Arsene Wenger admits his side’s 1-0 defeat at Stoke represents a massive setback to his side’s title challenge with Arsenal slipping to third in the table behind Liverpool and well aware they could drop to fourth should Manchester City win their two games in hand.
The Gunners produced a toothless performance at the Britannia Stadium and while the boss was clearly incensed by the award of a penalty against Laurent Koscielny in the closing stages, he underlined that his side never posed enough of a threat in the final third.
“It is not slightly worrying, it’s a big worry for us to lose a game like that,” Wenger told his post-game press conference. “It is a massive setback of course.
“I’m not worried [about bouncing back] but in a game like that we didn’t produce the performance that we wanted. To win a title is when you are expected to perform you have to perform it’s as simple as that.”
Reserving praise for his defence, he continued: “I think our defensive performance was outstanding. If you look well at the chances that Stoke had today I can see maybe one cross on Crouch and after that what did they create? Nothing at all, so you cannot say that our defenders didn’t perform.
“Offensively we didn’t create enough and our offensive game was poor considering our standards. At the end of the day we didn’t score because of that. We conceded a goal that was a nice gift from the referee but it can happen.”
Aware that criticism of referee Michael Jones could land him in trouble, the frustrated Frenchman made clear that he didn’t think it was a penalty although he did his best not to go over the top about its contentiousness.
“He [Koscienly] is one yard away. How can he take his hand away? He has no time to take his hand away from the ball. There’s is no intention at all but I feel we cannot influence the decision of the referee.
“Honestly I don’t want to talk about the referee.”
Bye bye league. You were a beautiful dream. I’ve never seen Arsenal win a trophy as a fan and I’m absolutely gutted. My week is ruined.
Pool go 2nd now and are looking a LOT better
That’s because Liverpool have two things that Arsenal don’t: players with pace and players who can score.
The root of the failure lies with Wenger’s inability (or unwillingness) to do what it takes to bolster our attack during the last two transfer windows. I’ve noticed after Jan window closed that players are dispirited. Wenger is an a** and should have the honor to leave at the end of this season if we dont win any silverware this season.
and dont forget that those fucking scouse twats havent been good enough to get into europe! and we knocked them out of the fa cup! so all they have to worry about every week is their next league game!
yes jfs haha
Two things that Liverpool also have that we don’t have is a non-existent European campaign and they also have no FA Cup football.
I’d like to say a hearty ‘hats off ‘ and ‘ thanks ‘ to the team that dumped them out of that. It gives us a much better chance of winning the FA Cup, this year, as a result !
Now, we just have to hope Man City slip up and we beat Everton. No worries. The trophy is in the bag, mate.
Please remember that both City and Chelsea still have to play AT Anfield , either of those games ending in a draw and Arsenal are right back in it.
You are counting on us to win our remaining games against City, Sp*rs, Chelski. 9/9 is very unlikely especially when we produce a performance like this from time to time
everton and Spurs too, if we don’t get some points we could drop out of the top 4
I don’t know if it is trauma from the previous seasons but I’m more worried about getting CL football than challenging for the title, It’s really tight this year and an Arsenal style implosion could send us as far down as 6th place.
Wenger has us all fooled. He’s kept his job because he won in his early years with the club. They never would have let anyone stick around 10 years past their due date. With so much talent over the years, he still cannot win anything. The club’s coffers are full with a massive surplus and he claims this club is class and will compete on all levels. Horse’*it. We had a 5 point lead two months ago and now we’re back to fighting for 4th place? This looks like an epic collapse, our typical February/ March is upon us. Who… Read more »
This experience feels a lot worse than previous years. We’ve been first place so long, it hurts more to fail like this. At least in other seasons, we were done in February. Wenger would tell you we are competitive in all three. You must be kidding me! You don’t strengthen in January, what do you expect? Wenger’s panic buy of damaged goods made it look like he was trying to get someone. Why would he purchase damaged goods in the transfer window? We are all fools. Better that he would have bought no one and said his usual ‘I will… Read more »
Arsene said I don’t want to talk about the referee but I do.He has got previous in other matches for making
poor controversial decisions.
