Saturday, March 30, 2024

Walcott confident of top four finish

Theo Walcott says the Arsenal camp is in a positive mood as a season-defining five weeks comes into view.

The Gunners face Blackburn in the FA Cup on Saturday afternoon before the Champions League resumes on Tuesday with a tough last-sixteen clash against Bayern Munich. With league games against Aston Villa, Spurs and Everton also on the horizon the England international underlined how much the weekend’s 1-0 victory over Sunderland had increased confidence.

“It was an important win,” the England international told Arsenal.com. “The three points have us on a high and we’ve got a nice week now without any midweek game.

“A lot of players are back from international duty and need a bit of a break. Some may be rested for the FA Cup game, but that’s just as important as we want to go far in that competition. If we lost [at Sunderland], we would have been dwelling on it for so long, so I’m glad we didn’t.”

Arsenal now sit in fifth place in the table, four points behind North London rivals Spurs and a further point behind Rafa Benitez’s erratic Chelsea. Knowing that the gap could be closed if the club maintain their decent run of form, Walcott stressed that everyone is fully focused on securing Champions League qualification.

“We’re very confident [of finishing in the top four],” he continued.

“We can battle through any sort of situation. The teams around us are winning as well, but we’ve just got to make sure we look after ourselves and try to win as often as we can.

“We’ll see where we are at the end of the season but we’ve got to show the belief we did at Sunderland. I felt there were a lot of winners in that dressing room and the boys were fantastic.”

There really is no room for pant pooing now. The line between success and failure (we’re talking 4th place, not the title unfortunately) is minuscule. The win at the Stadium of Light could easily have been a draw and were it not for the heroics of Szczesny and Sagna the likes of Giroud and Walcott might have been forced to spend the week in hiding after their combined misses.

It’s good to hear confidence is high, so let’s hope we can swagger the ball into the back of the net a more times than we have in the last two games. Arseblog News’ nerves can’t take anymore of the last ditch tackles / off the line clearance stuff…

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Lukas' Winning Smile

I am quite excited about our potential for finishing the season well. Our best players seem to be hitting some form and the overall understanding throughout the team is definitely improving. Still I would bank on a few more afternoons and evenings feeling as sick as I did in the last 25 mins against Sunderland up until May.

AGunner

with the amount of creativity in our side the chances will present themselves, but we need to put games to bed more often. Theo’s shot hit the post at Sunderland, it happens, but Giroud and Cazorla at the end could’ve put it to bed and really need to keep a cool head in future games. Overall feeling very positive, reckon we’re in for a shout at 3rd spot let alone 4th. Bayern look scary at the mo, but a result against them and progressing to the next round would be a massive achievement, can’t help but feel optimistic that we’ll… Read more »

Norwad

The funny thing is that it is only 9 points up to Man City! Wouldn’t that be something, to nick second place. (Not a throphy, though).

THEREISBEARCUM

Second place is a trophy!

Nacho Vermertesagna

Given the fact that we’ve not finished 2nd since 04/05, I’d definitely consider that an achievement (given the current situation, of course. I expect a title challenge next season).

TomJ

As you have for the last 8

TomJ

But youre right, second would be a massive achievement considering the best players are sold to teams that finish above us every year

Christiano Ronaldo loves to spunk on skunk

4th-place trophy: Gazidis gives Wenger pat on the back 3rd-place trophy: Gazidis gives Wenger pat on the back, Kroenke sends him an e-mail titled “not bad, boy” 2nd-place trophy: Gazidis gives Wenger bear hug, Kroenke sends an e-mail titled “good job, boy” 1st-place trophy: Gazidis comments on TV going on about how the Board were so instrumental to all this, Kroenke sends Wenger an e-mail titled “would one of those Manchester clubs pay 50-million for Cazorla, boy?” 5th-place & out of Champions League: Gazidis comments on TV going on about how Arsenal will deffo be back in CL once FFP… Read more »

Brad

Bayern actually plays a lot like us, from 4-2-3-1 formation to their slick passing, possesive and wing play. The major difference between us and them is their wing players and full backs are creative and can cross, and their players tends to finsh every chance they get, and they have a real solid defensive midfileder, who can burst on like wilshere, play a pass like pirlo, and deadly free kick specialist with real positional sense in Bastian schweinsteiger, and their back is extremely solid. They have been scored on less than 13 goals this season on all competition, and of… Read more »

