Arsene Wenger that squad solidarity helped them over the finish line at West Bromwich Albion, as Arsenal saw off a late rally from the home side to keep a vital clean sheet.
Speaking to BT Sport after the game the boss felt his side had played well even though they’d squandered a host of chances to put the game beyond doubt.
“I think we played well, but we couldn’t take our chances. Sometimes because of the final ball, sometimes because of the finishing. Given we’d given a lot on Wednesday night [against Dortmund], we finished the game more with solidarity because the legs were a bit jaded. But we kept it together.
“We were 1-0 up at Swansea and lost in the last ten minutes and you think it might happen again. We had maybe a little bit luck on that occasion [when WBA hit the bar] but as well we were focused to defend together.
“In glimpses it worked very well,” he added of his new attacking trio, Danny Welbeck, Olivier Giroud and Alexis Sanchez. “What we want is to score the goals when you have so many strikers on the pitch. The desire to play together is there, the attitude is very good and the rest will come.”
On a day when a banner was waved by a couple of travelling supporters calling for his departute, Wenger refused to be drawn into a chat about the criticism.
“I don’t want to comment on that,” he told BT’s Ray Stubbs.
“I try to do my best for this club that I love. We are very united with the players and the staff around the team and that’s all you can do.”
In light of Nacho Monreal’s first half injury – the Spaniard appeared to pick up a knock to his knee – and the treatment required by substitutes Kieran Gibbs and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Wenger was asked for his take on the injury crisis which has afflicted London Colney this season.
“It’s the second time this has happened in a post-World Cup year,” he continued.
“Sometimes you can have that. It happened to me once in my life and unfortunately and we’re experiencing that again this season. What can you do about that? That’s the game; we have to deal with it. It’s easier to deal with the upwards than the downwards but you can’t be a manager and only have one side.”
#WengerIn
You were demanding him out 6 days ago. Fickle.
WengerIn or WengerOut, both parties have valid points. But considering that the manager is already ‘in’ I take it this is a dig at the WengerOut crowd which means you’re just taking the piss.
We won, but Arsene looks very worried in that photo, can we have a smiley Arsene?
It’s high time Arsene left
Yep, he can’t be hanging around the Hawthorns all night, West Brom isn’t the greatest of places during the day but I wouldn’t want to be stuck waiting in the bus station until late at night.
Great win guys
I’m just happy all the normal, smart people are l in the majority and not with those bell shaped women’s areas at the ground tiday.
Great support there guys, give the media exactly what they want (and fat-theignorant-gooner)
Usually all our travelling fans are excellent but I guess a couple of fuckwits had a day out this time…
And out of all the top class replacements we have lining up for the job, who would you pick? With that mentality you should go hang out with Daniel Levy and that lot down the road…
I’d choose someone with passion like Jurgen Klopp instead of an old man who refuses to change with the times (like old fat rednose did and was successful I might add). He hasn’t beaten Manure in 15 effin’ games between themselves, doesn’t seem able to beat Cuntinho even if he played against a pub league club and all he can show for 10 years of management are 2 FA cups. It seems a bit unambitious for a club like Arsenal if you ask me. And we need someone that can do something about those f*****g training sessions, especially when you… Read more »
Assuming you already complain about injuries, do you know how demanding Klopp’s style of play is? He’s a great manager, but take that into account, and, he won’t leave mid season.
Isn’t it interesting the WengerOut crown always puts EVERYTHING in a 10 year context when we ALL know we built a stadium while managing finances responsibly for almost all of that timeframe?
How convenient to be able to dispense with reality.
Well, ‘8 years of maintaning a minimum required for our financial plans whilst looking like we might be capable of more, followed by 2 years of building a team capable of challenging whilst in the shadow of many clubs who can dwarf even our newly burgeoning finances’ simply isn’t as catchy as ’10 years of failure’
Numbskull
Love the man. LOVE the philosophy.
Exactly! Perfectly said.
