Arsene Wenger admits that Arsenal are underdogs going into tonight’s Champions League tie with Bayern Munich, but says his team have the quality to get a result.
“We are the underdogs – you just need to read the English press to understand that,” he said.
“We have pressure because we want to do well and we want to win. I believe that whether you are favourites or underdogs, what counts is to play well, make a good pass when you have the ball and defend well when you don’t have the ball. All the rest, in our job, you have to take a distance from it.
“What is important is that when you play to win a competition, at some stage you have to play a big team. If I listen to your questions, we are not favourites but I trust our quality, our spirit and our mental strength.”
Bayern are hot favourites because of their league form this season. They top the Bundesliga by 15 points and have only conceded 7 goals, but Arsenal’s home record in the first knock-out round of the Champions League is equally impressive:
2012 – Arsenal 3-0 Milan
2011 – Arsenal 2-1 Barcelona
2010 – Arsenal 5-0 Porto
2009 – Arsenal 1-0 Roma
2008 – Arsenal 0-0 Milan
And Wenger is hoping the vagaries of football are on our side in the Champions League. “If I say to you we will win it this season you will laugh at me because we just lost against Blackburn. But it can happen – football is not predictable.”
I find it amusing.the media is dominated by Arsenalnews.
They got it wrong by questioning Arsenes commitment. I think the media and journos have been allowed to spew shit for quite some time now. Arsene is commited, no question about it. He’s hurting just like us fans, I wish they would just lay off him. Doesn’t matter which opinion you hold but show some fucking respect!
They heaped the pressure on Liverpool a few seasons ago, widely publicised the owners spat, and destroyed them, I mean just look at them now. They did the same to Harry redknapp last season, we all know what happened (lol!), and they also kept Chelsea on edge who didn’t even make top 4 but parked the bus well enough to win the CL (fluke occurrence), so I really do have to give credit to Arsene and the players to continually prove all these journos wrong year after year. They love nothing more than to see clubs being destroyed, makes for… Read more »
It’s quite natural. We, one of the elite clubs, are going up against Bayern, one of the Europe’s finest clubs, in the CL right after a humiliating loss to the Championship Blackburn side. Porto v. Malaga don’t bring the same level of hype or class. The other two CL games are not until Wednesday, and frankly, Milan is not the same club it used to be, and the other two clubs are not that big outside their respective country. Rightfully the news is dominated about us.
Granted, lately I can’t help but question our elite status after losing to two lower-tier clubs in both the league cup and the FA cup. Oh well, I’m not going to get started on this right before a big match. Not today anyway.
You are acting as if we are the only team ever to have lost to lower league opposition. IT hurts, we lost but get over it, we have a big game, one where looking back will do us no favours.
The last time we reached the final we were supposed to lose to EVERY team we played, Underdogs each time! Had we had and ounce of the luck Chelsea had last year in that final we would have won it then.
I am going to go against the run of play here but WE ARE NOT A SHIT TEAM!
I love Arsenal and will remain an ardent supporter even when days are dark. We have an honourable youthful team that compares with the world’s best. Fight fire with fire power young guns!
Win, lose or draw, let’s just have a performance that makes us proud.
The hairs on the back of the neck will be up when that music starts and no matter how shit things are, that lot down the road would sell their own gonads for nights like tonight, and all they can do is look on.
Yep. All that matters now is the performance.
I would like to see tonight strong second half peformance like against Newcastle please ! …and also crying stubborn selfish old man Robben on the floor !
Can we not hope for a strong first half performance as well? A strong 90 minutes in which the team plays how we know they can would be brilliant.
Obviously I’d enjoy a arsenal win, but I think as long as our players put in 100% and do themselves proud out there tonight ill be happy. COYG!
Lol. Even tea stays longer in a cup than Arsenal.
Incorrect. I drank 3 cups of tea during the 90 minutes on Saturday
That will be 3.45 am at my time zone to watch the game. I’ll be in front of the telly for you, my dear Arsenal. Please make me cry like when we beat Barcelona 2 years ago.
I’m predicting 1-3 for Bayern Munchen. I got it right last year, when I predicted Milan would beat us 4 – 0.
Keep that kind of stuff to yourself. No one needs to know or wants to see.
there is no problem in being realistic, you know? it’s the only thing that gets you through a dismal period in any club 🙂
Well, what do u know, I was right.
