Friday, March 29, 2024

Arsenal squad eye redemption

As is to be expected after such a shocking performance, Arsene Wenger and his players have said they’ll do everything they can to move on from Saturday’s Anfield massacre as quickly as possible.

Downbeat about the result but bullish about the fixtures on the horizon, the boss, Per Mertesacker and Wojciech Szczesny each had their say. The only thing missing is a single tear rolling down the cheek of each.

Arsene Wenger: “Our performance was poorer on Saturday than at Man City but I’m confident we will respond in a positive matter on Wednesday night.

“I think it’s a shame that we couldn’t turn up with a better performance. After 10 minutes we conceded two goals on set-pieces, that just shows that the level of concentration was not there and that when nobody takes responsibility in these kind of situations it’s always a bad sign.

“It is about how well we do at home at the Emirates, of course starting on Wednesday. Recently we have been very good defensively at home and offensively as well. That is what we want to show on Wednesday night.”

Per Mertesacker: “To be honest, it’s one of the worst setbacks of this season. We feel very bad at the moment, disappointed with our performance right from the start.

“It was just not good enough to compete at that level. Liverpool seemed full of confidence. At the start we were eight points clear of Liverpool so we should have been more confident and more aware of the situation but that wasn’t the case.

“We have the opportunity to respond quickly on Wednesday and we have to remind ourselves what we have done from Man City until now. That is at stake and to show that responsibility for ourselves and for the pride of our club.

“We have huge games coming up but we can rely on our fans that they will push us again. I think the team will give something back in the next couple of weeks.”

Wojciech Szczesny: “We couldn’t match their performance and we all know what happened so we are thankful that they stayed behind us because we’ll need them for the rest of the season.

“We didn’t enjoy it at all. We didn’t turn up for the first half and we got punished so there’s a lesson there to be learnt but we’ve got to turn up quickly and focus on the next game.

“We represent one of the biggest clubs in the world and what we did early on is not acceptable. We said that at half-time, we went out in the second half with a different attitude and it was much more of an even game. But as I said we will learn our lesson from this and respond quickly against Man United.”

And with that we’re putting the ‘putting it behind us’ articles behind us…and now we’re going to sing along with M People.

So there…

 

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Puma's technozip

Reds eye redemption.

RC Motors

“Today we spell redemption A-R-S-E-N-A-L” …is what I want to say after Wednesday’s game.

the only sam is nelson

“Redemption Song” by Bob Marley, surely?

neder

Nah, that can only be played if we spank the mancs (maybe beat would be better :S) on Wednesday.

renoog

You sure Nader?
“Emancipate yourselves from mental slavery; None but ourselves can free our minds”
seems like the right way to go

Have no fear of Manchester United,
Cause They no longer elicit Fergie Time

neder

Well said sir!

Heroldgoon

Since when do we really pay attention to what players say, seen it too many times before ” need a response” “look to bounce back” “put things right” etc. just fucking go out there and play like you want to win not like some overpaid fuckholes or give me a jersey so i show what you what it means to play for the Arsenal.

Perry S.

Agreed. After the ‘pool match, I told a friend of mine that the worst part of this is that the people feeling the worst is the fans. HANDS DOWN. These players, they talk stuff and act certain ways, but in the end, they get their fat paycheck, move on, and have themselves a fantastic weekend of luxury and laughs whilst all of us are moving about with a bit of anger on our backs. I want that aggression we had when we played Bayern in the 2nd leg last year, completely unorthodox and full of pace. Every ball had 3… Read more »

AFCEdwards

Not neccessarily, those people are actually out there playing. I bet it means a lot more to a player like Wilshere than it does to 99.9% of us.

Perry S.

