasses and shit.
Anyway this second post could be deleted, I look like a total idiot now….
We are not close? What about Cazorla then? Wily as always Mr. Wenger.
I would prefer we sahin cazorla first then look at sahin later on.
Wasn’t it Mourinho who said we operate like a training ground? I hope we get Cazorla and that this story is just the fantasy of some journalist.
Sahin would be great…
But to the more important question. How do you buy one of those shirts with Chinese letters from today’s match 🙂 those looked great..
I asked, apparently you can’t. They said they only sell the kits with English lettering.
But, did you ask in chinese? 😉
I refuse to believe that 🙂
I’ll take a Chinese fake shirt.. there’s got to be something on ebay or something…
where did sou ask?? arsenal.com??
You can never take what he says seriously when asked about transfers.
I wish the transfer rumours will stop………………I’m not sure I can take more of this back and forth 🙁
Missed the game sadly, how was our performance?
Better than the scoreline suggests
Much better than the scoreline suggests
Things are looking good so far
It doesn’t have to be you real one…. mine isnt!
‘In the future’….sounds very distant!
I think that’s smokescreen for “right after this interview, i’l get to it”.
That man is harder to decipher than a woman!
well, didn’t he suggest that one would need a decoder installed in the head to understand him?
so i decided id pop over to le grove, wishing to learn the art of accepting defeat optimistically… ‘We are a manager, and about 200 million pounds away from finishing 2nd..’ ^ 1st comment i read…needless to say, i came back home to arseblog fair enough, we didnt win. nobody likes losing etc etc, but it was a pre season friendly against a strong citeh team, brimming with mercenaries why must we have so many twats who in all likelihood, spend their days playing football manager in the pants supporting our wonderful club? anyway, heres hoping we sign either one… Read more »
At Le-grove they feed off eachother’s anger, frustration and sadness… In the end, all they ever do is mourn, forgetting to support. The game against City was a good one and the team did well, I thought, definitely an improvement on the last game, which is a major plus. Yes, there were plenty negatives. Like, the defence was not very well organized and Jenkinson was caught out of position for both goals. It was his fault in a way but nothing he can’t and won’t fix. Before that, he was immense, made a couple last ditch challenges and even had… Read more »
Pros: Chuks and Miquel look ready to go already. One more decent loan spell and they’ll be ready to join the team for real. Coq is now a nailed on backup for Song. Loving Jenkinson’s confidence going forward – which is what he was missing this point last season. Santos: We should probably take a look at buying another fullback… and a winger so this guy can develop into the star striker he wants to be. Hell, let him just run wherever he likes on the pitch, it’s all good. Cons: Chamakh. Really? This guy needs to go. Shit at… Read more »
@THEREISBEARCUM Yes. It says that Park is at the Olympics for South Korea. God.
letting you know, we won’t sign cazorla haha . It’ll be a Mata situation again. But on the other hand, we’re looking good, more shooting and lovely build up play (as per) #COYG
Wenger you fooled me twice you can’t fool me once, oh wait i’m confused. I hate Wenger’s mind games on potential transfers…
Some inexperienced defensive blunders from Bartley (who I don’t think will make the grade) and Jenkinson (who should in time). Thought Miquel looked very, very assured. Jenkinson’s big and burly and up for it, and he can tackle which makes him a good option already for the Stokish-type games, but he’s not yet reliable against the really canny, skilful attackers. Would prefer Coquelin at right back when playing clubs like City and Chelsea, though hopefully Sagna will be back soon.
On the attacking side, Ox looking very good already. Aneke looking quite a prospect.
Ox I have to say was too easy on the ball but he always provided the passes when needed and he’s got quite a shot I have to say. Chuks’ vision is okay, always trying the “songhino type passes” to chamakh.
Eisfeld was okay but needs to get more physical when with the ball. Chamakh with the usual half an eye at goal- poor finishing i’d say was our undoing coz I think we bossed the game.
Oh and another thing, I love eisfelds’ face. Quite gorgeous i’d say.
Ox is exciting as usual – likes to have a go at distance, great running, great vision, the whole package. Only problem is, everyone knows it – and now he’s going to need to work at not getting marked out of games, which is what happened this afternoon. Bad enough on the wings, but catastrophic for a central midfielder. He needs to take a leaf out of Yaya Toure’s book. Everyone knows he’s the best midfielder in the league right now and part of that is because he’s everywhere. And good luck muscling him out of games. In fact, that’s… Read more »
”.. In the future you never know.”
Classic Wenger.
it’s the future now. Anything yet?