Poor Monreal. Hope its mainly precautionary. No doubt Wenger Out Brigade will castigate Wenger for not buying enough players when in reality we are just short on a Cback. They’d probably say he is allergic to spending and why he could not buy someone like Alexis followed about some droll about Wenger being clueless in defense tactics, his early success bc he inherited the old Grham back 4 (Ignoring who Sol Campbell and Kolo Toure are to the invincibles) Plenty to play for this season. No doubt Chelsea are running away with it and City threaten to open the gap… Read more »
What makes them think history repeats itself? Because it has already repeated…not 1…not 2…not 3…not 4…not 5…wait how many more numbers do I have to count? Defeatist? I think employing Wenger as manager is defeatist…neither here nor there…that’s why I’m behind my team… Arsenal are a top club…we challenge for the title every season…we are not those shit clubs who are happy to win FA cups as our legacy…but this stopped happening… we were not close at all when it comes down to the title race on match day 35/36/37/38…not for a very long time… top clubs come back in… Read more »
Where were we before Wenger came?
Enough said.
Forget history before Arsene Wenger. Is not like we’ve been around for a hundred years is it and never won titles without Mr Wenger. Fickle fans were the ones calling for Wenger’s head a week ago and suddenly change their tune after two wins. Myopic attitude.
‘Forget History’ how convenient. Ok, forget the eight years prior to last season when we were building a stadium and servicing the debt. Can you forget That history?
Even more fickle is enjoying being top of the league so long last season and enjoying winning the FA cup and then whining now.
And if you didn’t enjoy either of those, why are you even bothering with the game at all?
“Where were we before Wenger came?”
10 League Titles
7 FA Cups
2 European Trophies
2 League Cups
Pretty much the third most successful Club in English Football.
Which is just about what we are now. Although a few more trophy winning seasons for Chelsea and in particular any more CL titles, might see that brought into question.
Do you really know so little about the Club you ‘support’ ?
All that across how many years? You must remember the level we were at before AW. Win a cup or the league one year, have a couple of competitive years then mid-table for a year or two. AW has brought amazing consistency at a time when most clubs would be happy just to stay in the top league. We’ve moved past the stadium building/moving/paying issue in the last 2 years and now we do need to kick-on. But by over achieving in the last 5+ years this isn’t an easy leap. If AW doesn’t feel he’s put us back at… Read more »
Only short on CB? Of course. Who gives a shit about the likes of Lars or Sven Bender or Khedira? We’ve got Arteta and Flamini, two world beating internationals. Who cares about the likes of Higuain or Cavani? We’ve got Welbeck and Giroud.
Khedira is not a DM, by the way.
#WengerIn if he changes his ways, starts buying the players we need, improves performances against the bigger clubs. And improves his tactics and philosophy. 11 defeats in 15 against united, never beaten Mourinho, 8-2 6-0 6-3 5-1 3-0 defeats etc is ridiculously not good enough. 3-0 and 4-0 up to end up drawing games is not good enough. Change all this, and the WengerOuts will become WengerIns, until then, The #WengerIns should bury their heads in shame, just like we do when we are getting thumped by “the bigger clubs” i hope we keep improving, i hope Wenger buys a… Read more »
So, changes everything? Unless there are only little tweaks to the philosophy to be made, then there’s really no point in keeping Wenger at all.
The only real problem imo is the shoddy approach to recruitment over the last few windows and the big psychological weakpoint running through the team, one of those is easily solved but the other one is something Wenger has been working on for 8 years with very little progress.
So you’re making the big fat assumption that it can’t get worse.
Without his philosophy, and the pliable approach to tactics then there really isn’t much point in keeping Wenger.
I don’t think those are the problems with the team, so I’m happy for him to stay if he can solve our psychological weakpoint…I’m just less optimistic that Wenger can do that than I ever have been.
WengerIns vs WengerOuts. There is only one way to settle this and that’s a good auld Harry Hill FIIIIIGHT!