You should put some money on that score! I couldn’t care less, & I’m not getting my hopes up.
It’s like dejavu, all our trophy hopes gone in 1 week.
Wengers got no one to blame but himself!
We can beat them.
Quite frankly, I think it’s an insult to the club being the underdog for the home tie. We need to earn our respect back, be a feared force in Europe. I’ve been an avid fan of Wenger since I was a pup but I see no passion and drive in him anymore; just frailty and confusion.
His press conference yesterday says otherwise. You don’t go off like that unless you’re hurting and know you and the team have let the fans and club down. You could see that even Arteta was surprised by his reaction yesterday.
Exactly, I am glad to see such passion, it means a lot more thanthe usual platitudes we sometimes hear in the game. Still, the media want to call it a ‘ meltdown ‘, fucke them. Even when on Radio 5Live yesterday, our very own Blogs countered John Cross’ ( Daily Mirror journalist ) assertion that it was a meltdown by Wenger. Well played Blogs. Mark Chapman despite being a Man U fan was very reasonable and seemed to sympathise with Wenger as well ! Still the fuckwit media this morning have latched onto the word ‘ meltdown ‘. If any… Read more »
“I see no passion and drive in him anymore”
You are fucking blind then.
The Emirates felt like a library on Saturday against Blackburn. It was bad enough that only 45,000 (50,000 tops) bothered to show up. The seemingly-unambitious “battle for 4th place” is fought precisely so the supporters can enjoy nights like these. Those clowns at Spuds would gladly trade in a finger from their non-dominant hand for a night like this.. Tonight could be the last time we are blessed with Champions League football at the Emirates for a decade. It could also be the “season-defining” match that precedes a CL Wembley final in May. Either way, let’s make a lot of… Read more »
What is that all about? I, sadly, don’t get to the Emirates as often as i would like, but the atmosphere was pretty substandard.. save the banging on the windows at the clock end behind me, there wasn’t much singing going on – we need drummers (not bell ringers á la Pompey), flares, trumpets the whole shebang – whip the crowd up into a frenzy = intimidation & drive for the Arse. Also, getting on the backs of players = players scared to make a mistake = playing in their shells = no good. Utd last night were FAR from… Read more »
arsenallost on Saturday bcos we did not play with our full team.mind you if arsenal can defeat barca at home then expect them to shine against bayern
the bavarians are also shivering at the unpredictability of arsenal i would think. They also dont know which team will turn up.hope this works in our favor.COYG.
Gunners come on! 2-nil to the Arsenal tonight, let’s do this !!!
Underdog with 100 millions in bank…..
A football club should not have 100 millions in bank but keep their best player’s with this money.
Cant fucking wait.. Beautiful.. These nights of football.. Best club competition in the world.. So we will play the best teams in the wotld.. And we still ranked amongst the best.. We are the arsenal.. So COYG just make us proud.. That is all.. (kissing my cannon)
I’m very optimistic about this game, Arsenal can be like the Super Eagles of Nigeria at the AFCON in South Africa, they were completely written off, some even went ahead to call them “Super Chickens”, but guess what? They defeated the Cup’s favourite Ivory Coast and Won the Nations Cup. If the Super Eagles can do it, why not our dear ARSENAL…COYG, let’s prove doubters wrong.
Arsene has made mistakes no doubt about that, but this team owes him a proper performance. The bloke is under stress and the players and directors seem to get off Scott free.
Some don’t seem to give a fuck about the fans but they should at least give a performance to the bloke that’s given them the chance to play for the arsenal. Lets see what they deliver.
Undefeated at home in recent years eh?
Well we were undefeated in fa cup at home for 36 matches and lost to indian KFC!
Don’t worry lads I just sae the game in a vision looks like we’ll win3-1 then Sagna will injure robben and ribery by flicking his locks,before Giroud stands in front of Gomez causing him to be blinded by his infinite beauty…in all seriousness we can batter these Germans or lose to them as ling as we give 110% and a performance to be proud of!
One thing that no one seems to have mentioned, who ever the Bayern manager is, he is getting the boot at the end of teh season, I bet that knowledge doesn’t help when you are preparing your team for the Champs league knock out.
I think he’s retiring rather than getting the boot.
He’s going to retire, no need for this misinformed, sensationalized bollocks.
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I cannot describe how good it would feel if we had snatched the Champions League this season, seeing Wenger giving the finger to every journalist in the world, standing on the throphy.