After watching his side cap his 65th birthday with one of the luckiest wins of his career, Arsene Wenger faced the Sky Sports cameras to discuss the last-gasp 2-1 victory over Anderlecht.
Unsurprisingly, the boss’ focus was more on his squad’s spirit and determination than praise for their technical quality over 90 minutes.
“We looked to control the game in the first half and to control their counter-attacks as well. Slowly in the second half we opened ourselves up, were less cautious defensively and got caught.
“After that the crucial point was, when we were one-nil down, that Anderlecht couldn’t take advantage of their chance to score the second goal.
“We kept going and managed to score two good goals because we had spirit and refused to lose the game. Anderlecht played well tonight and you see that this country [Belgium] produces top class players.
“It was vital [to win] for us to have a chance to qualify [from the group]. We are in a strong position now because Anderlecht and Galatasaray have only one point and we have six and Dortmund nine. It’s down to us now to win our home games and we are through.”
Asked if he was frustrated by the fact his side had to leave it to the last moment to beat opponents, who on paper should have been swatted away with ease, the boss continued:
“Frustration is part of our job. To fight until the last second [is important], we know from experience in the Champions League many goals are scored in the last five minutes. We took advantage of that tonight. We would like to have everybody available, but it’s not always the case.
“When you have the ball, the ball, the ball, the ball and you don’t score and you lose the game, sometimes the confidence drops. It was important for us tonight, after the disappointing result on Saturday [against Hull] to win tonight.
“It’s in our hands [to win the group]. Dortmund will be a tough opponent but you never know. Next they play Galatasaray at home, we play Anderlecht at home. Let’s first qualify then we’ll see how far we can go.”
Damn those were a lot of typos! 😛
88 minutes, one nil down. Full time – 2:1. meticulously planned surprise gift for Wenger’s birthday obviously.
hopefully having walcott back will give us a boost.
Since we’re gonna rant against Wenger anyway, I much prefer to rant with 3 points than 0.
Exactly !!! The purpose is to WIN the game – which we did.
Sadly as @arseblog regularly points out, fans still love to complain even when we win.
Dude, just as many fans have gone through some utterly humiliating results while rationalising that the manager is still the man for the job, it is equally fair to question his credentials when we play well under potential through the first two months of a season.
We got away with murder tonight lads… But I’ll take it!
“We are in a strong position now because Dortmund and Galatasaray have only one point and we have six, Dortmund nine.” Blogs. The first Dortmund is to be replaced by Anderlecht
Technically it’s in our ‘hands’ to win the group, but I doubt we will beat Dortmund by more than 2 goals, that is if we even beat them.
Are you kidding? We’ll moiderize them!
have faith.
As ecstatic as I was about the win… I can’t overlook the glaring deficiencies of the side. I feel like I’m at the point where I need to accept that we’re not an elite team anymore. While it looks like we have the players to be, the performances say otherwise, and that falls to the manager. Alexis puts in such a great shift it highlights the shortcomings of the other players. Happy pod scored and we got a crucial win, but we need to do better. #AHA
“not an elite team anymore”? you’re just realizing this?
“When you have the ball, the ball, the ball, the ball and you don’t score”
It’s like chatting up a woman Arsene. Some lads always seem to score because they know when to make the move. Sometimes they rock up out of nowhere and score. Other lads spend all evening chatting a girl up but because they don’t know how and when to pull the trigger, they end up empty-handed. Being someone who falls miserably into the latter category, watching Arsenal play these days is causing me too much emotional pain.
When you have the ball, the ball, the ball, the ball and you are shit, shit, shit, shit….
I think we should qualify now. If we had of lost this game, i would not be so confident. But our games at home now, will be key to qualification, and if we get through, we should have our better players back, i just cannot wait until we have Walcott, Özil, Sanchez, and one of our strikers, all playing together in great form, smashing goals in.
Victory was vital and your exit may even be more vital for the future of the club.
Great comeback but for how much longer can we put up with such inept display bar Alexis and a manager who has sworn never to substitute until 75 minutes.