Fortunately he didn’t see the fat toothless Scottish cheat deliberately tread on OG so the review team should
ban him
And let’s not forget the studs in on Mikel in hat aerial challenge.
Agreed on trophy and pool, and I’ve been a fan for 28 years
Did you really have to validate your opinion with the length of time you’ve supported Arsenal? As bad as the people who have to sign off every comment with “coming from an _______ fan”
Stroke defeat a ”massive heart attack”
Let’s try to keep the faith for a while. Massively disappointing day today though..
No chance for the title now… too bad. FA cup?
Abject terrible performance. When teams are going for the title at this stage of a season, you usually see fight and desire. Even if they play shite and lose. There is still the effort. Clueless and lazy. That’s how we played. Trying to score that Norwich/Sunderland goal all game. Stoke are no mugs defensively. It’s no coincidence those great goals came against two of the worst teams in the league at home when the games were pretty much over anyway (result wise). Arteta was the only midfield player to put a foot in. Everyoner else seemed to bottle out of… Read more »
We are Ne’er-do-well’s at Stoke, it’s their biggest game of the season, good vs evil battle. We have outperformed the top teams against lower opposition all season and we have the easiest run in after March. Chill.
League title is not gone, we just need to up our game, certainly within us to do it. Bad team selection today, Chamberlain has to start games, we are so badly lacking pace it’s scary at times..
It’s gone. Look at the squads of Chelski and Chitty and you know it’s over. Pool crushed us at home and we got lucky in the cup game against them. We are miles behind even them at the moment.
If we dont find any form and consistency soon we will have a hard time to get fourth.
I hope our players have a bit more spirit than most of the people commenting on this site this evening. The team shit the bed today but every team has there off days, at least this year we’re in the race. lets have some faith.
Why did santi tried to shoot himself when he could have just passed it to poldi? Did it twice.
I think it did cost us today
Typical Arsene. You cant say it wasnt a penalty. It was. All day long! The problem was our attacking performance. Its okay to criticise the team when its due Arsene. They need a kick up the arse. Im so pissed off. I better shhh now.
Starting to grow tired of ozils poor displays. What happened to the world class playmaker. He looks a completely different player, hopefully he’ll come good but ive yet to see 50% of what he was capable of. It feels like de ja vu, arsenal bottling it yet again. Ugh, hopefully we can finish strong but thats all it is at the moment, hope
He only had 20 odd minutes and created more than the rest of the team did in a few minutes (almost scored).
Ozil is not guilty today.
Now Wilshere, Poldi, Santi and Giroud…..
I think ozil’s good. Problem is the personnel up front. What are the odds of giroud spearheading a counter attack? Every midfielder in our team is faster than him! Ozil flourished with r.madrid coz of high turnover in the chances he created. Giroud is selling him short. Trivia…. Ever seen giroud ‘place/curl’ the ball around a keeper?
What game were you watching?!!
Two things. One: Hywel, at least come up with your own gripes. Ozil whinges don’t even apply to this game. Two: GIROUD IS NOT WALCOTT, HES NOT HENRY, HES NOT IAN WRIGHT. He is not a pacy get-behind-the-defense player. That’s not his role. He gets stamped on twice, kicked by every other Orc on the field and continues to fight but it’s oh so in vogue to piss and moan about him, because everyone else has.
Tired of it.
I’m sorry but if it is not his role, then he is in the wrong team. Arsenal need a pacey striker because of the midfield style we play. Counter attacking requires through balls, long passes and speed! If Giroud is inefficient in our counter attacks or our MAIN attacking force then get him out! You don’t make excuses for him. If he isn’t the player that the midfielders can work with, you CHANGE the player, you do not say ‘Ah, well. He’s not that kind of player sooo well, umm, can you just do something else please? Thanks guys.”
Good part is that we have plenty of experience fighting for 4th place. Being top of the league was alien and stressful.
….at least we’ve got Sanogo to get us out of trouble. Fuckin’ Hell.
