Arsene Wenger has described Arsenal’s defeat at Saint Mary’s as ‘self inflicted’ after Southampton took advantage of ludicrously bad defending to score two comically bad goals.
Sadio Mane put the home side up in the first half with a deft effort following erratic defending by Laurent Koscielny and Wojciech Szczesny. The Polish keeper then gifted the home side a second by teeing up Doran Tadic inside the six-yard box after a mix-up with Mathieu Debuchy.
Speaking to Arsenal Player after his side’s sixth defeat of the season, Wenger lamented: “We put a lot of energy into the game and we were quite in control, but it is a self-inflicted defeat.
“We were [dominant when Southampton scored], but we couldn’t take our chances. On top of that, we not only couldn’t take them but we gave them chances and that is too much at our level.
“It is not the first time it has happened. We did not defend well enough in the final third, and we paid a heavy price for it today.
“I am disappointed because there was at least a draw in the game, and if we were better defensively we could have won it. We have given a lot, I cannot fault the attitude of the team but we were again haunted by the ghost of what we seen since the start of the season.”
Reflecting further in his post-game press conference, he added: “It’s difficult to find an obvious reason [for defeat] straight after the game. There was a misunderstanding and maybe the few games on the trot – we faded a lot at West Ham and we were not fresh enough today.
“Every time we look like we could get on a run, we have a hiccup. We have to learn from that very quickly because we will need that.
“Today, more than the [league] positioning, it’s that it was a game that was winnable and we lost. That is my main concern today, more than fourth place because you need to be consistent defensively at the start.”
Wenger also confirmed that he’ll be making changes for Sunday’s FA Cup 3rd round game with Hull City, starting at the back where David Ospina will come in for Wojciech Szczesny.
Quit lamenting like an old herbalist and strengthen properly!!!
Never ever his fault, always someone else fault….
No Qualidy in the market
Injury
hand break
lost our concentration
the player will come back stronger
experience
players were nervious
accidental
the pitch
the ref
traveling time
tiredness
a bit short
confidence
prices so high and players are paid so much (he forgot our ticket prices and his wages are the highest)
And of course not to forgot fourth is a trophy.
I lament Wenger consistently speaking about our inconsistency.
nc.
Whilst we are all lamenting, I thought I would join in. I lament Wenger for: – starting the season with only 6 defenders. – not taking Cesc back. – being incapable of beating Cuntinho. – not buying a quality CDM. – getting smashed by Citeh, Chelski and Scousers (red and blue versions). – believing 4th place is a ‘trophy’. – the club he manages having more injuries than all the other 19 teams in the PL put together. – being tactically inept when faced against teams which nullify our strengths. – using Arsenal as a platform for his Sanogo project.… Read more »
I think not taking Cesc back was the worst of all of these by far
The two faced Spaniard went ‘on strike’ to get away from us but you want him back. You’re in the minority on that one.
The big problem we have is perhaps that last game might have destroyed Szczesny’s confidence. The manager may need to assess if Ospina need to start games for the remainder of season. I still think Szczesny is a good keeper with a mix of good and bad instincts.
Haha!
If there is one thing that Szczesny DOESN’T lack, it’s confidence. Confidence is probably his biggest strength.
And weakness….. if he wasn’t so cocky he would be a better keeper, imo.
probably too confident
Bendtner has a big confidence too, being his biggest strenght, ur point is?
Is ospina fit?
Can only be arsenal who sign a player injured at the world cup as aw has said he was. Same too ozil
He also said in that piece he couldn’t fault the attitude of the players!
Ffs open your eyes, but that’s the problem we blindly stumble from one thing to another
Great to see more lessons to be learnt
Does anyone actually give a duck?
Let’s be honest. We all saw this coming in the summer. Well, almost all of us…….
If dropping the pole gives the same result as last time when he was dropped and was replaced for fabianski, then im all in for that. He has even admitted that it forced him to work harder to gain his place back.
totally get what you;re saying – but what does hard work have to do with making stupid decisions in the heat of the moment? to be realistic this was just waiting to happen, he’s done a few ‘szczesnys’ this season already and gotten away with it. so we forget. but it is a recurring theme of his tenure in nets. i am starting to have real doubts if he is the number 1 for us for the future. there are far more pending areas to strengthen, but i really wonder if wenger has 100% faith in him.