Christiano Ronaldo loves to spunk on skunk

watched Celtic annhialated by Juventus last night… made me do a big GULP in my throat. but don’t forget those same Bayern players CRUMBLED under the pressure vs. Chelski, at their home stadium, in front of their own fans. and again this time they are EXPECTED to win = it is UNTHINKABLE that they lose. think we need one of our players to impersonate Didier Drogba and dig up the Bayern players’ subconscious nightmares. who could pass as Drogba with some shoeshine and dreadlocks? Giroud – maybe but he is too nice a guy. Ditto for Walcott. Podolski probably best… Read more »

AGunner

Bayern look fucking scary, theres no denying, but being underdogs means we should hopefully play with no fear or pressure and thats when we’re at our best and look the most dangerous. if we have a solid game defensively like the sunderland game minus the jenks red card, we’re in with a shout. ps. fuck robben, watch him go down on every touch we make on him.

Bruce666

I’ll forgive all his contract wrangling issues in the past if he can find the back of the net regularly and help us get to the 4th place trophy. COYG!

Gandalf

Lets get third again, screw 5pur2 and chelski over!

Diaby's ankles

Confidence is very important fact for Theo, so I expect him tot show his best in next month. COYG!

Rocky4ever

3rd place should be the target plus 1 of the cups. Time to deliver boys.

gunner

If we are consistent with our performances we can definitely finish 3rd this season. In the match against sunderland, i found that when theo’s shot hit the post, it could have still been a goal, had giroud been wanting for the rebound of the ball. Neverthless the striking force is getting better.

A N Other

Yes, can’t see why we can’t finish 3rd.. Chelsea has got tough run in and spurs are notorious for their last minute blunders..

Johnny Jensen's Bender

All of this positivity gives me wood.

Then, by the end of the season, hopefully it’ll give us something cup shaped and metal.

rangooner

if anyone feels a need to shit their pants, take a gander at the bundesliga table. i didn’t realise quite how well bayern are doing, 15 pts clear at the top (after playing 5 less games than in england) and a goal diff of +48 (they’ve conceded 7 goals in all comps sp far this season). not saying we don’t stand a chance, just didn’t know the gulf in performance this season between us. but fuck it, this is what the champions league is all about, watching your team take on the very best. something a lot of our rivals… Read more »

[…] Read More Here: Walcott confident of top four finish […]

wiltooooooord

The race for CL is definitely going to be interesting, last year we relied on a Spuds implosion (along with a great run of form by us) to clinch it on the last day. Things probably won’t fall into our hands that easily this time round, so we gotta do our part and get some momentum going, no room for mistakes On a side note, saw some of Bayern yesterday and yeah… they’re pretty scary, It’d be a great match if we can play at the level we all know we can (Milan home). I just find it reaaally shit… Read more »

A Yank

If you want competitiveness, you have to go to the Eredivisie. Up to six (but likely four) teams in the mix at the run in. Was the same last year. Think in March there were five teams were within about four points of each other.

sido

@ a yank
was the same in the bundesliga 2-3 years ago, and in the french before the uprising(or upbuying) of psg…

Fatgooner

The big difference between this season and last was that we had the best striker in the Premier League in our ranks. This time we have just one out-and-out goalscorer – and he has all the pace of an asthmatic snail.

Liverpool are crap, Everton are threadbare, and Spurs have that nice habit of bottling it when it comes to the crunch. So we’ll probably just nick fourth.

But so what? We’ve got no chance of doing anything in the Champions’ League next season.

xxxrob

We traded one 30 goal a season player and inherited 40+ goals spread through the 4 men who’ve been scoring regularly (Cazorla, Giroud, Podolski and Walcott).

The Dutch skunk absolutely is my most hated player in the Premier League at the moment and the thought of what he might have been able to do for us this season is sickening but that’s the hand we’ve been dealt.

Have some faith.. This summer, more than any other window in recent history I am filled with optimism that we will address our issues and mount a genuine challenge next season.

Tristam

Last season, he scored 37 in all competitions. Podolski and Giroud have 26 between them at the moment. It would not be unrealistic to expect them to add further 10+ goals in the remaining games. It was probably Wenger’s plan all along to replace one super striker with two very good ones and it seems to be working.

Bucks

Victoria Concordia Crescit-

Not to sound corny, but perhaps you should start living by the club motto and support your team rather than waste time writing negativity.

