Arsene Wenger says he’s taking Coventry seriously ahead of tomorrow night’s FA Cup tie, aware that the Gunners crashed out of the competition last year to Blackburn in the same round.
The Sky Blues are, as a League One side, a division below where last year’s conquerers were, but the boss says that league positions are no guarantee of a successful outcome.
Speaking to the press today, he said, “If you have two or three divisions difference in basketball, rugby, volleyball or handball, you cannot do it, but in football you can, and that makes it so unpredictable.”
And on last year’s FA Cup defeat, he was keen to take the lessons from it.
“Last year was a big disappointment,” he said. “It was the first time in 16 years that we lost against lower league opposition in the FA Cup. It was a great warning and at the moment it’s just our next game and we want to win it.
“We have to prepare, because we are on a good run. We are still in a moment of our lifetime, this team, where we want to gain respect, and through our attitude that is the best way to gain respect.”
The last time the clubs met was in the Capital One Cup last season, when Olivier Giroud got off the mark for the Gunners, and Arsenal ran out 6-1 winners.
Meanwhile, RedAction have called on Arsenal fans to support the visiting fans as they protest at the situation their club finds itself in.
Playing home games in Northampton, 35 miles away, to crowds of less than 2000 because the hedge fund that bought Coventry City is in dispute with the local council.
It’s an ugly situation and one that does transcend the inter-club rivalries (although there’s no way we’d do this for Sp*rs or anything). For more info, check out the RedAction website, and see this Guardian link which outlines the mess they’re in.
The team is quite a bit more stable than last year. I’m a lot more confident we won’t make the same mistakes. That said, glad to hear the boss talk about and learn from last year.
I think the defeat vs blackburn last year really hurt him, and judging by his press conference he is very serious in putting things right. I think the maturity in this squad is obvious and we will not disappoint this time.
Poor sods. Still have a soft spot for the Sky Blues after they took Sp*ds to the cleaners in ’87, bless ’em.
Although having said that I also endured some awful games against Coventry from the old North Bank, and they had a poo brown away kit in the ’70s, and they were sponsored by Talbot, possibly the worst car manufacturer of all time. But fuck it, they still beat the Sp*ds.
& didn’t they beat us 3-0 in our first premiership game?
Mickey Quinn got a hat-trick if I recall correctly. He always used to knock one in against us, the bastard. Ah those were the days; when premeirship footballers could look like bus drivers.
If he doesn’t want the same disaster to happen again, he needs to strengthen our already nice looking squad instead of crying about how unfair the Man U signing is. Everyone knows Jose is a tactical shitebag!
And just where exactly is he ‘crying about how unfair the Man U signing is?’
Of course it’s unfair. No club should be allowed to sell players they don’t want themselves, and especially not when that sale could strengthen a rubbish team enough for them to take points off Chelsea’s possible rivals. In fact it’s unfair any club should be free to buy or sell players when this activity is so often to Arsenal’s detriment. Abolish all transfer windows, winter and summer, because they constitute a quite unacceptable opportunity for cheating at Wenger’s expense. Er, it’s widely reported in the press that he said, presumably at today’s press conference, that he thinks the sale of… Read more »
If you actually read the article properly, as I seem to be saying to everybody today, Wenger is just using this Mata example to back up his argument to do away with the January transfer window. Something he has been calling for, for a very long time.
Oh yes, he’s complaining – again, as you say – about the transfer window in general as well as about Chelsea’s use of it to sell Mata. That’s what I was getting at really. In complaining about things that he has no chance of changing – of which the transfer window is one – Wenger comes across as defensive, a man under pressure and a serial moaner, which achieves absolutely nothing beyond bringing glee to the pundits who already dislike him and, of course, satisfaction to Mourinho. I have read the article, and the one in the Guardian where Wenger… Read more »
Sign who??? Who is there for sale???? … People think there’s a bunch of “Cavanis” raising their hands “me, me…” … Let’s be realistic, we have to cross our fingers and hope our current squad cope with the challenge! .. let’s be supportive with our team and please be honest and say it right: NOBODY EXPECTED US TO BE HERE!… Not even u! .. so let’s enjoy the raid!
Salah would have been a good like-for-like replacement for Walcott, at 11M seems affordable.
risk vs cost vs wide picture mate. If we pay 11m for someone like Salah now, then there’s no need to wait for Draxler calibre players. Although it is possible that Salah could end up x times better than Draxler but these are the type of calculations that the manager has to deal with and account for when making decisions.
The amount of times last season I ripped up my season ticket in disgust is matched only by the amount of times I lied about having a season ticket. Blackburn was one such occassion.
Er wasn’t it the 5th round we got knocked out in last season after beating Swansea in the 3rd round and Brighton in the 4th? This is only the 4th round isn’t it?
Enough with your facts, sir!
Seriously though,when have you ever heard of a big name signing in January? However,Man U are struggling and Jose wants to strengthen Man U as he knows they don’t have to play them again. We do though! He has done the exact same with leaving his striker on loan ay Everton. What a slimey move that is.
http://www.theguardian.com/sport/2009/feb/03/andrei-arshavin-joins-arsenal-record-deal
http://www.theguardian.com/football/2004/jan/28/newsstory.arsenal
favourite quote from link #2: “”There is no doubt this is a huge step forward in my career I have never been so nervous,” added Reyes, whose arrival surely indicates that Arsenal’s previous approach for Feyenoord’s Robin van Persie has come to nothing.”