It can never really be the Future now can it? That’s an oxymoron.
Getting a little bit worried now, Arsene was all smug about transfers a couple of days ago and was even joking with Arteta about the Cozorla business. Now that malaga have said he will not be sold for less than 20m Wenger suddenly says we are no where close to signing anyone.
I smell a Juan Mata story………. and M’vila is just no happening no matter what everyone is saying.
I’ve noticed over the last year especially that some fans are treating media reports as unambiguous fact. A newspaper reports that we’re “on the verge” of signing someone, and then when that deal doesn’t eventuate, some fans moan about how we “missed out” on Player XYZ or how we let Player ABC “slip through our fingers”. How about the possibility that the newspaper report was wrong or misrepresented the situation in the first place? As for Arteta and Wenger commenting on Cazorla, I think that’s a case of overanalysing what was said. There’s clearly interest there, but “interest” doesn’t mean… Read more »
Good Old Wenger!
I thought it was quite a constructive friendly. Unlike City we tried to play football and got more out of this game that they did for sure. Our general play and certain youngsters were quite exciting and provided we find our edge in the final third whilst building our match fitness, then I’m happy with that performance. Now we just need to figure out our formation and make suitable transfers for it. If 442 maybe a 3rd top striker for rotating (or RVP to put his tail between his legs and backtrack) with a new leftback brought in (move Santos… Read more »
“Abou Diaby avoided injury” heh
Be optimistic all you want, but this arsenal team is not going to win anything this season. before you guys come up with the lame excuse that this was our second team or reserve…city also had some of their first team players out. We lack a midfielder that can give a killer pass, and yet wenger thinks we dont need a mildfielder. Wilshere is not the saviour everyone’s making him out to be..he cant fill the void left by cesc. With rvp leaving, giroud and podolski will struggle with this midfield of ours. P.S wenger, thanks for being so stupid… Read more »
Trez wrong
Well, trez is right about one thing: We need a creative attacking midfielder.
I’m also quite confident we won’t see Wilshere until the second half of the season. There’s more than a whiff of Rosicky about this injury.
When we had Cesc we also didn’t win anything (FA cup one year I think but he was hardly the reason). So the worst Wilshere could do is also not help us win anything. Every year for the past 5 or so some big player has left and the same dire prediction has been made about other players struggling or the team falling apart. But it doesn’t happen. Look… I would LOVE to see us lift a trophy this year. I think however that it will be extremely difficult no matter what Wenger does. The economic situation in Football just… Read more »
Agreed. And also to note that, whilst pessimists would point out that we were further from the title (in terms of points off the leaders) post-Cesc, it is also true (and rather more optimistic/hopeful) to say that without Cesc, our points total has improved 🙂
Wilshire is not the saviour everyone’s making him out to be (Why? Uh, because…)
But Ozzy Ozyakup was.
RETARD ALERT.
what is a wilshire? is the magical land where hobbits go to find their unbreakable will?
My point is wilshere’s not a cam…he played there last two seasons aganist sunderland and didnt do too well. i’m a gunner through and through, but we NEED an attacking midfielder…i’d rather we get carzola or gorcuff and sahin than mvila.
Either that or wenger changes our formation cos like i said earlier giroud will struggle. If wenger had signed arteta or alonso two seasons ago to play alongside cesc and songw we certainly would’ve won something by now. Anyone who feels wilshere’ll just waltz in and take arteta’s place is really dreaming.
How about songs passing you a** hole
I was seriously impressed with the OX today, especially when he played in a more central position. he is going to be a very important player for us and England for years to come. I disagree with some of the negativity about Bartley. I thought he played quite well.
Here’s the video of the Podolski-Sahin incident from 2010 I think. I like both of them and this is pretty interesting 😛 And ignore the comments on the video, bunch of wankers who know fuck all about football.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8TkyDFlMDOs
I would prefer sahin.wenger is a cun star
i would prefer Cazorla.
Just sahin…
Quality headline for Wenger’s clarification on the transfer talks.
Is the Sahin deal done Mr. Wenger?
‘Yes, it isn’t’
Errr, thanks again Mr. Wenger
We dominated the game….had plenty of possession….without really threatening too much…..conceded on the counter-attack…..and lost the game.
Haven’t we been here before in the not to distant past? Different players on the pitch today…but same weaknesses. Hope we find a bit of steeliness before the season starts.
