Arsene Wenger has described the defeat to Man City on Saturday as a major disappointment, but urged people not to go over the top in their reaction to the result.
Arsenal still sit top of the league for now, although results at the weekend could see us knocked off our perch, and the manager is looking for his team to respond in a positive manner.
“If we cannot pick ourselves up by being top of the league what will happen if we are not top of the league?” the boss told Arsenal Player. “Let’s not go overboard, it’s a massive disappointment because we have lost a big game.”
“But no matter what happens over the weekend we’ll still be top of the league and what is important now is how we respond to that. It’s not the end of the world but it’s a big disappointment.
Wenger also had some words for players like Jack Wilshere and Nacho Monreal whose performances were certainly below their best.
“When you come into a big game everybody wants to play. You have an opportunity to show how good you are and when you don’t do it, it’s a disappointment.”
And the manager called on his team to regain their defensive focus, saying they were too lax against a rampant City side.
“We didn’t defend well from up front and did not show enough solidarity defensively. That’s too easy going.
“We had the best defence until now in the league and to give six goals like we did is just difficult to accept because we lost our discipline and in the big games and you pay for that.”
City was three points lost. No more. Let’s get three from Chelski and take it from there.
For some reason i’m so confident of beating chelsea. Maybe because at the etihad our ability to create goals shown brightest, our finishing on the other hand not so much. Theo, our freshest player on the day was brilliant so i reckon after this 9 day rest Giroud, ozil and the rest will really step up. fookin gooners!
I’ve been telling people exactly the same thing, but you now what it’s like when most of your mates are on a wind up and don’t want to hear sense.
I was expecting a draw at best at the etihad but hoping for better of course.
Now it’s just about getting some rest, a few solid training sessions in and hitting chelski with a full force arsenal.
BFG to give Bayern a big fucking bollocking.
I’d like to see Wenger maybe experiment with 2 strikers up top sometimes. Like against smaller teams so we can put more goals past them.
This will allow us to play Giroud in his current role as the one who leads the line and have another striker in the mix with different qualities (e.g. Poldi)
————– Poldi ———- HFB ————-
——- Santi —– Ozil —– Walcott —-
———————- Rambo ———————-
Gibbsy — Kos (TV5) —- BFG —- Sagna
——————— Szczcz ———————–
its a feasible idea but i feel with this lineup the defence is left exposed. Most of the players you have in there are attack minded and would be miles away in the opposition box when the agbonlahors and the sessegnons are doing the business on this other end.
Walcott operates in almost a second striker role. You’re actually playing three strikers
Heroldgoon is right. You’d have to a DM minded player in Rambos spot for more defensive support (Flam or Arteta) and you’d still have a big hole between them and the attacking mids.
Yeah I hear you mate. What about a classic 4-4-2 like Man City? What are your thoughts on that?
You’ve got to have one of Flamini/Arteta in pretty much any starting XI. I suppose you can stick Ramsey in a deeper position, but you’re holding him back by not allowing him to get into goal-scoring positions.
Chelski is not a “smaller team” and their midfield is close to as good as ours. We might score goals with that line-up, but we’d leak them like crazy too.
Szczesny
Sagna, Mertesacker, Koscielny/Vermaelen, Gibbs
Arteta, Ramsey
Walcott, Ozil, Rosicky
Giroud
Well, I think you’re on to something, but I’d rather forego the AM midfielder. Both Ozil and Cazorla seem to be at their best when they’re drifting in from the side, keep Rambo as a box-to-box midfielder and keep one player as strictly DM. HFB should be tasked as deep-lying attacker: coming deep to meet the ball and keeping up pressure on their DM defensivly, while Poldi/Walcott should be given leave to drift around using the full width of the pitch, always seeking to find space behind the defence. ————– Poldi/Walcott —- HFB ————- ——- Santi/Wilshere —– Rambo —- Ozil—-… Read more »
Nothing more to add siree!
Top of the league in December!!! Who’s complaining? City were lucky to have rested key players in their UCL game, we could not. Team was tired, ref was crap, but it’s just 3 points! Make sure we beat Chelsea and everyone will be talking about how the league is ours again 🙂
We only have to beat Chelsea, Man C.and Liver’pull’ will still rip apart. Beat Chelsea and restart the momentum. Wilshere should grow up.
I probably should as well. I had every empathy when he made that gesture!
Yes thats fine, but you dont get paid 80K/week to represent the club in a manner that the crest deserves.
I love Jack but he needs to cut adolescent shit like that out. We as a club (and he as a player) are better than that.
Like I said elsewhere I don’t think City will be in the title race come the end of it. It’s going to be between us and Chelsea which gives next Monday’s game added weight. We don’t have to beat Chelsea but we shouldn’t lose to them either.
Still though, what a boost 3 points would give us going into the xmas period.
We do have to beat Chelsea mainly it will boost the belief for the players that we can win the title. They are living on the mourihno factor. It’s time for them to be put to the sword.