Cheer up everybody! The goods news is that Kallstrom will be fit by the end of the season ! 🙂
Shut up Wenger same ole excuses season after season – Kos raised his arm up ffs outright penalty – even as a lifelong fan of over 30 years i can be honest and say it was – YOU!!! just constant bs excuse after excuse – should take a leaf out of Monaco’s book and boot your ‘arse’ out the door for another failed season
At least we got a massive reinforcement with great mental strenght that has been there and done that in januari to lift the team and give everyone a lift. We blew it big time in he summer along with the januari window and are paying the price now. Our squad is thin and the “star” players are run into ground. Özil is nowhere near where he should be in the final third of a season. Have a feeling he won`t be here next season. It’s looking pretty bad at the moment. We will be scrapping for fourth with the spuds… Read more »
Haha. Who is thumbing up these things? I smell tiny little spuds.
Had questioned our ambitions after opening day defeat but as season progressed never had to and dnt think i will till the season ends.
Just one disappointment is that throughout the season we were leaders and best thing about leading the table you never have to hope for other teams tp falter or count how many points you are off the race. Will be sad to start doing that now just have to recover like we have done previously in this season.
Considering we still have to play Chelsea, Man City, Tottenham, Bayern and Everton (twice) in the coming string of matches I can see this loss coming back to haunt us. Nonetheless now is the time for some serious work from the whole team and I really hope that we can get Ramsey’s energy back into the team as soon as possible. COYG!
We need to pull out some crazy shit to get through next 5 games
Its fucked up night for all of us. But I will still be by your side Arsenal. Forever… a Gooner.
Are you chanting? Pull yourself together man.
I think ozil’s good. Problem is the personnel up front. What are the odds of giroud spearheading a counter attack? Every midfielder in our team is faster than him! Ozil flourished with r.madrid coz of high turnover in the chances he created. Giroud is selling him short. Trivia…. Ever seen giroud ‘place/curl’ the ball around a keeper? I bet if we play Walcott as a striker with ozil supplying we’d burst holes in those nets with goals
You deluded Fifa fan, Walcott is terrible as a lone striker, can’t play back to goal, no passing, no aerial threat.
His only position is right wing.
Why does he think we were all banging on about buying a decent striker in the transfer window?? Speaking the bloody obvious mr wenger….
Fighting for 4th place again. Pathetic! #4thIsATrophy
Let me say that it would indeed be a trophy, and not in metaphorical terms, if we get rid of all fans like you. Even at the expense of another 10 pathetic years of finishing fourth and subsequent soul-crushing qualification to the Champions League.
Blogger might just be out of a job mind, but hey-ho 😉
What price a Suarez or even a Draxler now?
Penalty rhymes with Koscielny, put that in a song.
First time I’ve smiled today…..nice one
Sigh!!!
Lets face it, a forth place team can’t just win a league out to of nowhere. This is the lowest point for a gooner this season. But wtf lets keep the spirit high, the team needs us. Back them up. Fa is ours. We are the ARSENAL!
The problem isn’t Oezil, the problem is the complete lack of options he has. He can hardly be expected to produce goals if both his wingers are coming in field, and Giroud is standing with his back to goal waiting for a flick, what can he do? At Real, he had Ronaldo and Di Maria, two players who are actual wingers (As opposed to converted strikers/central midfielders) who used the space effectively, and Higuain or Benzema making runs in behind. Ramsey, Walcott, Ox and arguably Gnabry are the only players who are willing to make runs in the team, and… Read more »
Has a team ever won the epl with its striker scoring less than 20 goals?
Looks like Chelsea might achieve that this season. Bunch of cunts.
No excuses wenger,
You took a gamble by not strengthening the squad and once again it has back fired on our arse-nal.
Its the fans that suffer more humiliation than the players, so enough is enough, if we don’t win a trophy this season and at least finish 4th,
you must do the honorable thing & JOG ON..
Forget the league, forget the CL, focus on the FA Cup and hope someone has the balls to knock City out for us.
Injuries to Ramsey and Walcott and the failure to buy another striker have really exposed the depth of the squad. Giroud is knackered, why wouldn’t he be he’s played pretty much most of our games in the most physically demanding league in the world. Suspect we’d better buckle in for a tough end of season.