I have to agree this was inevitable. David de Gea had a shaky start to his PL career but reportedly works his socks off to improve ( technique and physique) and now turns in faultleess performances. There is a jokey, casual side to Szczesny’s play – it could have ended in tears on any given day. Regarding the Sothampton game itself, we had possession but at no point looked as though we dominated the game. I know Wengers in between a rock and a hard place regarding what to say to the press but it would be refreshing to hear… Read more »
This season really sucks.
Everything about Arsenal has been feeling really weird lately. To me atleast. way back…how the fuck does a manager come out and say his team can finish above ours and claim fourth place and our response is to let in 2 shocking goals….
Really? Really? is that how we fuckin respond?
A DM and a CB………Hello, Arsene, hello, anyone there?
“We have the money but we will spend it if we find the right players”. I wonder who they are if there are any, or has he completely lost it. He needs to buy and buy quickly, and he needs to ease off the training for the time being at least. The guys are completely jaded…oh, and Per should only be a back up.
Kim Källström, Teddy Bishop, Kim Zong Fu.
The issue is the manager not inconsistency. He looks lost all of the time and never has the answers to the questions asked of his “team”. Poor defence due to lack of strengthening. Strikers failing to convert chances. Seasonal injury list. No plan B Poor use of substitutions – send them on and hope for the best with no tactical reasoning behind it. These are all issues of previous seasons manifested once again in the present season. Wenger HAS to go – if he stays then things will continue as they are for years to come. Perhaps finishing outside of… Read more »
Sort it out Arsene. Its your job for fucks sake. You are paid to churn results, not wax inferences.
At what point do you realise these players aren’t learning from their mistakes and nor do they have the required character?
It’s hardly the first time. Show some killer instinct with them. In the summer per should be replaced a new gk
There’s a reason the teams that win trophies buy established, experienced, quality players. It’s because they are CONSISTENT! And don’t make daft mistakes. They know how to win games and how to adapt when things go against them.
The worry for me is that for the most part, Arsenal have got established experienced, quality players, and their recent purchases have certainly been just that (complemented with some very talented youngsters). The fact that a team with this many excellent players in it is performing so poorly suggests to me that something is very, very wrong indeed, and that buying some big names won’t fix it.
Gibbs doesn’t fall into that category, neither does Secezny, the Coq or chambers. Cesc would have done, as would Hummels, Khedira etc etc. And this has been going on for years – letting Gilberto leave too early, not buying Alonso etc etc
Is that the same Gibbs that played amazingly well last season and every Arsenal fan said he should be England’s #1 LB?
I don’t remember him being amazing last season. He played reasonably well. And how many years have we been waiting for him to play reasonably well consistently?!
Of all the people to single out after that match, Gibbs would be near the end of my list.
I wasn’t singling Gibbs out after that match. I agree he was not the most culpable player on the pitch. I was using him as an example of AW’s reliance on youth over the years and the club being run for the benefit of the balance sheet rather than the team on the pitch. I, like everyone I assume, has been immensely pleased with the signings of Ozil and Alexis but why can’t we also invest in world-class defensive players as well?
Welcome to 2008 AW…
I don’t blame Arsène for this loss, but it’s obvious only he can right this inconsistent season.
I’m just growing tired of conceding cheap goals and failing to bounce back.
same old same old.adapt or ship out !!!
When we challenged for honors, our team was full of internationals that were unquestioned first choice for their national teams… Henry, Bergkamp, Vieira, Gilberto etc…
In the current squad…
Mertesacker, Koscielny, Gibbs, Arteta, Flamini, Wilshere, Ox, Cazorla, Giroud, Welbeck, Walcott…. None are first names on the team sheet for their respective national teams and frankly not good enough to be starters for us if challenging for titles is our goal.
Self inflicted indeed. As much to do with wenger as it the players that make the mistakes. He said himself players coming back from a world cup find it tough.the bfg certainly is, then we have a player that was suffering from an ongoing a achilies problem in kos from last season yet we fail to replace the center half we sold. These are facts and as such makes Arsene almost negligent in the way he allowed this to happen. Really hate to see his legacy getting going down the drain in the way it is. He deserves better for… Read more »
I keep hearing this.