Absolutely, there are some players who take it to the heart, but my comment is more in general. It just bothers me that after a loss like this, there isn’t more fuming going on within the organization. At least we know Wenger gave these guys a dressing down at half time, something he typically never does.

renoog

There may be some you can say thaat about in the club but Per and Wojciech?. both so often vocal because they are as addicted to the club as anyone else

neder

I like your passion, but in all seriousness (unless you’re an undercover pro checking out Arseblog) you would be played off the park. Much like George Weahs ‘cousin’ at Southampton. Gotta keep it realistic 🙂

Heroldgoon

i think running like a possesed man at anyone that has the ball and hassling them would make me very valuable to the team. i just might start ahead of Ozil. hehehe

Pedro

Precisely! The club should issue gagging orders till the end of the season with a clause that they are allowed media interaction later on only if they fucking win something!

Henners

Anyone else have that voice in their head every time you think “we’re gonna come back and smash Manu” it says “no we’re gonna fuck it up and Manu will play great”. I really don’t have an inkling on what will happen on Wednesday, as bad as Manu are, and i am shitting it at the prospect of the fan reaction if we don’t win…

neutral

to me, the league is more important than the FA cup or the CL, so the game on Wednesday is a “must win”. After that I hope that Liverpool does not humiliate us again on Saturday, because that could really hurt the mentality in the team. I don’t think we have a chance against Bayern so I’ll keep my low expectations and will probably be pleased by any result whatsoever.

deano

Hope that Liverpool don’t humiliate us again on Saturday? It was a bad performance but we don’t become a poor team over night I believe we will respond on a positive this week and win both matches. We will play a desperate Ushited but one that lacks confidence over several weeks and a defence that just doesn’t look interested. As fore the bin dippers strangely I think it was a bonus had we won that game I think Arsene would have picked a reserve side in the cup and gone out. Now I think we will go through.

Highberry

That voice in my head (well one of them anyway) says that Arsenal always have the ability to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory but NOT THIS TIME. The Dutch skunk and shrek need to be made to suffer COYG

Smudger

Actions speak louder than words. Really hope we can regroup quickly and stuff utd on Wednesday.

Daft Aider

They team should be chained up with their eyes held open and made to watch Jose Mourinho endlessly talking shit as punishment if they fail to stuff United.

Daft Aider

and the squad and management should be told if Chelsea win the title then Gazza and Sheringham will be booked as entertainers for the compulsory 18 hour end of season party, if that doesn’t work then nothing well

Daft Aider

cough *will* cough

neutral

I am sure I’m in the minority here but I quite enjoy Mourinho. He is both remarkably honest about his team and completely full of shit. He definitely has a sense of humor. He is actually a very good manager.

Mate Kiddleton

He may be a good manager, but there’s no cure for being a cunt

The fool of a Took

At the end of this season I bet we all will be singing:

“What a Waster” by The Libertines

🙁

palace gunner

Run till your muscle bounds

Parisian Weetabix

Before you read this comment, please know that I am 100% aware of what Mertesacker brings to the team and that he has been a major player in our recent upturn in defensive form. When Mertesacker plays, it means the team has to play to his strengths. The midfield has to track back because he can’t cope with players running at him or in behind him. As a result when we lose the ball we drop off and get back into a good shape. If we try to press high up the pitch and Mertesacker becomes isolated, he can’t cope… Read more »

AllGunsABlazin

That was… actually quite succinct

GeeFive

Great post. The only other option I could see is playing a proper DM to give proper support to the back. Not one that rides up the pitch like Song always did.

santori

he did not have trouble in the reverse fixture against Liverpool.

More an issue of the entire team not doing enough which affects him and draws out his weakness.

Putting in Vermaelen will have its own other set of problems. Rather stick with BFG and get the team doing the right thing.

swissgooner

that’s a good point. but wasn’t it against mancity where vermaelen and koscielny played together and we let in 4 goals in a half-time?

Geezer

Per-Kos let in 2 before HT. Per-Verm let in 4 after HT.

That said, Verm-Kos lost 1-0 to United. So, while Vermaelen will address the issue of pace, he will bring his own drawbacks to our game. (I am sure people will agree he has his flaws). The biggest issue will be that both prefer to play on the left.