For the second time in a row our defense was better. Hoping this to continue. This is a good win again and Cazrola played well but he should work on finishing. He had 3 very good chances which any good player will score. Next I really don’t know when was the last time this team tucked in a goal with set pieces and corners and high time they develop good strategy to play these as so many chances are being wasted. Last thing is Alexis should play in the hole or as a second striker and not on the wings.
We scored from a corner against burnley.
Sorry but the defence was not that great today and we were lucky to get away with a win.
A clean sheet is a perfect defensive game.
We get it. You hate Wenger.
Wenger’s words, not mine.
‘Maybe a little bit fortunate as we didn’t take our chances’ is a long way from ‘our defence was bad and we were lucky’
I said it was not that great, meaning it can improve. There were a few mistakes at the back which could have been avoided. So we are not there yet. Good to get the win though
Lucky because of the crossbar, not because of the entire defensive performance. Context.
The abuse this man is getting is unbelievable, even when we’re winning his qualities still being questioned. Hope he stays as long as possible #OnlyOneArseneWenger
There’s a thing called track record mate. His record against the big teams since the stadium move leaves alot to be desired and it’s those games that win you the league. And I think that’s where the frustrations of most fans come from. A win against West Brom, with all due respect is expected so you can’t expect people’s opinions to just sway after this match.
Ehmm not so fast… expecting to beat rivals who are equal or better than you is not very wise. Games like that are 50-50..can go either way. United had terrible record against top4 opponents but would win the league securing victories in the ‘easy on paper’ games.
As for your ‘opinion’…weve heard it now, we know what you want. Time for the sane majority to ignore the insane minority. You lot are nothing but poison and cancer to our football club. Get lost.
Well, we actually had a fair few seasons where our record aginst the big teams was a lot better than against the smaller team…funnily enough I remember the popular sentiment being that winning the small games is what wins you the league back then. either the league has changed a lot or the same people talking bollocks back then are the same people talking bollocks now and you need a balance between winning both the games to win a title rather than one or the other. No doubt that we need to improve against the big teams but the implication… Read more »
Stop pretending you think for most fans.
If we cant get him sacked, all we have to do is BACK HIM period
Why don’t the idiots understand that. It’s simple but correct. He’s going nowhere and holding banners doesn’t make one iota of difference. The board won’t sack him if 5 thousand hold up banners (as they know 50 thousand don’t want him out) so why do it? All it does is effect the players and the view of the club from outside.
Very unsupportive.
We now have a good shape. ..glad they are working
It’s fucking disgraceful the way Wenger is being treated.
Feel a bit bad for Monreal getting a knock. Hope its just precautionary. Some fans are dragging us down to the likes of Newcastle or West Ham. Not good enough. Wenger beats the man they want appointed as his successor whose team is lying 16th in Bundesliga. Not good enough. Wenger never does rotation they say but when he leaves Ox on the bench for Santi (who has had 3 assists now over last 2 games), they say he’s mad. Not good enough. Wenger never changes tactics but when he opts to add an extra body around Giroud in Welbeck,… Read more »
Some people won’t know what they have til its gone
…until then they’ll think they know better
Fans changing on the whole #WengerIn and #WengerOut thing each week annoys me. The fact of the matter is that under Wenger over the past year or two (and longer) the club have not been able to beat our big rivals when the capability is definitely within the team. Look at our Stadium, our squad, and the 60,000 loyal fans in that stadium every week – We are not a fourth place club. There isnt a strong enough winning mentality running through the team/squad. Our best players will move on to ‘Winning’ Clubs over the next year or two unless… Read more »
Yes, look at our stadium. Our squad. 60,000 capacity every week.
All built without Glazer debts, oil money, and financed on the book balancing that included sales of those players. Creditable practice. Wenger. You don’t have to like it. Wenger didn’t. That’s what had to happen. Not your choice.
And now, that is not necessary. Thus Ozil, Alexis, more to come.
Those idiots moving on is the past. Arsenal as a selling club is the past.
