Mikel Areta has pulled no punches about the way Arsenal let slip a 3-0 lead against Anderlecht tonight.
The skipper, who had opened the scoring from the penalty spot, left the field with what looked like a hamstring strain in the second half, just after their offside goal,
“We cannot afford to make the mistakes and concede three goals after going 3-0 up,” he said. It’s not good enough. We’re very disappointed and we missed a great opportunity to finish the job properly.
“We’ve thrown everything away today. We have another two chances still, but you can’t miss your chances in the Champions League, because every team has qualities and you can see what happened today.
The Spaniard also refused to lay any blame on the officials for not spotting Anthony vanden Borre was offside as he poked home the first Anderlecht goal.
“Even with the first goal, you have a two-goal lead at home and we know what we’re playing for. It was a massive day for us to finalise the group stages, and we need to analyse the mistakes and what happened in the second half, because it’s not at the level required at this club.”
Strong words indeed, but the players and the manager need to sort this out before a trip to Swansea on Sunday, because three points are required there to prevent a dismal slide into another Interlull.
Him going off injured was the beginning of bad things. Very bad things.
Completely agree. And it wasn’t Flamini’s fault either.
Maybe he didn’t make a specific mistake that led to a goal, but the 2nd half defensive display by the entire team is absolutely unacceptable. Flamini included
Anyway good to see he hasn’t tried to sugarcoat it. He’s right, we threw everything away. The biggest problem I see (that can’t be fixed by transfers) is that the mentality of our players is bad. It’s been the case way too often in recent times (even last season) that just one bad call, one bad mistake, one opposition goal or something else completely derails the mentality of our players on the pitch. Wenger has been a manager for around 30 years now, he should be dealing with this, and quite frankly so should our senior players. It’s very frustrating… Read more »
Took the words right out of my mouth and stole my thunder… Didn’t see your comment would have saved me a long ass rant but I couldn’t agree more
Sorry mate, please dont tell me the players need a coach to see out a game they are winning 3-0 at minute 65. At home. The Arsenal. Lets be fair, the players threw it away and the manager cant be blamed for tonight. Besides, you’d expect that if someone has to shout at them, then thats Bould, not Wenger. The manager is right to question defence. Lost at sea. For no reason.
The players were shit in the last thirty minutes. The manager, however, can shout instructions from the sideline.
Like “Concentrate!”, “Show some passion!” or “Stop playing like confused squirrels”.
Wenger didn’t do a thing until 3-2 and twenty minutes of horrible defensive play had passed by.
I blame a manager unabel to motivate his players as much as I blame the players who took the victory for granted at 3-0.
A paddelin’ for them all!
They are professionals. Not teenagers.
They didn’t act like professionals.
Yes some players need a coach to tell them because they were naturally wimps when brought to the club, do you think Morinho will make those silly substitutions? At even 2-0 Morinho would have shut up shop because he brought in the requisite players for different roles, not our dumb manager playing Flaminin and Monreal and Carzola all headless chicken wimps.
Mentality. That is the difference between a Winner and a Looser. Over the years as Wenger gets older so is our hunger for winning. All I hear is we’ll bounce back in the next game. We are just loosing it gradually.
Thank god we have the world cup winning big fucken German to lead and organise defence as well as the rest of players in Arteta’s absence
Sky’s “pundits” were decrying Arteta’s capacity to play DM before the game, yet when he came off we fell to pieces organisationally. His legs might be going but we look so much more solid when he plays. We need to find an athletic and tough apprentice for him in January.
I’m so fucking angry right now.
We lost our concentration because we thought we had won it… We need to be more ruthless. Teams always catch us by surprise when we turn down the heat…
Another injury . What is going on .
No one gets injured as much as we do .
It’s crazy
That was terrible what happened tonight . Time to go arsene
All the players will come out with similar banal comments and yet the same thing will happen again and again. Mental strength my hole.
Pathetic.
I expect more papering over the cracks in the form of easy prem wins to keep the most loyal fans in football happy.
I feel mighty sorry for Alexis and just hope he doesn’t see sense and leave for citeh or chelski.
Wenger must move upstairs and finally let someone new breathe life and fight into us.
“Papering over the cracks”
DRINK!
This is what happens when you don’t sign a cb and a proper cdm. 4th place trophy again this season.
Anderlecht had a 17 year old as a dm…what excuse do we have.
That 17 year old bossed the second half. We’re just not at the races..
Tielemans was good, but honestly, that’s more because we fucked up than because he’s a brilliant player. Obviously got talent to be 17 and playing UCL, but we pretty much let him walk all over us.