Daft Aider

I think Mert reads the game much, much better then Kos or Verm and I feel that means he shouldn’t be dropped for the bigger games

neutral

A agree completely about the tactical approach, dropping off and keeping a good shape is fine against most teams, but when Liverpool (or City) won the ball high up the pitch we were left exposed. this was partly due to midfielders (Ozil) losing the ball and allowing Liverpool to break at us in numbers. That said, tactics would not have prevented those two goals from set pieces, which we now have the distinction of allowing the highest percentage of goals form set pieces in the PL. I think the first and second goals from Sterling were completely avoidable, but the… Read more »

Gööner

That is a fantastic you make, I never saw it like that but it makes total sense.

Gööner

fantastic point*

AP

We should also consider the FBs positioning in this. Our FBs push up way too early in the attack build up. So, against City/L’pool type of teams (with 3 really quick players upfront), FBs push up early as usual, leaves Mert, Kos and Arteta behind. Turnover happens, as it will sometimes, no biggie there, every team goes through it. One good pass, and now our FBs have oversold themselves, and do not have enough pace to “outrun” those quick attackers. Out of the 3 guys defending, 2 are snails and are passed easily. Also, diff in Kos and Mert’s speed… Read more »

deano

Funny I thought our game was relatively slow because we lack pace upfront and on the left hand side when we play Santi out there. The big man reads the game better than the other 2 he also missed the game at old Trafford which we lost. He had a bad day they all did the way the (entire) midfield was overrun TV5 would have made no difference at all to that debacle.

Az Ahmed

Why swap Mert for Verm? My solution involves using Vermaelen as a DM and Mert and Kosc at the back. We have obviously missed a strong DM who can show some aggression, protect the back line, win possession in our half and launch an attack from the back since Vieira and Petit. How great would it have been if we had had protection against Liverpool (although the entire team was shite) and Man Shitty, who exposed Flamini and made him look like a terrified deer? Using Vermaelen would allow for three main things. One, it would allow for Mertesacker to… Read more »

RajaRamsey

I think you’re absolutely right about BFG, but I think in the long term he should be a starting centerback. What I mean by this is that for the remainder of the season swapping Verm in can do the job you stated, but it will mean we’re much more prone to defensive error which can be equally as costly as lacking pace at the back. Over the summer, our number one priority should be getting a big fuckin DM to go along with our big fuckin german. Think someone similar to Viera. I know it’s a long shot, but Pogba… Read more »

Faxe

For some reason, your analysis did not seem to apply to this game:
http://www.arsenal.com/news/news-archive/video-the-breakdown-liverpool

Tah

I don’t even know what to say. Have we bottled it again this season??

WizardOfOzil

No I think fans capitulating after one bad result is poor form. Liverpool came out of the traps like a self-immolating Tibetan. By comparison we strolled out like we were going for a nice walk. It didn’t help that they scored in the first minute, and even though they had other chances there was an element of luck involved in them scoring four goals inside of twenty minutes. It effectively ended the game as a contest. As many have said it’s how we respond that matters now. This group has reacted positively to bad results and challenging situations already this… Read more »

AP

Though i understand why u use it, still the Tibetan reference was distasteful. The least one can do is have sympathy and solidarity with a people who have been displaced for lives with no one caring because nobody has anything to profit from them.

Double98

Yes. One game. One Loss is a bottling of gargantuan performance.
We will be lucky not to get relegated.

Hold on… We are still second and 1 point behind a team we have to play.

A position that we would have scarcely thought possible 6 months ago and would have signed for after the city game.

Its still in our hands…

shuggietodd

That’s the thing. We’re one point behind Chelsea. When they were 5, or however many points behind, people weren’t writing them off.

AP

Here is another thing to consider – Liverpool and City, both went above us for a week, and then they had poor games after that and went back down. We are a jinx. Hazard is gonna get injured or suspended, maybe kick another ballboy 🙂

deano

It seems you can kick people and get away with it these days ( Rooney and Toure ) come to mind.