Don’t get me wrong, I appreciate what Arsene has done for this club but where I come from, there is a saying that “When water stays too long in the mouth, it turns to saliva.
I think Arsene should move on after this season in all fairness.
If you think the timing of substitutes is to blame for our form so far then you don’t know football.
If you think his frustration is borne entirely from the timing of substitutions then you don’t know arsenal…
to hell with his frustration…maybe he should grow up and not have his life’s psychology be determined by football results…. in other words….he should get a life.
Phew…how bad are we at times im just glad we weren’t playing a better team we could have been humiliated.. But fuck 3 points is 3 points
Defenders…. Defenders are vital.
Oh nevermind, happy birthday anyway Arsene and lets all laugh at Lolerpool
We really struggled after their goal because we took off flamini and there was just a gaping hole in front of the defence. We should have been ahead because before their goal we had all the chances. Typical arsenal. Was pleasing we didnt give up. Interesting that we scored both goals after changing to 2 upfront. Really poor from chambers for the goal he ignores the player he should be marking and puts a half arsed challenge on an already marked player. Sagna would have prevented the goal. He is struggling a little bit after such a bright start but… Read more »
Were shit, wenger out, god dam were boring
you were bored?!! I personally was fucking terrified and frustrated in turns, but bored? fuck me
Smash and grab. Happy birthday le professuer of late wins and heart attacks.
I’m not saying we played well. I’m also not saying the team has zero room for improvement. However, there is something to be said for a team that refuses to lose (Chelsea game the exception). The fact that this team fights so hard to rescue points late is a good trait to have in a team. Once this team straightens itself out and becomes more solid, and it will, then that fight and mental strength may very well be the difference between trophies and being left wanting.
If I’m correct Arseblog once wrote “imagine a central defense with monreal and chambers” playing against big teams. This was after summer window closed and Wenger did not buy anybody.
We all saw this coming, we hoped and prayed against it.
How financially poor is Arsenal please?
Anderlecht’s CB mbemba should be someone wenger tries to sign if Hummel’s don’t work out he’s strong and fast
And he helped us score the winner. A true gooner.
Aw fuck it, we’re going to be more or less a shambles until the injuries abate, so stop complaining about us not deserving it.
We don’t deserve to have all these injuries either.
More of that please!
Well, if the manager keeps playing players who say they’re injured, then yes, we do deserve them. Koscielny, Ozil and Ospina are good examples.
Honestly! A top team should at least be solid and not. It makes you think the Vieira side was just a fluke !
Get a defence and centre mid – that’s what we did before and what we need now. That’s all Mourinho is doing !
We were crap tonight and so far this season – we look lost …
EverEsco21, I agree with you that we are no longer an Elite team. I accepted that fact yesterday after watching Bayen’s display. We are just not at that level. We are not elite, we are at the next level down but even that is not a guarantee these days
yeah like we were european haevy weights with a trophy cabinet full of european cups and champions lg trophies.
in the real world there weretimes when we were the best in uk and there times we were not.
Well that was jammy as fuck
Suitable birthday present I suppose for the guv’nor
#thankgodheplayedpoldifinallycozheatleastcanfindthenet
That wasn’t winning ugly…it was ugly winning… Horrible to watch
After a draw that felt like a loss, we come back with a win that felt like a loss.
Now for a change, how about a few wins that feel like wins?
We can also have a loss that feels like a win. How? If we lose a crucial game, finish second, then end up with Olympiacos who top their group against all odds.
I was looking forward to the game all day at work, but the game itself was so boring it had me dozing off at times. It got so bad that when neither team had tested the keeper even once after 40 minutes, I actually switched channels and watched the Liverpool – Real Madrid game for abit just to stay awake.
been wandering why such luck (in the last minutes) don’t happen in games that really matter
Podolski has to be nearing some kind of minutes/goals scored record.
Losing like this on AWs Bday was such a depressing feeling. I think I replayed our 2 goals 50 times to believe it.