Lot of doom on here, might be different if we win next week, but nature of the beast I suppose. What seems evident to me is that the team are running out of gas. Even if Rambo is back in a couple of weeks, no one can expect just to pick up where he left off in December. Criminal really that no one was bought in January once Theo went down. When chasing a game or resting your only proper CF, we’re relying on a free transfer from the French 2nd division…. Baffling team selection today. Why no Flamini in… Read more »
Serious lack of pace and movement in attack. Big concern for the upcoming matches. We are still in with a shout need Ramsey’s direct running though. Yes Arsene the ref was poor but we lacked the fight today.
As if we don’t know,
“IT’S A MASSIVE SET BACK”
Fucking lemon!
As disapointing as this was, there’s no argue over the penalty. Clear handball. With the resources we have, we shold’ve scored. To bad we didn’t, and it seems like the title is now gone, to much joy for all pundits named Alan, but still: We can beat City. We can beat Chelsea. If we do, we’re back on top. We still got it our hands, but as a lot of comment said on the match report, we got hurt massivly be the loss of Walcott and Ramsey.
Stoke on the 1st day in march. It had all the warning signs really. Historically we are terrible against the only rugby team in the premier league. Our season also always collapses in march. We were ill prepared for the season though. Another exercise in inexcusable management. To go a season with one recognised striker, an unproven youngster and a truly dreadful piece of dead Danish wood is not acceptable. Too lose two other players to injury and go an entire transfer window bringing in only another injured player is just madness. None of the teams around us would dream… Read more »
Mou has inherited his team and is in pole position to win the title. I don’t want to hear excuses as to why you can’t win, Wenger. You yourself have built this team from the bottom up. It doesn’t matter what their payroll is in the end. People only remember who wins. He has managed to get to first place with no productivity from his strikers all season. Tactically, you are past your due date in this game. You don’t understand how to utilize your resources. He manages to motivate deadwood like Terry and Lamps to being integral parts of… Read more »
We should not forget Arsene Wenger pledge to leave the team if he go trophless this season! Up Chelski.
The 5 stages of grief for our season have kicked in: 1. Denial – that was never a penalty, we’d have won if Charlie Adam had been sent off as he should have been, we can still do it if the other teams take enough points off each other. 2. Anger – been here before, why does nothing ever change, why didn’t we buy a striker, why do we never learn. 3. Bargaining – we can still fight for a top 4 finish again, and there’s always the FA Cup. 4. Depression – this happens every year and there’s not… Read more »
Nice one. The problem I have with our “5” is that, it’s making us delusional.
Every season, we are one player away. FFP will soon start, the EPL will get better referees. Wenger will make changes before the 70th minute.
But all these things might never happen
This is no surprise – our season slowly fragmenting now. I knew when we put in that embarrassing bid for Suarez and never aggressively pursued him, we would live to regret that. The fact of the matter is- if we had Suarez and showed some real ambition we would well clear top of the league right now. I’m not interested in the “top 4 trophy”, go all out for FA cup and restore some pride for the Arsenal.
Arsene Wenger has made the same mistakes again like he does every season, namely fails to add to a small Squad that is tiring transfer and still continues with this slow sideways passing football. When you have Ozil you need pace either side and we don’t have it. You can’t rely on a kid like Sanogo to score the goals to win you a league. I’m afraid I’ve run out of patience with him, this year was our chance and he’s bollixed it up again. He should not have a new contract in the summer and should be replaced by… Read more »
Im just about sick of this bullshit.. The usual feb march collapse. It falls in the lap of one person arsene wenger. Why didn’t he buy a striker in the transfer window?? Its ridiculous.. Im no fair weather fan whos just turned up im a silver member of at least 16 years. I go to as many games as my pay packet lets me and ive had enough. we should be doing better. wenger hasn’t got it in him to take us to the next level. hes been brilliant for us but there comes a time when a change is… Read more »
Yeah I’m a gold member who has been a fan for the last 57 years, so obviously my opinion is worth more than these Johnny come latelys.