AP

Or FA doesnt have jurisdiction in Manchester

JSergio

Less words, more action please. We have heard it all before. Go out and win just ONE fucking big game and then we can talk.

joey sixpack

Off topic but did anyone chuckle at the Mancs celebrating like they won the league after going 2-1 up against ROCK-BOTTOM Fulham?

Ade

It makes me wonder what MANU has turned into. i couldnt have laughed harder. The manager also clenched his fist in victory as if they had won a cup.

Joey Sixpack

Haha. Made me feel so much better after our hammering. As they say, it could always be worse eh? We have to slaughter them midweek. No excuses.

neutral

No, but I had a good laugh when Bent put them level in Moyes time.

whenever Arsenal stumbles United come up with a new low to cheer me up.

AP

I loved Muelensteen’s comments – their plan was straightforward, get it wide and get it in and they did that a lot 😀

joey sixpack

They did draw in the end though 😀 Lets compound their misery!

Robstar

Maybe we should take a leaf out of Chelsea and Liverpool’s book and say we have no chance of winning it, worked for them so far. Also Wenger made the signing of the season in that Kim Kallstrom. With him, Diaby and Walcott long term injured there will be no room for anymore injured players meaning we will have a pretty strong squad for the rest of the season. If we combine these two thing’s we can win the treble.

AP

Haha, sacrificial offering to the injury gods for better luck. Genius, no wonder people cant ever understand Le Prof 🙂

Herbert Chapman's Hooped Socks

Joe Esposito’s ‘You’re the Best’ will be bumping in my speaker box from now til the end of May.

Nothin’s gonna keep me down. COYG!

Wenger's Zipper

Our response to the 1-5 mauling at anfield defines who we really are!!! A bad team getting lucky all along (I really doubt that) or a good team in the process of being a great team (we all know defeat is part of the process). Response we need, Respond we shall #COYG

Bob McNab's Eyebrows

Everyone is quick to blame BFG however, if you look at the manner of the goals then it would be a fairier argument to look at the performances of the two full backs and the midfield screen. You can’t give the ball away in midfield with the fullbacks pushed on and not track their runners. They were at the heart of our defence everytime within two passes and in the football beaver they have world class player that will hurt us. Everyone knows they press madly at anfield for the first 30 mins. Being compact and catching them on the… Read more »

AP

Damn, almost what i wrote in a reply above. Thats the difference in playing Wilshere vs Rosicky or Ramsey. The latter guys will chase turnovers, Wilshere doesnt. I have even seen Giroud sometimes take up Wilshere’s position while defending.
Whoever loses the ball may or may not be able to chase, depending on many factors, but others should, thats what is the solidarity thing Wenger talks about.

Pinocchio
deano

Maybe he just had a bad day!!

shuggietodd

This is, without question, the poorest Man Utd team of the last 20 years. Yesterday they had Rooney, RVP and Mata on and still looked shit. Tactically, they’re very badly set up. So we should beat them.

And yet, that’s exactly what I thought before the last game at Old Trafford.

Still, it makes for an exciting game. Will we be superb, or just less shit than then? Or, just shit again? It’ll be an amazing atmosphere if we can win. Cathartic. I’m happy to be going to this one!

Joey Sixpack

Mate, midweek we should have no mercy. If it means Ozil biting off Rooney’s ear for us to win, I don’t mind. Bottomline, we need to win that match!

shuggietodd

At Old Trafford, they were fired up and steaming into tackiles. I wish we had Flamini available to dish a bit out.

It’s a must win though. A win means we can still be considered contenders. A loss means we’ve blown it.

And also, I have that lot. We’ve been so poor against them the last few years. Wednesday is when we need to make a statement!