However, unless I am mistaken there were other players than Arsenal ones at the World Cup?
Also, I’m sure Podolski and BFG didn’t start all Germany’s games.
Or does that fuck up a perfectly good excuse again?
P.S. Not having a pop at you Volde, more a general observation.
I have to say that it might be time to move Wenger upstairs. He is looking bedraggled and needs to let go of the reins. He has gotten us so far, new training facilities, new stadium and CL football consistently but it is time for fresh ideas.
Upstairs means more Wenger, don’t kid yourself into thinking he will only allow himself to be marginalised.
Also, consider this, if he is a Director who would sign the new manager?
Scary thought.
It must be really frustrating for the geeza, I mean he’s managd the club we all love for ao long now so each mistake like the ones at the weekend would just make a man go crazy. But through it all he keeps a relatively calm head and talks sense as usual. Now one or two boom signings in the window and lets get ourseleves on a tidy run, starting with Hull on Sunday.
Wenger saying he can’t fault the attitude of the team is bewildering,It’s crystal clear the team’s attitude is off at times and that’s one of major reasons aside our injury crisis which is a perennial thing, at times it just feels like the whole team is okay with accepting defeat and that some of the mistakes they make is normal and it reeks from a poor attitude,from the coach to the whole players,i saw chelsea lose to the spurs 5-3 but despite their defeat you could see their attitude is that of a team that harbors the ambition of winning… Read more »
i can’t wait until we go on a solid run of wins (we always do), bring in a defender and/or a strong mf and all the naysayers quietly go away or come out with the “i’m the first to be relieved about being wrong…” nonsense. ffs, the season is half gone, we’re still going to finish in the top 4, we have the FA Cup and the CL to play in. we went on a crazy run of holiday matches and went 2-1-1. NOT THE END OF THE WORLD. the # of injuries this season makes our past seasons look… Read more »
And if my auntie had bollox she would be my uncle. The reality is they do have fabregas. It’s an absolutely ridicules thing you hear over and over again if man u didn’t have rvp if man city didn’t Yaya if Liverpool didn’t have suarez they did have these players they bought them because they were good and had the forsight to realise what they could add to the team.
If we didn’t have Henry or Adams or Pires or dennis or or or or. A stupid statement to make sorry
Oh yes the run that comes when we realise we may miss out on the CL the suddenly every player becomes turbo charged!
Another great comeback on the cards no doubt.
Problem is, we are “coming back” from the fuck ups made earlier in the season, it’s not some great underdog story.
Ooh, top 4 and playing in the FA Cup and Champions League. How can you dare to dream so big?! Personally, I’d quite like Arsenal to be where it belongs – challenging properly for the league and CL every year. I want our entire squad to be the envy of Real Madrid, Chelsea etc. We finally have the money, we must invest properly.
I thought the excuse was the injuries to the defense? But now that we have our 1st choice players back in the defensive department so the excuse now is we don’t have enough quality to win games up top? If you can’t beat southampton who lost half their squad and with a new manager this season with attacking players like cazorla, sanchez, ox, rosicky and even campbell/walcott on the bench…then it’s not even worth having a deep squad attacking wise….something is wrong…and it’s not the players….
Inconsistency BC :
1) We have had to constantly shuffle the pack at the back for most season because we could not get a Cback in in the summer.
2)Horrendous (predictable) injury ward
So what’s the response going to be? Maybe drop schez for a game. So what? The club is a comfort zone where the likes of yesterday’s performance is the accepted norm
Same old bollox
Every week
Every month
Every year
This is the team Wenger Built
#WengerOut
Bit dramatic mate
“Every time we look like we could get on a run we have a hiccups”…. Do you need an FBI investigations into that?…Teams find too easy playing against Arsenal because they know we’ll self-destruct along the way… So much ball possession without results… #IBELIEVEINWENGER..
I lament Wenger inconsistency
I lament the same old performances and the same old excuses.
Perhaps paying the playerd a basic wage with performance bonuses to their current wage would shake up the whole lot of them enough for them to actually try and win sometimes.