Gibbsy was a winner in both goals. Well done. Haha the shock on his face when he scored :))
Chambers cross was brilliant. Alexis is made of stars. Poldis goal was priceless for me. Happy we won, can talk about the negatives later 🙂 Happy Birthday, may luck be on our side all year long.
I can atleast sleep properly tonight, Arsenal always take me to breaking point lol
*all season long!!
Well, we were lucky as fuck. We’d have lost by 6 or 7 had we played against a better team. Anyway, we got the three points and the win should give the whole team much needed confidence ahead of the next run of matches.
Happy birthday, Arséne!
So painful and difficult to watch Arsenal games these days!
Did he really say ‘the ball’ four times or just emphasising the point?
So Arsene I see you are out tonight for your birthday. A: yes I go out tonight for my birthday Why are you wearing 2 shoes on one foot and none on the other? A: Well I have 1 from my favourite pair but the left one is being mended.So I wear this other shoe as well on the right. My right sock has a hole but I have these 2 left one’s. I wear them both on my left. I had another right sock but I lent it to a friend. I will make this shoe in to a… Read more »
What hurts me most is the fact that Wenger had the nerve to talk up the quality of the opposition. Anderlect are and were awful and we struggled to beat them. How naive does Wenger think we all are? We have gone backwards as a club. We will not win a major honour again (champions league or league) with him at the helm. The thought of three more years of mediocrity is painful to say the least. We as Arsenal fans have been so patient these past 10 years only to be kicked time and time again in the crotch.… Read more »
I don’t know if it bodes well for us in the future but we do seem to be developing a penchant for late game dramatics. We have pulled a number of very late comebacks to gain draws or victories and that tends to happen with great teams. I know we are not playing anything like a great team right now, but maybe, just maybe in the near future we will put all 90 minutes together not just the last few minutes. I just believe with the talent we have, the future is bright for us. I may be a dreamer… Read more »
I’m with you in that I’m glad the team really does not want to leave empty handed. It just makes you wonder what happens the other 85 minutes of the game… It certainly doesn’t help that teams play us like they do Barca, they sit, wait, and frustrate. Gone are the days where you could pass the ball until the 80th minute then the opposition capitulates from fatigue. Any team in the CL is conditioned well enough to last 90 minutes and has the squad rotation in those positions that they can do it in the league as well, or… Read more »
gotta leave to work on the 86 minutes. thought we gonna lose anyway. so leave to work with that grumpy face. didn’t check the score until 3 hours later. almost bursting all of my lunch when I checked livescore while chewing them. great work lads!
Happy birthday professor, glad he can enjoy his birthday. Keep the faith.
When most teams score an equaliser against lower opposition, they grab the ball right back and put it into the play. Sadly never arsenal. That’s bad mentality. We ran off jubilating as though we had won the cup.
thankk goodness we eventually won the game.
poldi can upload 1000 pix on insta tonight and I’ll like everyone of them.
Happy for Poldy. What’s there not to like of someone who isn’t afraid to shoot and is actually good at it?
You just can’t buy this: 90 mins agony. No hope. And relief! Only by loving Arsenal can you experience this. LOVE, LOVE, LOVE 🙂
Not saying Wenger is a genius by any means. Far from it as he is yet get maximum efficiency from the team and has not been using assets particularly well. However anyone who thinks we are better off with say klopp should think a bit harder. Granted they are ahead of us in the races in CL, they lie 14th in the Bundesliga for some perspective. Goes back to those asinine pundits who were going on about that genius Brendan Rodgers. “No Brainer’ Balotelli over Welbeck according to their informed opinion. Rodgers paid the same a mount of money for… Read more »
Wenger : ““Podolski we know can always score you a goal”
So why don’t you give him more playing time? It just might turn some draws into wins
I wouldn’t want brendan rogers for a second however until we have radical change in the club, tactics, formation, recruitment, maybe even management we will never be any more than a top 6, top 4 if we are lucky club with maybe the occasional cup.
wish we can play the champions league group stage every week…