No supporter and nobody at the club likes where we are.
Bravo Wenger! Time to prove the doubters wrong.
I want change….but waving banners about, is classless shit.
Well said, we are above that sort of classless nonsense that might be OK for shit like Chelsea and City but we are The Arsenal.
Wenger forever.
That’s pushing it a bit far. But certainly he’ll be with us until the end of his contract, guaranteed!
Not so damn but hoping for the best and wake him up when January comes. I think he understands the levity of this painful runs and he’s up to everything as a manager for this edition’s squad.
“That’s the game; we have to deal with it. It’s easier to deal with the upwards than the downwards but you can’t be a manager and only have one side.”
Yea lets all ask for Arsenes head. The greatest manager weve ever had.tsk tsk.
Wenger out!
He is living on past glories and not up to the modern game – been flunking it since 2005
Just hate that you named yourself Klop. We were never 16th in our league at the end of November. I want Wenger to change things around or go but just hate the Klop, Klop, Klop, I love that guy stuff even the day we played against them. You guys hate any of our players who exchange shirts with a former teammate at halftime but the coach of the team we are playing, I love Klop blah blah blah.
I have splinters on my arse from the whole Wenger in or out ‘issue’ but it’s funny that after a couple of wins from a great side whose form is down the toilet and , erm West fucking Brom, Wenger is a managerial god again to some. I just want to see some progress and obvious issues addressed. An FA cup by the very skin of our teeth isn’t progress although it was a nice day out once we finally made the result safe. Progress is a sustained title challenge (Chelsea absolutely running away with it) and not the customary… Read more »
Since 2004 3 teams have won the prem and and utd and chelsea have won the champs league a few times in between and cannot remember the who has won the domestic cups cause its all about the big 2. in that time we have fluctuated between 4 positions at the top.
Who do the fans that want wenger out think could have done better in that time, just curious to know
Well if you’re going back to then, managers available like Guardiola, Klop, Pellegrini, Anchelotti, Mourinho, Simione loads of managers available since then and even now, any big manager out there would love to manage a club like Arsenal, who says they even need to be a great manager? Wenger wasnt that well known when he came to Arsenal, he didnt have much to brag about? People are afraid of change, change is good, especially when the team and club has been under performing for near a decade domestically, and in Europe we are there just, People want Wenger to stay… Read more »
Available? You’re having a larf ain’t ya?
arsenalman29, you are just grating on my nerves now. If you have nothing new to say….shut it… AND BTW, how long have you been a gooner, exactly. would love to know… I’m thinking 10 years MAX.
Why am i getting on your nerves? For having an opinion? Ive been a fan for 19 years, would 10 years make me less of a fan? Woukd 1year? A fan is a fan, im no more or no less a fan of Arsenal than you, if i want what is best for the club. And as for you saying im having a larf, the managers i mentioned were available in those years. And even if a manager is at another club, they can still be attracted to Arsenal, they can still make the move, just like players. They also… Read more »
If you’ve been with us for 19 years then you should have a better perspective, that’s why he’s asking. Most of the new boys have only been with us since AW made us a consistent top team and they don’t remember the yo-yo’ing of the years before. Amazing highs and lows consistently lower than now. Although the disappointment feels as bad now, the feeling of finishing mid-table (especially when the spuds are higher) is a truly unbearable pain….. I expect AW to see out his contract so I don’t get that feeling again for a few years.
You are crazy. Ancelotti?
Board : ‘Hey carlito we need 25m to repay the banks end of the year … who do we sell?’
CA :’I thought you guys were giving me a budget for players’
Board: ‘Hahaaaahaa’
‘
You can add Pep and Mou to that comment as well.
He’s a quality human being. That’s enough for me.
Nice one Ben…
Cheers!
And that’s why Maureen would never fit in at Arsenal
Spot on. Right on Crispy.
Meant for Fireman Sam…….. don’t know where crispy came from…..
