Arsene Wenger is hoping Arsenal can get back to winning ways on Wednesday night when Schalke visit the Emirates in the Champions League.
Well versed in the quality of the Bundesliga, the boss made clear that he was expecting a tough game against Huub Stevens side but emphasised optimism in the Gunners camp despite Saturday’s defeat to Norwich.
Speaking to Eurosport, Wenger, who’ll again be in the stands due to his UEFA ban, spoke candidly about the challenge ahead:
“We have one priority and we try to respect it; to qualify for the next round. It will be interesting, a match of high intensity because German teams are everywhere.
“We always want to win and we’ll need to be at our best level to win that match.”
Schalke lost to Arsenal at Highbury 11 years ago, Freddie Ljungberg and Thierry Henry sealing a 3-2 win, but look in good shape with Dutch striker Klaas-Jan Huntelaar set to lead the line and a blend of experience and and youth throughout the squad.
“It’s a team who love to play good football,” continued Wenger.
“They have good players and they have recruited [Roman] Neustadter, there is also promising young players like [Julian] Draxler and they also have many dangerous players who are always looking forward. They have a solid defence with [Joel] Matip and [Benedict} Howedes.
“You don’t win easily in the Champions League and against Germans it’s doubly tough, but we have a lot of optimism.”
Arsene is set to for his pre-game press conference later this afternoon so no doubt we’ll get some team news soon. Stay tuned.
@blog
i think there is something wrong with your video section. i dont think is working
jeez dude…. make up your mind 🙂
Wenger said ‘I believe errr I think this team has the quality…. ‘ if that isn’t a sign he doesn’t believe in them then I don’t know what is
“Wenger is optimistic about securing some other two top, top new signings after bagging caz, poldi and giroud.”
“Wenger is optimistic about a win in the schalke game.”
Let’s hope he’s right this time. Win please!
My god do we need a win tomorrow night. I really hope Wenger has stuck a rocket up the lads’ arses. Particulary TV5 who needs to start showing why he was picked ahead of Arteta for the captaincy.
sorry wenger but I was ahead of norwich clash.I’m still the expensive seat ever.bring your asses I will hold them tomorrow night…damn.sorry fatgooner no fat asses allowed!
Clever? No.
Funny? Definitely not.
Try again please.
Don’t worry, Seat. I won’t be there. I’m boycotting Ashburton Grove until there is a change of manager and owner. I refuse to hand over a penny of my hard-earned dosh to a bunch of con artists who have turned my great football club into their personal cash cow.
When the (new) owner is committed making history and not money then I’ll be back.
We won’t miss you, fairweather gooner
hopefully by the time we’re winning again somebody who supports the arsenal through thick and thin will have taken your seat. they’ll certainly appreciate it more than you will.
Please don’t pin that “fair-weather Gooner” bollocks on me, Sam. I was a season-ticket holder throughout the eighties and had to stand on the North Bank and watch some of the most tedious, execrable football that our club has ever played. The Terry Neil and Don Howe days were particularly awful. But I supported my team because I knew that despite the dreadful fare served up, the club was committed to just one thing – winning trophies. These days the only interest at the club appears to be turning a healthy profit. The situation at Arsenal is now shameful and… Read more »
So you’re gonna disappear then? Good – spoiled,sulking children belong to loving, trophies-gathering arms of Uncle Roman and his pet troglodyte John T. Buy yourself a blue shirt and dont forget wearing shinpads to church. On a slightly more serious note I wonder if such bitterness comes inevitably with age? Will I, In 20 years time, once I’m 50 suddenly turn into grumpy fuck who’s gonna claim that in my time I’d stand by my team even after we got battered 2:8, but I shall never support the tam we have now, because there is a conspiracy of cyclists against… Read more »
But you see, that’s exactly where the problem lays. These twats on the board, Stan and that fucking cunt gazidis know full well, and take advantage of, the fact that we will support this team no matter what. As supporters, we(thankfully) don’t have the option to fuck off to city of united. Most of us were born of the arse and they’ve got us by the balls. They can make their profits and then fuck rite off in a few years if they want. They know this. So I don’t think it’s fair to call a supporter such as fatgooner… Read more »
Stick with it FG.
We’ve always had shit times to go with the good’uns. I was one of the monkeys on the North Bank shouting for the board to be sacked for binning Don Howe for fucks sake (confirms I know fuck all about fuck all).
Problem is this time round we’ve fallen further, going from the best team ever to play in the top flight (with respect to Preston), to a side on the margins of the big trophies for now.
But what’s that they say about form and class? Our day will come again.