Ah yes, the media and transfer stories.
Hey Blogs, why are you not running the Verheijen story? Interesting stuff about injury prevention and Wenger being up-to-date. Verheijen observed: “Walcott went from nothing to everything. If you haven’t played for a while you are not totally fit. Then, when you play a game when you are not top fit you will need more recovery time than normal.” “What Arsene Wenger did 15 years ago was revolutionary for the UK,” the Dutchman said. “But he kept doing what he was doing for 15 years so, basically, he stood still. Now everybody has caught up and improved and he is… Read more »
Because a) I didn’t see it, b) it’s on goal.com and I wouldn’t use them to wipe my arse and c) that Verheijen seems like a self-publicising crank for the most part. Everyone is shit apart from him.
Dutch Ray is off his rocker. Just ask any fan from Wales. Complete nut, who SOMETIMES gets it right…
Eh, I figured the Goal.com would come out for criticism, not sure if it appeared there first though.
Anyhow, I think his point about Walcott playing 6 games in 21 days is valid and Wenger does seem to play some players into the ground, fabled red zone or not.
It is hard to see this as only Wenger, I am sure the medical staff and physios have some say, and that they all have not stood still for 15 yrs
At*
Podolski to unleash his sledgehammer intelligent left foot tomorrow.
Aaaarrgghh. Cannot read any of wenger quotes without his voice ringing in my head. Damnyou wengerknowsbest
@burn baby burn,is your television broken? Do you have an internet connection? Wenger is saying it’s unfair and is crying about it. Madness.
I’m in the states at work right now so no TV, and TV coverage on football here in general is, shall we say, close to non-existent. Internet-wise, the sites I frequent haven’t mentioned it, but looking around at some others, I do see it now. I do agree its a bit ridiculous.
@ burn baby… If you have cable there is NBC sports, Fox soccer, begin sports…and many more soccer channels, I get to watch Arsenal on TV 97% of the time.
thanks – i meant soccer rarely gets a mention outside of soccer specific shows or stations. e.g. you won’t see a Wenger interview on cnn, fox news, etc.
What is this soccer thing you are talking about?
It’s to try and support his argument a winter transfer window is not good for the game. United played Chelsea already. They still have to play all the other contenders. United are not in the title race, so Chelsea has nothing to fear from them unless they undergo a hilarious loss of form. Would they have sold him to United if the scheduling of the games was different? It’s part of the game and we’ll get on with it, but we know things like these tend to irk Wenger. Like the Lukaku loan. And its a very valid criticism. We… Read more »
Maybe someone should stab those c**ts
beat them, yes. ridicule them, yes. insult their mothers, yes. violence directed at them, who are we, Spu*s?
Boss u could have been all right about this players but tha truth remains that arsenalfc as the pride of london don’t have a complete striker. Pls step it up.
People are saying Moreen is pulling a crafty one cos Chelski don’t play Utd again this season….but what about next season? To me it only makes sense on the level that they’ll make a tidy little profit on him.
As for the FA Cup game tomorrow, if we win that, lets hope the sky (blues) is not the limit.
FFP maybe, Tidy profit and Chelsea have already bought three players this January.
Personally I think Jose really does not like Mata, sending him to United is just further punishment.
“This shows a complete lack of ambition. I mean selling your best player to a rival, and then signing someone on the cheap. Wenger has lost it” – Press after R*P left
“This shows a complete lack of ambition. I mean selling your best player to a rival, and then signing someone on the cheap. Jose has lost it” – Said nobody in the media after the Mata sale.
fair point, but to be honest its not as is the chavskis have really been struggling for trophies is it?
Full game and a couple of goals from Poldi would be most welcome tomorrow night.
It doesn’t MATA!
nice juan guy
Solidarity Reg, wouldn’t want this happening to us.
Sorry this has nothing to do with this article what so ever but blogs can you please pass my thanks on to Tim.. His column this week was unbelievably well written and an amazing read.
Keep up the good work, i love your sites 🙂
EPL News is a bit thin here in Manaus at the moment, only just heard about Mata from this page. Maureen is selling their best player over the last 2 seasons to a mid table side? Sounds hilarious. Would love him in an Arsenal shirt as he is quality, but no idea where he would fit in an Arsenal side that contains Ozil. I’d love to see Chelsea slip down and watch the neanderthals turn on the ‘chosen one’ as their brains finally cotton on to the fact that he’s an average manager who fluked a CL win with Porto… Read more »
“Would love him in an Arsenal shirt as he is quality, but no idea where he would fit in an Arsenal side that contains Ozil.” When Arse2Mouse was on the deadline special last year, Blogs asked him something along the lines of where Monreal would fit in the team, and what did this mean to Gibbs. A2M’s (Paraphrased) reply? – I don’t care. One of them will get in the team, and play well, and the other will either step up and play for his place. If we sign a player in ANY position, i would like them to be… Read more »
Coventry are going to be so up for this and they have some pretty good young lads who will be desperate to turn a head or two against high profile opposition. But it’s also a good opportunity for us to blood some of our emerging talent. I really hope Gnabry starts, which I think is more than likely, and also give Jenko a go at RB. Eisfeld on the bench so if we are coasting he could grab 15-20 mins of senior football would be wonderful too. In my opinion, and I’ll get slated for this, the FA cup is… Read more »
Can we make it a 3 day ban for linking goal com stories?