Shocking. I am gutted and disgusted by those 30 minutes. I only blame Wenger for not signing another cb, but apart from that , what could the guy do when his side can’t defend a 3-0 lead, 30 mins to go at home? Even my Sunday leauge side will be able to do that. Yes the referee gave two bullshit decisions against us, especially the retarded first goal, but at the end of the day your still 3-1 up, 5 mins to go including extra time and yet you cannot defend. I was at the game. It hurt me so… Read more »
Chasing more goals rather than preserving what we had is what fucked us up.
Also, I honestly thought after the Newcastle debacle from a few years ago, this kind of shit was behind us. It clearly isn’t.
Thank God the next match is away. Our players would otherwise be ultra nervous on the pitch with our home fans giving them some shit.
The problem is we were not chasing more goals. This team switched off like they usually do when they are winning. Big teams always try to score more and do when they can. Dortmund beat Anderlecht in Belgium 4-0 and did the same with Galatasaray in Turkey. We do not do that and at the same time we can’t defend a 3-0 lead. Its ridiculous. This group of players is terrible in regards to mentality. They easily get complacent and do not learn from their mistakes. Wenger is also responsible for not being vocal enough. Now I know that he… Read more »
I think Arteta is underrated to an extent. I also happen to like Flamini as a character. But for a club aspiring for titles, neither of those players should be a first choice central midfielder tasked with defensive duties. Flamini has gone from a convenient freebie to a full blown liability. His ponderance on the ball is becoming farcical and incredibly costly in terms do inviting pressure on to us. Combined with Ramsey’s decent into Ramsey of 2012, this basically means our midfield gets bossed against any team with a bit of dynamism in the middle of the park. As… Read more »
From arsenal.com on whether they were too open in the last 30 minutes… We dropped off too much and didn’t go into the challenges any more. Then you’re always open. We stopped winning the challenges and we dropped off and off and off. We were always open and we didn’t stop the crosses, we didn’t stop the long balls and I don’t especially think we were outnumbered. In the first half it happened, in the second half it was bad defending more than being outnumbered. You’re the manager. Fucking manage your players. Get up off your arse and give them… Read more »
Honestly Wenger has to go, at this point he is just a name. Can you imagine mourinho or pellagrini letting a home tie go when your three nil up in the last half an hour against anybody nevermind lowly Anderlect. His tactics are outdated and he refuses to change, dont moan on the sidelines Wenger, scream at your players and let them know who they are playing for. I am sick of the scrap for fourth and going out against the big boys straight after the group stages. We have to have a change, if this was only something recent… Read more »
Well said, el capitain! Your leaving the field was the passage to the catastrophe! wished you stayed on. God please, let the Injury gods leave us alone FFS!
Nothing will change with Wenger in charge. Every season we give him another chance …
Arteta was very good today, tidy with the ball, cleaning up well and defensively alert and well positioned. The moment he came off it seemed we completely lost all structure
I don’t think Aaron Ramsey knows where hes suppoze to play, hes just everywhere like a headless chicken, sprinting from one corner flag to the other for no apparent reason, and then there is Flamini his passing is poor, hes tackles are reckless …you wonder if hes blind or what
I’ve been hitting “Refresh” since the last 30mins in the hope of seeing Arsene’s post match comments… Buh since he aint balls enough to come out and speak yet… Or maybe Arseblog News hasnt put the stuff out yet, I guess I just have to say this now and on this article… . Do y’all really think if that Ander Coach who stood on the touch-line throughout the game, under the chilly rain, urging his team onto a huge European comeback (While our coach warmed his legs in the dug-out), would’ve blown this lead up if he had our team… Read more »
I like to think one day everything will be ok
I am really fucking sick and tired of people saying “oh no we should have signed a DM and a CB that’s why we’re playing like shit” etc For fucks sake we know that we didn’t sign the necessary players that we needed so shut up about it. There is nothing that can be done with something that we don’t have or don’t have access too at the moment. The problem is that what we have isn’t actually that bad it’s just that it’s not working together for shit… How can you be free flowing 3-0 playing with confidence looking… Read more »
The captain keeps the players together.
Wenger can’t have his cake and eat it. If he wants to give complete freedom to his players on the pitch, then he needs to play experienced players who will take responsibility. If he insists on playing kids, then what does he expect? The scary thing is that as these young players progress through their career here, they show no signs of taking on that responsibility because it’s been ingrained into them that it’s acceptable not to. The year Arteta / Mertesacker arrived it was a miracle that we got 4th, but imo it was down to the fact that… Read more »
I feel for the Arsenal fans @ Emirates today. We still remain a mediocre team who has the cylinders but no gas!