Christiano Ronaldo loves to spunk on skunk

I see no reason why an attack which boasts Theo-Giroud-Poldi-Cazorla-Wilshere can’t win the Champions League next year. Fook me, it is not impossible to win it THIS year.

Liverpool ’05 and Chelski ’12 happened because the fans BELIEVED something SPECIAL was brewing, and this type of uninterrupted positive-thinking eventully spread into the manager, coaches and players. The Sunderland 1-0 could have been the catalyst which originated that virtuous-cycle chain. Thinik that’s what Theo is going on about.

If you so unhappy with the club you supposedly support Fatgooner, why don’t you switch allegiances and call yourself FatSpud instead?

Rufusstan

The big difference between last season and this is that last season we had He Who Shall Not Be Named; this year we have 3 new players just settled in.

What that means is we don’t rely on one striker and are no longer one injury shy of our season falling apart *cough* Spurs *cough*, but have 4 players capable of at least 20 goals a season or more.

The change has had a practical downside. In the league, we’ve scored a whole 3 goals less so far this year.

paulie gooner

I know I have been very very critical of thre team at times this season ( I really must refrain from going on the tinterweb in the first half hour after a game) but fair dues, the result against Sunderland was excellent stuff and showed real balls. The finishing still needs working on, but I think I speak for a lot of Gooners when I say that the team will get a lot more leeway from the supporters if they play with the thrust,desire and courage they showed last Saturday. Bring it on!! COYG!

Judi Bola

go walcott,,
we love u so much,,

Naija Gunner

Let’s hope we go as far as winning the FA cup and come 3rd on the log. COYG!!!

Gunsen gunner

Play for the shirt and the fans will never abandon you.All these negative idiots who reckon Bayern are going to smash us at home need to remember that Barcelona “best team ever” came here twice and only got a draw.If the lads are up for it like they’ve shown in patches this season and the fans give their full support,there’s no reason why we can’t get a good result.Oh and it’d be nice if we didn’t have our usual pre-second leg injury implosion.

Voldermort

If Celtic can get a result against barca then we can do the same against bayern.

Fatgooner

In cup football anything is possible. But I fear that our suspect defence and our lack of punch up front will cost us this tie. I don’t think that we will get thrashed: we will probably go out by the odd goal or two.

Stevo Goono

“So what” fat gooner? So that for the first time in 3 years we can actually build positively over the summer with the assistance of the champions league coffer and prestige rather than battling to retain status quo due to loss of our best players that our team has been built around. Jack, Santi, Theo, Mick, Lucas, Giroud aren’t going anywhere, Arsenal just might be.

Fatgooner

Not under Wenger. I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but at least three times in the last seven years we’ve had ‘promising’ sides. But rather than build on them our magnificent manager decided to penny-pinch and thus made sure that we won nothing.
Yes, we have some great players, but I wouldn’t bet a dime that Wenger will turn them into a great team. He’s past it.

Wenger

Idiot

Sat Chen

One of the fabled thing about us arsenal fans i find is that no matter how many time same shit happens we keep expecting things to change. I don’t expect anything this year or next year. And then the cycle of same bullshit keeps happening.

OneBigNaijaGooner

Frankly speaking, Bayern will come to the Emirates with a knowledge of how deadly we are at home in the UCL. Enough of how scary they seem this season and all that ‘bleh’ and ‘boilk’. We are The Arsenal, we fear no foe. Barça and Milan will testify. I just need a fully fit squad. Never mind the stats of their season! COYG!!!

And as for 3rd/4th place finish, let’s do our own share of the work pretty well while others self-destruct!

jason

Im having a interesting arguement with a pool fan. Does anyone think that finacially without Wenger making us a profit each year we would be in big trouble? Hes saying basically we wont have Wenger to carry us forever and I kind of agree.

DoubleDoubleDouble

Wenger won’t need to. His qualifying for the Champions League each season is the reason our net debt is around £100m, and not £200m – so we wouldn’t necessarily be in big trouble, just not in a position take full advantage of increases in revenue. The extra money from the renegotiated sponsorships means that – this coming season and, even more so, the one after – there will be no further need to sell players to balance the books. Add in the increase in TV money, and we will be able to strengthen (albeit not on a Man City/Chelsea level).… Read more »

TeeCee

I don’t think we do sell players to balance the books. I can’t think of a sale recently that we’ve had to make to avoid going into the red. The problem is simple. If a club with more money than sense will pay a player a bazillion pounds a week, does that suddenly make that same player worth a bazillion pounds a week to us? If not, what should we do? Do we a) use contractual leverage to retain a player who’s now thoroughly pissed off at missing out on a bazillion pounds a week or b) quote a ridiculous… Read more »