JSergio

Just wanted to touch on a point here as well. It seems that every season for the last god knows how many years we have consistently failed against the big teams (and by big teams I mean cup finals, champions league knockouts and top 4 battles, NOT Sp*rs and United the way things are going this year). More often or not we are completely embarrassed in a way which would be unacceptable for a League one side. Naturally the blame predominantly lies at the feet of the players who turn into headless chickens, completely against their normal character. I would… Read more »

neder

A few seasons back our form against the ‘bigger’ teams was fine, but it was our form against those lower in the table that let us down. Its all about finding balance really… I never expected us to do this well this season, and so long as we’re close to the top come seasons end I for one will be relatively happy. Either way though we have ourselves a fantastic platform (for the first time in ages) to build from.

JSergio

Hmm not exactly, it was an ok record in the 2010-11 season (LWLWDWWL) but the season before that was diabolical (LLWLLLLWDLL). I did some research and we have played a total of 39 Big games (if you include cup finals, champions league knockouts and top 4 battles) in the last 5 seasons. We have lost 23, won 11, and drawn 5. We have lost 59% of our games. A lot of which by 2 goals or greater. That is not acceptable for a team like Arsenal.

JSergio

As you can see I am busy today;)

AP

Masterful? You surely did not account for a few factors. 1 – City had the good early chances and should have buried 2 atleast, wouldve been an interesting game then. 2 – City did not have Aguero, who is their player with most efficient output – lets see Hazard get injured and then decide 3 – City did not have Fernandinho, who actually provides the platform which helps Toure to dictate in oppositions half 4 – Demichelis was a disaster at DM, he was makeshift and didnt know whether he needed to play behind Toure or beside him. It caused… Read more »

JSergio

Yes for sure there is some truth in this. Unfortunately City are in a position where they can afford to lose one or two players. Also, Maureen is consistently good at winning big games. His stats are impressive in that regard, and I don’t think its a fluke…as much as I find him intolerable.

Shay

May God be with this team

Shay

ake them defeat the enemies on wednesday and saturday, send the racists to mars.

Carlitos

Is it just me or does anyone else feel its time Ozil stepped up and showed us why Le Boss paid £42.5m for him?? He gave away the ball twice and that caused the 3rd and 4th goals.

Yas

I hate to say it. But I have a bad fear we are going to come short because.. 1. We really miss walcotts pace and even if gnabry/ox start I hate to admit are not “big match performers” this season like theo was. 2. Giroud is a team player and brilliant at keeping/holding the ball however is no where near RVP/Rooney. This could make a massive difference; the big question for me is why is not podi. getting any starts? 3. Sadly from what I have seen this season – Arteta and Ozil both disappear against big teams; for ateta… Read more »

Dr Baptiste

I’m intrigued; what will happen if the lads don’t prove you wrong?

David

As good as this arsenal team has been this season, no offense but all our midfielders are “almost” the same. They don’t have that physical presence to scare opposition players. I want to see a tall, strong, hard tackling no nonsense DM. We need a “very” tough guy there. Like a Viera,Yaya Toure, Fernandinho and Matic seems to be a good buy. No offence to Giroud but we need a striker to bench Giroud.

shuggietodd

I saw a paper today saying that Arsenal are looking at Eliaquim Mangala. I’m not sure that it’s true, but having seen him play a couple of times, I reckon he could do well in played in a Vieira/Yaya Youre role. He’s strong, quick and a good passer.

Ultimately, I think the blue-cunts are both looking at him, so we’d miss out though.

rosicky

he looks like a beast. would be a great signing.hope someone doesn’t poach him before wenger pulls the string of his purse.

AP

Remember the one golden rule about Arsenal transfer windows – any player linked with Arsenal before the final 3-4 days of the window never ends up at Arsenal.

MATT SQUEELER

Completely agree Parisian Weetabix regarding the Mert situation. I love him to pieces but our major weakness is balls in behind the BFG. He’ll play versus Man Utd but in FA Cup i’d like to see Verm if fit.

We should be approaching the game at home against Liverpool as the 2nd Leg – meaning we have to win 4-0 or more. COYG, I want a performance like vs. Milan at The Emirates a couple of seasons back.

2013-2014 = 2003-2004

The players owe the fans redemption for the embarassment on Saturday. You have no idea the sh!t I’ve had to put up with at work from saddo Sp*rs and Chelski fans today.