This could really define our season as we’ve fallen short in the big games of late. City ripped into our midfield Saturday, In Dortmund we got away with it somewhat, and our nerve deserted us at Old Trafford. Get off to a good start Monday and we’ll be away.. but imperative the Emirates stays positive if we start slowly..keep Hazard quiet and they really are fucking average.
I love Jack, but i feel he needs to find that balance between the technical and physical sides to the game, which Rambo has definitely shown this season. When he’s playing badly, he seems unable to make up for it with an industrious, perhaps unselfish performance, which i feel only Ramsey and Rosicky are capable of out of all the creative mids. I know he rides a lot of tackles, but he falls to ground a lot, maybe not a strength, but a balance issue. Perhaps his ankle is troubling him still, i don’t know. Last three games have been… Read more »
Totally agree about Rozza being the key…which is why we really need to win trophies this season! Don’t know how much longer we’ll have him…
Let’s beat Chelsea and all those critics will once again swallow their pride in singing our praises.
We need a back up for Giroud let do a decent buy in January then we can boost of finishin top come May.
We could beat Chelsea ten nil and the pundits and critics will still be slagging us off, let’s do it inspite of this!. Jack will grow up and become a great player, give him time!
Yeah, give Jack time. On the bench, for now.
The return of Theo will lessen the burden placed on the HFB’s shoulders. He came in to a top class fixture and shone. His freshness and ability will help us to remain in the hunt for the title well into January. Between Theo, Poldi, and Giroud I think that we have enough to challenge for the league but we will need one out and out striker in to challenge on all fronts.
more burden on Sagna/Jenkinson’s shoulders
We don’t need a backup for Giroud, we need competition for him!
we need a striker who can run at defenses or get in behind them
We have already had the back up in Bendtner. And competition, too.
It’s just down to the manager to use.
If we have more, I won’t complain.
Competition for Giroud? It’s obvious. Brad Pitt.
I agree…direct competition and somebody who can bring something a bit different. It will be very difficult to find somebody with the required quality in the January window and most top quality strikers will be cup tied.
How about Berbatov? Could be available on the cheap, still has loads of goals in him and gives something different than Giroud ability-wise.
A win for Arsenal at the brigde..I strongly doubt..a draw…a slight possibility..am just not sure they have the quality to pull it off agaisnt the big teams…they have already lost to Man U and City dis season, I just hope Chelsea wldnt be the next!
ROSICKY NEEEDS TO PLAY CHELSEA.
Our best lineup now is
Giroud
Rosicky-Özil-Walcott
Ramsey-Flamini/Arteta.
Sorry for the caps but I feel the City game would’ve been a hell a lot different had Rosicky played instead of Wilshere.
Sagna, Ros, Theo, our genuine biggame players.
I agree, and especially on the left wing, I don’t think Wilshere’s had a good game on the left yet.
Wilshere has been horrible on the left. Seems uncomfortable half the time and then begins to drift into centre, leaving a big left side hole exposed.
Wilshere needs to grow-up..
I want us to beat those cunts so badly.
I fuckin hate them, their wanker of a manager, their fans, players and everything they represent.
I don’t know who their tea lady is but I bet I’d fuckin hate her as well.
Justin Bieber is the tea lady.
I fucking hate Justin Bieber, too. Makes me ashamed to be Canadian.
I like their Physio.
I like her a Lot.
Just as long as John Terry hasn’t gone there first.
Wenger may start using gnabry more.he looks promising.we need a winger like him.
Christmas is the perfect time to use the full strength of the squad and some fresh youth legs are assets
Arsenal’s Fixtures In Feb
8th Feb Liverpool vs Arsenal
12th Feb Arsenal vs Man Utd
18th Feb Arsenal vs Bayern Munich
March Fixture
Tue 11th Mar Bayern Munich vs Arsenal
Sat 15th Mar Tottenham Hotspur vs Arsenal
Sat 22nd Mar Chelsea vs Arsenal
Sat 29th Mar Arsenal vs Manchester City
Ouch o_O
well we at least have enough rest between those games. If we can tap into that same resolve we had last year for the scrap for fourth place we’ll be able to produce results out of sheer willpower.
We’d need do much more than what we did last time.
Completely different situations.
Except that he skipped all the other fixtures inbetween the ones he mentioned. There won’t be much rest between games, so hopefully Wenger has seen our tiredness so will solve that particular problem in January with a couple of solid signings. Backup/Competition striker plus a ???. Hmm, not sure what other position he should reinforce, will leave it to Arsene Wenger as he knows best.
Believe!!
I Want To Believe.