Same old Arsenal fans! Win a match and it’s all songs of praise unlimited, but a loss leads to mortal despairs. On a serious note, I think this referee(whatever his name) was real sh*t today, the penalty aside. Why, but about 80% of decisions today went against Arsenal and in fact I was waiting for one single opportunity for him to award a penalty to Stoke and Kos give it to him. I think the team fought hard, other big teams have lost here too. The problem is still that Arsenal lacks a world class strike. Giroud cannot win us… Read more »
I’ve been an Arsenal fan for as long, as I’ve known something about football, and I’ll always be, whatever happens. I’ve always supported Wenger, but I think it’s time for a change.
We can’t keep it up like this. Our current squad has the potential, to end up at atleast second, but we keep failing it. We need to show that extra passion, and I believe that the passion, can be found by a new manager – with all respect to Mr. Wenger.
Embarrassing how horrible we are when the chips are down. In big games anyone can beat us. ANYONE. Wenger is a specialist in failure and he instills it in the players
Trying not to be negative here. Am I gutted? Yet. I just spent a 2 year allowance to buy a bein sport receiver to watch Arsenal and this is what I get… Oh well…we have the FA Cup to look forward to but I wouldn’t be too surprised if we lost. When I heard Theo was out I knew we’d have trouble scoring. Anyone know when Aaron is coming back? Would like to point out that we have improved drastically as a team this year. There is a significant difference between battling for fourth and fighting for the league title.… Read more »
I’m just sick and tired of moving from a hopful to a hopeless state. Arsenal perfectly does this to me. As far as I’m concerned,Wenger causes all these rubbish and yet he’ll command a lot of fans. How long should you keep the faith based on a past record? Your team isn’t improving and you’re making wrong decisions over 9years,still you don’t know what to do? I think we’ll need a new manager. Haw can ‘arsenal’ play a whole game against stoke and have just 2 shots on target? Even though stoke frustrated mancity,city had many shots on target. I… Read more »
Yes*
Massive setback? How ironic that a comment intended to be an overstatement, is actually an understatement.
Absolutely gutted. I feel like taking a 5 iron and smacking the shit out of every daffodil in my neighborhood.
Let’s be honest: none of this is a shock, is it? The really frustrating thing is that the reasons for our now inevitable demise have been staring us in the face since last summer. And horrible negative people like me have been slagged off for pointing them out. But, here again, are the reasons why we won’t win the league – and why we never stood a realistic chance: 1. The failure to sign a top-quality striker last summer: Wenger’s dithering over the Higuain signing, and then subsequent insulting offer to Liverpool for Suarez, was a killer for squad. Starting… Read more »
This is so similar to my opinion. Allthough I hate Mourinho, I think that we should get a tactical genius. I’d say, for example, Jürgen Klopp. He led Dortmund to the CHL-final, I mean, what an achievement.
And since Dortmund aren’t doing too well lately, that could be a reason for him to leave. And well, who doesn’t want to join the mighty Arsenal? I really admire Jürgen Klopp, and I think he would be the perfect man, to take over from Wenger, and lead us to vital trophies.
@fatcuntgooner, we do have a very good defender in Vermaelen that could easily fill in for Mert or Kos but Wenger doesn’t like rotation.
+1 for fatcuntgooner
Why do you have to use abuse.in an earlier post you you describe yourself as being a fan for at least 57 years yet you think it’s intelligent and witty to wtite fatcuntgooner. At your age mate you would think a brain would be fully developed.
The bloke is expressing an opinion. It may differ from yours.fat goner is at least consistent in his opinions.
Grow up and post soemtihng intelligent and interesting. Instead of just following the herd and acting like a complete muppet.
I thought ramis comment was sarcastic earlier?
And this is why wenger leaves podolski on the bench most of the time, the guy is a clinical finisher but thats it he doesnt really add much more to the team than the occasional finish. I think we have done well this season ,and next season if wenger spends well we can easily challenge for the champions league. if we add a striker and a winger i think we are sorted we lack a lot of pace on the wings and with wenger trying to make the ox a cam that means we only really have the young gnabry… Read more »