I was at the emirates tonight. I don’t need any sympathy though. I am puzzled as to what game some of you were watching. Arsenal are not a mediocre team. They are an excellent football team. Tonight, simply put, Arteta on the pitch..Arsenal are organised and confident. They are guided. Arteta gets injured and we loose all that we possessed as a team in abundance for the first 60 minutes. Even Alexis wasn’t the same in the second half. He was subdued…almost as if the rain got to him. It was a good game of football to watch. Very entertaining,… Read more »
Well said!
Keep on making excuses…chelsea or city would never lose a 3 goal cushion to the likes of anderlecht.
What happened tonight is extremely worrisome. The problem is not arsene Wenger but the players. They threw caution to the wind and had to bear the consequences. In fact, the whole team needs to be restructured lest more doom are imminent. What a sad night for the fans.
I have a question
Why doesn’t Wenger ever get out of his fucking seat and give the guys some instruction? why?!
Can’t believe we threw away a 3-0 lead! Ramsey needs to get his act together. He should be fucking dropped to the bench now. Should have stuck with the Arteta-Flamini pivot. Chamberlain and Ramsey get cocky, always trying to be on the score sheet. I feel so bad for Alexis. The game only goes on to show how valuable Koscielny is to our defense. He does the job of two CB’s, covers up for Per and any lapses from our midfield. Mertesacker seriously is a liability. He is very indecisive when he has the ball. Doesn’t launch the ball forward… Read more »
Cygan and Senderos could see this match out. Stepanovs and Luzhny too. Mertesacker and Monreal should be ashamed of themselves tonight.
Arteta was excellent tonight until he went off amd these comments are just. He led by example this evening, was astute on the ball and worked hard to close down and win the ball back.
I am glad he is rising to the captains occasion, because he was the leader on the pitch tonight.
HOW MANY TIMES HAS HE SAID THIS?!
And to think that at 3-0 I was hopping for another clean sheet , makes me sad 🙁
As club captain I hope he looked everyone in the eyes tonight and told them how much of a loser they were on the pitch. Except for Sanchez.
Loser, loser, loser, loser, loser, oh… Sanchez. Not a loser.
I know most people love the BFG but he’s a frigging liability at times.
Ox and Chambers played well, as did Alexis of course. But Cazorla and Ramsey had their usual nightmares.
The boss with his useless 80minute subs did his part to fuck us up too.
Ramsey was blowing out of his arse with 30mins to go….he’s not fit….but Wenger keeps him on.
Chambers completely isolated and taken to the cleaners in the 2nd half.
Wenger completely outclassed by the Anderlecht manager…..one manager was proactive and decisive the other looked a dithering old fart.
Wenger out.
Thanks Alexis the Sanchez, but even you, cannot play for 10 other players.
same story, different season.
Arteta is clearly the glue that binds. When he goes off, all hell breaks loose. Ramsey had a poor game. he is yet to find balance in the middle. Any pressure on our back 4 exposes their unfamiliarity and inexperience. Again, two goals from wide area which suggest we have yet to fix the issue since pre-season conceding from crosses, corners and set pieces. This is not an issue of the DM even if Flamini will be the lightning rod on this one. Very poor resolve on our part. I can understand leaking a goal but we could not pull… Read more »
Whenever we have one of these type of performances I pray that it will push Wenger into some action to make changes (in the next market, tactically, player selections, etc), but he never does so don’t expect any changes this time. We are up 3 goals at home, then 2 then 1 and we are still looking to bomb forward as if we are behind. If we can keep the ball and move it around and kill out the clock that is one thing, but we have been turning the ball over so often this year (esp Ramsey and Flamini)… Read more »
Normally I try to be positive in the face of poor results, but tonight’s was such a collective failure from top to bottom that I’m struggling. A failure on Wenger’s part to change a situation when things aren’t going well and a failure from our players to display some steel and hold steady in the face of a setback. Our worst capitulation from a position of strength since throwing away a 4-0 lead at Newcastle a few years back. One thing I’m becoming especially annoyed at is how after every bad result our players come out and say a variation… Read more »
fuck all you useless cunts calling for the manager’s head when you should be calling for mertesacker’s and monreal’s. what the fuck per…how many headers is he gonna lose?
We have a poor captain this year. Wenger Out!
Arteta missed a golden oppurtunity to say “I’m getting to old for this shit”.
Anyways we need to hire a shrink. Cause the mentality of this team needs fixing.
Im not even surprised anymore. This has happened too many times. Something if fundamentally wrong. How can you lose a f………….. 3-0 advantage i less than 30 min of play?