COYG!
city send a strong side(nearly all their first team), we dont as we miss our strikers,bossielny,scezny,.. last time we send our full squad against them we dance the poznan 😉
Moldovan football official Mircat Serin, who is a member of UEFA’s Developing The Game committee attended the London Olympiad and will report to the UEFA in October about how to overhaul the football tournament for the 2014 games in which it could become in effect a world U-23 tournament, run along the lines of the World Cup.
WTF!……sir, are you lost?
Arsene Wenger is like Don Corleone: “Never let anyone outside the family know what you’re thinking.”
we dominated the game (apart from 5 minutes at beginning and end of 1st half) and looked pretty impressive i thought, especially considering half our 1st team wasnt even there.
alas it was still a case of the old ‘defensive frailties’ – a bit of midfield dawdling and sloppiness and within seconds we are carved open … oh well, still a few weeks to go before things start
would love to sort out the exits and getting in a couple more quality players, but we’re looking pretty good already
The other day he goes on record about to closing other deals very soon, and today he’s saying we’re not even close. Wenger lives in a parallel univere with himself.
In other news
Adebaywhore proposed move to Tottenham seems the rocks after he demanded that Manchester City pay the £5million transfer fee directly to him!!!!.
Poor adebayor, how dare city not give him the
£5M, he will have to eat at the homeless shelter if he doesnt get it.
Yes, he’s a money grabbing cunt but atleast he’s honest about it, not some players who go like “it’s been my dream ever since I was a child to come to this club and blah blah, utter bs”.
come on, deep down you know AW isn’t going to buy anyone of any player worth a flip, of we may get a loan deal for some 32 year old has been, or better yet some 16 year wonder kid for 15 million who is suppose to be the next this or the next that, its the same crap every summer……..The big boys just pluck our good players every summer, it’s always the same old same old
I thought he already signed two proven stars in Poldi and Giroud. Err… and the deals of the 16-year-old kid and the 32-year-old bloke actually worked out last season.
the wonder kid like ox and the fantastic 32 years old top player benny like last year …..yes please
Wenger being tight lipped as usual. Truth is, as soon as i heard about Sahin i figured we didn’t really need Cazorla (given that we’re hinted at adopting a 4-4-2 this time). But it seems like nothing is done after all. Still i hope we see at least one of these two players at the club before the season starts so i can gladly say we don’t need RVP. The only question being, is the money for RVP’s sale (roughly 20 mill) going to facilitate a move for Cazorla? Either way, the team doesn’t look half bad and i particularly… Read more »
Sahin… sayin’ … I see what you did there.
It’s actually pronounced more like “Sh – ah – hin”, but that’s cool too.
Not everything in this world needs to be analyzed, mate.
I’m Turkish… he’s Turkish… it’s just information (i.e. the truth), not over-analysis.
If anything… you’ve over-analyzed what I said. Oh well.
I’m not sure but I think marca change the story during the day. Before it was more like, he was on his way to Arsenal. Anyway Real want Modric and they offer Nuri and money but I think Nuri doesn’t want to join spurs (lack of champions league and lack of inspiring football). Yes, ManU could use him also but it’s very unlike Mourinho wan’t to sell the player after one season where he has seen him only in few games (Real paid 10 million and propably wouldn’t get that much from him right now) and I don’t think Ferguson… Read more »
I dislike how arsenal now loan players from other teams, You would never see us do it 4 or 5 years ago. Is it a sign times are changing? Or how far we are falling?
Not saying Sahin on loan would be a bad thing, nor was benayoun. I would just prefer us to sign players rather than do what lower teams like Bolton and wolves do and take people on loan
So if cazorla was available for a loam right now you’d rather we pass and keep searching for another?. Remember at the end of loan deals, there’s always an option of a permament deal- i’d like to think that’s fair.
every team ,even the best one does it ….yes even real madrid…
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Didn’t we take The Beast on loan about 5 or so years ago? Thank God it was just a loan.
At least is saved us making any more bids for him. Imagine if we’d actually bought him with cash money!
[…] and the workout that matters most and it will have been positive in that regard. Afterwards, Arsene said: We were a bit vulnerable on the counter-attack and that is where we got caught. But overall what […]
We should pitch a deal to Real Madrid and Barcelona. They loan top/spare players to us exclusively in the Premier League and we will do our damndest to push City/Chelsea down into 4th spot or lower. We know that Barcelona have the measure of Man United, and they ‘think’ they have the measure of us. We can help them in the CL if they help us in the PL. Send us some players on the cheap guys. You know it makes sense.
[…] and the workout that matters most and it will have been positive in that regard. Afterwards, Arsene said: We were a bit vulnerable on the counter-attack and that is where we got caught. But overall what […]