Mike

Taken from Swiss Ramble:

“In 2011/12, if we exclude the £2.5 million profit from property development and the £65.5 million profit from player sales, the football club would actually have made a sizeable loss of £31.3 million.”

http://swissramble.blogspot.ca/2012/10/arsenal-song-remains-same.html

Anyone expecting someone like Cavani to join the club needs to take the time to read this article. Even with the increase in TV rights and shirt sponsorships we’d probably still have to sell at least 1 player for fairly big money to even have a shot at making that kind of signing.

Wenger

I absolutely agree. No-one appreciates how hard it is to build a stadium and maintain in the premier league, let alone at the top of it.

Wenger has been brilliant. He planned for being strapped for cash and it has kept us competitive. If there is any other manager out there that can do better over a ten year period without spending any money (he actually made £18m in transfers) I’d like to see him!

jason

Arsenal pay about £14m interest per year and currently repay about £6m of capital each year thats the stadium.

Then theres the high wage fee.. serious problems there canr wait till the new sponsorship deals with the tv rights deal.

Bring on the extra cash..!!

davo57

In the off season the CEO the owner the Manager all the players told us that Arsenal is not just a qualify for Europe team. No they said we are gonna win trophies. As per usual at this time of the year they are all now saying a fourth place finish will be great. No doubt we will make fourth at least and in the off season they will once more say trust us we are more than a fourth place side we are gonna win trophies. 9 years in a row the same story lines Lol

Rodders1971

That is a fake interview!There’s not a
” y’know” or a “these things take time” in sight.
Just shut the fuck up & do your job Theo,that’d be great,thanks.

Erwandy

That’s my man Theo (no longer a boy). COYG!

PS:
You, Giroud and Santi should focus on getting that calmness in front of goals, our Boy Wilshere and the crew does know how to feed the ball now and we can’t afford to waste them like we did at Sunderland

giles

they should be aiming for second place.Achievable.Difficult,but achievable-i just think the 4th place nonsense lowers the bar in players heads a bit too much.

[…] 来自[arseblognews] […]

goontang

I am really looking forward to Rosicky putting in some decent yards at the tail end of this season. He will be key in the rotation policy and keeping everyone fresh.

Also i think this is the first time ive seen blogs use the word Sp*rs in its shitfull entirety.

kevs

Unfortunatly, sad to say this, both Sp*rs and chelski have more depth. And they all got world class players, Sp*rs got the monkey looking boy Gareth Ugly Bale. Chelski got some really good players as well. I don’t think we will finish in the top 4 at all, sad to say. What has happend to our arsenal?!

Goonies

I love the optimism, and I think we might nick a champs league spot. But it means playing at the level of the last few games much more consistently, hoping spuds and chelski mess up, and keeping our core players fit (we’re already starting to see wear and tear setting in). Ironically, I think Bayern spanking us would do us a big favor for fourth and the FA Cup, which we have a more realistic chance with anyway. I know it’s been said before, but I think next year could be a good one. We have a good squad that’s… Read more »

kevs

Sagna have not signed a new contract has he? He could possibly be the next player to leave arsenal. good squad? yes, without any injuries. But in depth, NO.

R18

Wtf?

Midfield Corporal

I like Theo, he seems like a decent polite lad, but I wish he would stop talking. It’s all just sound bites with no substance. I suppose he’s just a young player wanting to sound older but it reminds me of a barbecue I went to at a friends house, he had his 14 yr old nephew there who talked to you like he was a 40yr old Tory MP, my mate commented that it was sad as he’d grown up too fast and when we were 14 we’d have been sneaking a couple of beers and trying to finger… Read more »

Merlin's Panini

Agreed, but I definitely don’t want to smell Theo’s fingers.

Midfield Corporal

Ha ha, he’s too nice a boy to even offer that. 🙂

OneBigNaijaGooner

Why burn up so many calories by being negative about this Arsenal side? When it’s actually easier to look on the brighter side and give your support. If you get over-worked with something you don’t like about this present Arsenal, you’ll only risk health problems but does that stop the world of football from spinning? HELL NO! The game would go on with or without you. I know footballers can be cunts sometimes, that extra support won’t hurt either. Like it or not, everyone has the potential to be a cunt- theirs just being more obvious ‘cos they’re always in… Read more »

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