After being on the wrong end of a 5-0 blitzing at the Emirates on Wednesday, I want to see Little Boy Inside of Me on his hands and knees begging Gunnersaurus to let him ‘come home’.

Lota

That what they’ve been putting up with u since we went to the top. I like your name though.

RodGoonerInTtown

Has it ever occured to anyone that Özil is much better than he’s been for us so far, but he is just saving himself for the WC which ia very unfair to us…

Sean Gunnery

i woke up saturday to 0-4. it was very saddening

Sam

Man Utd put in something like 80 crosses against Fulham, according to a Fulham defender on SSN. He said they’d prepared for that as that’s how Utd play. Moyes won’t be discouraged from doing that given that 2nd goal we conceded on Saturday. I’m still finding it hard to believe just how poor the team was, when there was a chance to go 5 points clear for a while at least and put pressure on City and Chelsea. Had they all been partying the night before so the early kick off was too early for the little darlings?! As for… Read more »

santori

Which is the most disappointing thing, the chance to go clear at the top (of at least City) not taken.

Just feel we were complacent and went in to defensive minded.

The focus wasn’t there where the early goal punished us, the two (very slack) concessions on set pieces compounded it. Thereafter, it was always going to be heavily uphill.

That said, Liverpool were very good to give them credit (as I gnash my teeth)

rosicky

just kick the shit out of van persie and rooney and all will be well. then we all can listen to “glitter and gold” by rebbeca ferguson.

Highberry

I was nodding and agreeing there right up to the bit about glitter and gold.

Me So Hornsey

As pointed out bt 7amkickoff Ozil excels when he has pAcey players running on to his perfect through balls a la Cronaldo at Madrid. At Anfield there was no Podolski, no Gnabry, no Rosicky, no Ramsey and no Theo. Our only pace was Ox who, for some reason, despite being a very inexperienced midfielder, Wenger somehow thought was ready to take on Liverpool. Anfield is not a place for experiments. It’s no wonder Ozil misplaced passes so badly he prefers passing into space ahead of runners, not to the feet of team mates with 2 nano seconds of space before… Read more »

santori

Seems silly to suggest Gnabry should be ahead of Ox or that Ramsey is a more dynamic player than say jack which he isn’t.

Ozil simply did not show up enough.

And we dropped 2 additional goals to set pieces which made the afternoon more difficult then need be.

Simple as that.

Ozil is equally good putting the ball to your feet (or head) as he is putting it ahead of the runner.

Shitbird

Arteta in the dressing room this morning with a boombox on his shoulder, cranking “Everything is Awesome.” Captain.

Laurel

JSergio,the truth in your post is almost orgasmic.

Puma's technozip

Have to put this loss out of my mind, simply to keep it.

In better news, Ribery is out of the first leg at the Emirates. Every cloud….?

deano

I just hope Mesut has a big week and if he is heavily marked as may be the case then someone else needs to stand up and deliver.

santori

Ozil really needs to be a bit more positive.

His head drops far too quickly when things do not go our way.

If he played with a bit more competitiveness (ala Ramsey), he will improve greatly much like what happened to Fabregas in his last seasons when he started scoring.

Seems to me Ozil is a bit of a pessimist which is like most Arsenal fans. That doesn’t help us on the pitch though.

santori

Last Death Run we made all sorts of noise about standing up and being counted and came off failing the test comprehensively.

This time round the margins are less forgiving.

Whilst we may seek to redeem ourselves, United won’t make it easy either as they are a defeat away from being out of contention in the CL (if not already)

santori

If we get a good result at United, I do fancy us to do the right thing against Liverpool and go through with the cup competition.

In that sense, better to have dropped the 3 points in the league game then to be kicked out of the FA.

Riding on that (and with the positive news regarding Riberry’s buttocks), we should fancy our chances to nicka draw against Bayern.

IF the results go accordingly as mentioned, in context, it won’t be quite as bad a Death Run then.

Fingers crossed.

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