Shad out
Enough already. Change the record or shut the fuck up. Give it a rest.
Calm down gooner of the year, you’re scaring me with your keyboard warrior attitude, if you cannot have a debate without acting like a 10 year old, then im just going to ignore your childish behaviour. All good being like that behind your keyboard or phone, you’re the kind that comes face to face and stutters. With your tiny manhood shriveling up between your skinny legs
Debate with who ? A stupid fella like you? Whats the point? ‘Wenger out/change people’ are thick and an insult to our club, our manager and ethos as supporters. Fuck you yer cunts
So i am stupid, because my opinion differs to yours? It is fans like you 2 that are an insult to our club, giving direct written abuse behind your keyboard, to fellow gooners because an opinion is different from yours. I can give as good as i get, and i can debate without the use of the language, keep it up all you like, i can just picture your little fingers typing so fast as your angry little head stairs at the screen, flexing your chicken wings, at least try and have something sensible/constructive to say on the subject with… Read more »
Both comments directly to arsenalman29
Wenger seduced Welbeck into coming to arsenal, and Alexis is the child of Chilean deities. Give the man some credit on an away win.
I was glad to see them playing with Giroud, excited to watch three games this week. Cazorla has some cleverness left, but we’ll be starting Dan Crowley and Zelalem soon if the witch doctor on staff keeps feeding the boys peanut brittle.
Y’know what though, with Flamini/Rambo behind them, I’d quite like to see Zelalem or Crowley in this team. I reckon we should at least see them on the bench, if the Ox isn’t fit enough to take his place in the squad.
There is now polarisation amongst Gooners with the #wengerIn #wengerOut brigades. I’m going to sit this out and support the team.
One man does not make a club. We should admire the stability on the pitch not clamor to copy Shite Hart Lane. Wenger is a legend because of his vision. He will rightly have a statue outside the Emirates one day. That day is not this year or the next because he has a contract to see out. Once Kroenke accepts Ushmanov’s friend request I suspect we will be able to get Paul Pogba or another top level player to take us back to title land. Until then we should be happy with Wenger’s leadership and stability. Never forget the… Read more »
The WengerOut brigade is full of spuds fans posing as gooners. When fergie left manure, they couldn’t even quality for Europa league. And 2 managers and several millions later they are still ‘missing something’ if Wenger leaves now, I can guarantee you we will be fighting for relegation. Klop? Well you should watch Bundesliga mate. Dortmund is fighting for relegation and no one with even a resume try knowledge of football can compare Wenger to Klop. He is one hit wonder. Let’s see if he replicate last year’s prowess.
Look at Wegner’s current age, and his stated desire to manage the French National team ‘someday’ and you know time is running out for him to fulfill his dream. Given the current state of the French National Team, you’d have to think this would be a real possibility that Wegner will get an offer soon. And I think he will accept.
I doubt it. Having players for only 2 weeks max at a time doesn’t fit his philosophy. I could be totally off, but it just doesn’t seem to jive. I think he will go TD /director or retire and be a pundit.
I find negative banners at matches extremely disrespectful to the team. Yes, it could be better, and that’s what everyone wants, but there are other ways of making your voices heard as a fan. Frankly, I think the banner wavers can eat the seeping shit of a dead donkey. They are not fans. They are shit disturbers. It does nothing for the team or the manager except demoralize them further at matches. Plus, it just gives the Arsenal hating pundits more fodder to spew for the coming weeks. Everyone’s entitled to their opinions, as am I, but show some fucking… Read more »
I’m sure the Wenger out believe money grows off trees. Imagine if we stayed at Highbury and ‘kept all our best players’. We would be in administration and probably docked 10-15 points every season
I will even suggest that they stand and declare their allegiance to spuds because spuds do all they want arsenal to do now:
1 – they change managers every now and then
2 – they spend 105m on players and still can qualify for CO two years in a row
3 – by the look of things, unless I am mistaken, they don’t put stupid banners, Levy will sort everything for them