For a bit of a positive angle on the defeat against City, just think about this: They had conceded only TWO goals in total all season at home. TWO goals. We go there, tired after a tough week, with one day less rest than City (who thanks to their ridiculous squad rested key players vs Bayern and still won) and still put three goals past them. That’s in itself something to respect. Yes, Jack and other players stank the place out. We made terrible and avoidable mistakes (which points to mental fatigue rather than lack of ability) but this one… Read more »
positive vibes yo
With the return of Theo I once again saw how well Ramsey and Walcott link up at times, and that was on display at the Etihad. Another positive.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2524201/Benoit-Assou-Ekotto-Emmanuel-Adebayor-smile-Twitter-photo-Tottenhams-5-0-defeat.html?ICO=most_read_module lol Adebayor thinks he is still at Arsenal. Biggest mercinery!
Wenger spot on about not defending well as a team, back four were horribly exposed at times, especially down our left side. Felt a bit sorry for Nacho, he didn’t really get a lot of help out there and was overloaded often against two players. Fatigue was the overriding factor on Saturday I reckon, and most of the problems we seemed to have are nothing we can’t fix.
We’re top, and no one is top this time of year by accident, we’ve been great this season and I’m sure we’ll tear Chelsea a new one next week.
Fatigue wasn’t a problem at left back. Other positions, yes, but left back was largely down to the excellence of City’s attacking play at home. We can repay the bastards when they come to us.
I’d say we dropped a point at city, same with manure, the villa game was three points dropped making five in total! Shame Wenger didn’t play arteta and flamini against city as i think we would have got a point but it is easy to be wise in hindsight!!!
I might be repeating the obvious, but the reason we didn’t defend with such “solidarity’ and press, was because to my eyes anyway, we looked tired and heavy legged all over the park. Here’s praying 9 days rest is enough to recuperate physically and mentally, from this gruelling few weeks. coyg.
With Poldi’s imminent return, i’d love it if we went for Berbatov in January on a short term deal,he wouldn’t cost much and would fit our style of play very well.
Also i think we could do with another central midfielder to freshen things up a bit in midfield, this high intensity game we’ve been playing so far is hard to sustain,exhaustion and jadedness is going to play a huge part imo.
1) Fuck Berbatov.
2) We have another central midfielder already. Wilshire.
Lil Mozart is one of the most underrated players in Europe. He needs to start in all remaining big games. His energy n effort will be key to our success in the CL.
Arsenal just need to be in control as a unified team. With their skills they can and must be effective in their possession of the ball! Without giving away cheaply the ball!
The City game was always going to be difficult. But some of our players need to take a hard look at themselves. Particularly Wilshere & Monreal. Neither started the game in Naples so tired legs should not have been an excuse. Unlike Kos who while mainly at fault for their first goal & partly culpable the second has been Mr Consistency for the past 2 seasons. There were positives. Particularly Theo opening his premiership account for the season, Ramsey’s performance and Bendtner’s brief cameo where he was wrongly called off-side for a well taken goal. Nevertheless it was as Thierry… Read more »
What’s the news on the Boss?
He is correct that we are still in the driving seat. However it is worrying how flat we have been over the last 2 games (discounting Everton which as you remember we were also outplayed for large parts) I’m not sure I agree that this is a one off much as I prefer it to be. I think we have been a bit insipid (one might say timid) over the last 3 games. It hasn’t been helped by IMO poor selection and tactical adjustments by Wenger. Wenger has got to get it spot on for the Chelsea game. Again I… Read more »
Agree, but I don’t think you should discount Everton. That draw was a much worse result than Saturday’s. Yoiu expect to lose at City, but when we go ahead with less than 10 min left at home, we need to win.
Failing to Draw at Manu and failing to win home to Everton are far more harmful results than losing at City.
I disagree that Jack should start over Aaron at any point as things stand. Rambo didn’t start at Napoli and didn’t do anything wrong when he came on as a sub. He had meaningful contributions against City directly resulting in 2 goals. I can’t help but think he and Flamini were told to press and press at the Etihad rather than sit back and defend, I just didn’t understand the pivot that has worked so well left so much space. Our midfield is a bit dysfunctional I think because of Jack’s poor form, and Ozil’s tendencies to disappear a bit.… Read more »
Çome to think of it. If we can play with two strikers for experimenation purpose with smaller teams wudnt it work? ______Pold/Giroud______Walcott_____Carzola________Ozil_________Rosicky_______________Flamini______________Gibbs__Koscielny__Mertasacker__Sagna_______________Sczsney______________
@ MozyGooner
If you’re going to put umlauts above the letters in your name, at least do it for name in your post that genuinely has one!
And also please learn that it’s CAZORLA, not Carzola.
Gunners to whoop mourinho and remain top of the table come x’mas,no doubt
I’m sure we’ll bounce back just like we did after the Anthony Taylor debacle and the old toilet blip. On an unrelated note, Mike Riley’s one fucked up sad moron, we’ve been handed Mike ‘i fucking hate arsenal’ Dean (celebrate an oponent’s goal against us and that do my head in) for the Chelshite game on monday. What exactly have we done to these cunts at PGMOL and the FA? I told my mate after the City game; what are the odds we get either of Dean or Mariner for the chelsea game? I never believe i’ll one day preffer… Read more »