We need to win this one and solidify our place at the top of the group, then perhaps use the remaining fixtures to get more out of the serge gnabrys and the eisfelds of this team. But make no mistake we need to top this group and avoid the little boy in football that is always on our backs!, barcelona!. Then again we hate too many of those cunts now and this could be a huge opportunity for frimmers to cement his dench status in this arsenal team. Anyhu win tomorrow, give our youth a run out in some of… Read more »
eisfeld and gnabry cant play in the champions league as they were not included in the CL roster. their only hope right now for first team football is in the CapOne cup..or against the norwichs’ of the league..and judging from saturdays dismal performance we either need to put out our strongest team each week or throw in the young ones who might have the hunger to put a game away
They can!!!!, infact gnabry was in the substitutes bench for olympiakos, dude?.
i watched the revierderby and howedes kept lewandowski in check throughout the match with his only mistake conceding the fk that led to dortmund’s goal. we need to make sure giroud fare better on wednesday.
Saw that game as well. This will indeed be a much tougher game than most predict and the Schalke players know they can go far this season. They played and defended well against a technically gifted Dortmund side. This could end in the draw that would hurt in the end unless we see some fresh minds (and legs) on the pitch.
Not gonna lie, this is going to be a tough game. Schalke have the quality to punish us, and some great players all around the part – Howedes at the back, Holtby and Affelay in the center of the park, and of course Klaas up front. Out CBs (whoever plays) will have their hands full tomorrow night. Let’s hope our players actually show up, unlike what happened on Saturday (yup still pretty pissed about it!). Tiredness might be a factor since the likes of Santi and Lukas have been playing twice a week non-stop for the past few weeks and… Read more »
What channel is the game on?
17
I hope we lose, slip out of chumps league, and finish out of top 4 for at least 5-6 seasons. This will in turn do several things: Finally rids us of Wenger Finally rid us of the leeches at the club at board level Finally rid us of millions of wankers who support wenger and not Arsenal Finally open up the possibilty of being owned by an owner who has ambition to win and not fill his fucking ‘portfolio’ with one the biggest clubs in world football languished by greedy cunts who are happy with the current status quo as… Read more »
Yes it did Liverpool oh so well didn’t it?
Seriously are some idiot who thinks finishing outside of te champions league would help us? It won’t, it would just loose millions of pounds worth of revenue which we would have to make up in player sales.
I get everyone has the right to comment but that was just retarded.
It seems that only an enforced spell in the Championship has the power to knock the “sack the manager and blame the owners” reaction to an iffy patch out of some fans.
Worked on Tyneside and it’s looking like Litterpool are after giving it a try too.
Hopefully most of us aren’t daft enough to go down that road.
Speaking of retarded, what does loose millions of pounds mean?
Reality ? Seriously ?
I really hope we win one of the League or Champions League, possibly augmented with a domestic cup maybe.
This is so we can attract the top quality players to maintain the level of success.
Wage structures and such are just details to sort out later.
Let’s start winning things first before we worry about the nitty-gritty.
I understand ripping on the team after last week (They damn sure deserve it)and I understand not going to (any/many) games due to ticket prices, etc, but when you start using words like boycott, it makes me want to ask everyone to picture themselves at their place of work, and then ask yourself, have you ever taken a day off mentally, while on the job, have you really given 100% to your employer ALL the time you are on the clock. We all know the truth. I live in the States so I have to settle for the Tele ALL… Read more »
Well as correct as you are about having a lack luster day at work mate, the problem is rooted much deeper than that shit show on Saturday. I don’t think anyone is overly angry about losing one match. What does appear to be coming to the forefront more and more each day is the fact that it’s the same bullet in the same foot, shot by the same gun, pulled by the same trigger finger every year. Every year we start the season saying ” we’re going to compete for trophies”, then 8 weeks or so in, we shit the… Read more »
*diaby, I’ve no idea who Diane is.
actually you said *diana.
U guys are so funny..just get rid of d entire crew member of d ship,sink d ship nd kill urself cuz i was shut on d head on saturday nd i dnt think i can survive it,the whole club is becoming a “bunch of shit”.
U guys are so funny..just get rid of d entire crew member of d ship,sink d ship nd kill urself cuz i was shut on d head on saturday nd i dnt think i can survive it,the whole club is becoming a “bunch of shit”..
Ya! What ever you just said.
Our problem is the manager,get him out and we will surely win something,Let’s ship Wenger to Shitty or Chelski they will degrade just like us,and with a decent manager like David Moyes or Martinez we will be stronger even without adding anyone more to our squad,which I believe is perfectly capable of out playing chelski or manure or shitty,we just need the right anchor to our stray ship.But,honestly,let’s get it straight Wenger is there because we qualify for CL every season,obviously by virtue of our top four finish,if we finish out of top six this season,he will definitely be sacked,the… Read more »
What does loose mean?
You keep reminding people of this word. It’s getting embarrassing, since you’re a grown man and should know he clearyl meant..”losing”. Geez!, chill pill!, you arse!