Arsene Wenger admitted that Arsenal rode their luck a bit yesterday in the 2-1 win over Crystal Palace, but says it’s a chance for the team to learn without the lesson being too punitive.
The home side grabbed a late goal and with almost the last kick of the game hit the post, almost costing the Gunners two points.
And although the Arsenal manager felt his team’s lead should have been more substantial, he paid Alan Pardew’s side credit to their performance.
“Crystal Palace are a team who played a very direct game with high intensity,” he said. “For us it was important to resist and try to play.
“We did that well but at 2-0 at half-time we came out in the second half much more to protect our advantage than to continue to play and put them under pressure.
“We missed goal number three and when they came back to 2-1 we were a bit lucky, a bit fortunate. Overall we did fight and it was in the end a very important win for us.”
The Frenchman also had praise for his defenders who came under intense pressure, having to deal with over 50 Palace crosses and making a season high total of 81 clearances in the game.
“We can learn from every game,” he said. “I believe that the players know that maybe they switched off a little bit too early.
“Overall I still must say that our central defenders played very well today against a very direct and a very physical game at the back.
“They did well so overall I’m pleased to have won three points in a place like this.”
Lady Luck maybe has finally grown tierd of ManU after all!
I love those days when you check the BBC live text commentary and you’re met with absolute hilarity .
that lot are bloody lucky to be only one point behind us. they’ve played a brand of football all season so horrible to watch even stoke supporters would be embarrassed to take ownership of it. about time we overtook those peasants. hopefully the irons get up and then that derby will seem a pretty long time ago.
And to top it off looks like dutch skunk is injured, again. I remember a time when those manc scum were giving it large on his transfer, but I bet that 250k a week contract now looks like very bad business. They’re essentially paying him nearly £48mil in total, for pretty much one good season so far. And it’s hard to see where skunk will go once he hangs his boots, if he had stayed he’d be welcomed easily for a coaching role, an ambassador role etc like Henry, Pires, Bergkamp et al. I highly doubt he’ll be offered anything… Read more »
He could have had legend status at Arsenal, instead he fucked off for money and a shot at a title, now he will be forgotten very very quickly 🙂
Was bored so I checked out the Man United forums to see their opinion on him, and a lot of posters are actually saying his injury is a blessing in disguise for them. LMAO.
Let’s hope Song and Jenks are fired up for the Sp*rs match!
Hold on!!!
well West Ham blew that one…
I guess we are cheering for LiverPOO in the other game.
I’d prefer saints myself, I’m confident we will get 3rd or even 2nd and would be fucking hilarious if utd, pool and sp#rs all missed out on champs league at the expense of Southampton
West Ham played quite well, actually. Credit to Spuds, whose players this year have an attitude far superior to previous years. They just won’t accept being beaten in a game, and they won’t accept being bested in the table. We should have taken all the points against them at the Emirates.
Hasn’t Szczesny been punished enough? I really don’t feel comfortable with Ospina.
“Sometimes things don’t go, after all,
from bad to worse.” and this is such a time. Maureen in meltdown mode-sp*rs fail to keep up-Manure get stuffed by the Swans and we take 3 points home. Tonight I’m going to open a bottle of wine I’ve been keeping for such an occasion and just savour it. Hopefully Liverpool will stuff S’ton and this very mellow Gooner will fall asleep with a smile. Like Hannibal in the A team I love it when a plan comes together. COYG
Everything good, looking forward we have a great chance for third.
We have a decent run in, mostly with bigger teams at home. And 7 home games.
Only 5 away matches v QPR, Burnley, Hull, Newcastle and Man U (would be great to keep them out of Europe for a second season and ease Sp*rs into the Europa again).
Looks like your plan came together perfectly…Cheers.
Sp*rs in Europa is nice just for the Thursday game.
Yep it seems that way.
Look at today and a last minute Upson OG. Im thinking about that leg breaking challenge on Super Alexis.
We were very lucky at the end . but they will take so many points off our rivals this season .
I agree Palace were very very intense with their closing down and I was very impressed with how long they kept it up even at 2-0z
However, I do feel the boss needs to re analyse his basic and very obvious tactic of throwing on loads of defenders to keep a lead. That’s a bit 1980s to be honest, it just invites unneccesary pressure in the final minutes as there’s no one defending from the front.
Good point.
Putting Walcott on to threaten their defence would make them think more. Perhaps someone to strengthen the centre midfield plus Walcott would be better.
If one of the wings is under threat a more defensive ‘winger’ eg Gibbs would help.
The only issue I would have with that is Walcott doesn’t track back often. If he was playing centrally then I would have less issue with that. But our fullbacks had their hands full all game, so Theo completely ignoring defensive duty wouldn’t help. I highly doubt that’s Wenger’s instruction to have him stay so high up when our other forwards contribute so much more at the back. Dennisthemenace’s suggestion would be nice if we were at the Emirates, but with that shitty pitch there’s no way we could play that precise a style. I wish the PL would improve… Read more »
i agree. i think going fully barcelona with 6 mids and no strikers is a better way about it. get some of that mind numbing tica taca shit going. god knows we’ve got enough quality mids sitting on the bench every game.
trust me on this one guys. i’ve got a prem and champs double with ipswich town under the belt from my FM playing days, so you’re dealing with a bit of a tactical genius here. in no way are my credentials for critiquing a man with 3 prem medals questionable.
props for winning cl with Ipswich, though.
Yes, we should do what Bayern in that 2nd leg of CL couple of seasons ago – keeping the ball by the opposition corner flag, while maintaining shape. Distrupting opp play by kicking the ball out, tactical fouling, slowing the game down. Rather than just throwing on more defenders or attackers depending on we are protecting a lead or chasing the game can be improved on.
On free kicks we late we also need to stop playing the ball long into one target which goes out for a goal kick or to the keeper and work on keeping possession and playing short and like you said keeping shape behind the ball. Do things all other teams do to kill games off, crush the ball out of bounds long when need be, tactical fouls in the attacking half, sitting on the ball in the corner and in worst case giving up a throw in deep in their end, etc.. We have never been smart like that with… Read more »
Would rather see a change of tactics in these tight situations. The midfield needs to have a defensive setting when we are looking to protect, the wingers join the back line as full backs, the centre of midfield sits in front of the centre backs to form a shield – 6-3-1 – Chelsea did it against Liverpool, who was the most feared team in the league last season, and did it to great effect.
Would rather see a change of tactics in these tight situations. The midfield needs to have a defensive setting when we are looking to protect, the wingers join the back line as full backs, the centre of midfield sits in front of the centre backs to form a shield – 6-3-1 – Chelsea did it against Liverpool, who was the most feared team in the league last season, and did it to great effect. But overall very happy with the results yesterday, although not ecstatic – Chelsea losing would have sent me over the edge…
They said Arsenal won’t qualify for 4th spot… They were right, its 3rd or higher.
Not the best of performances but it’ll get our momentum going into the Champions League match.
Also nice to see Jack back to streangthern the squad even more. The room for error is getting smaller and this shall remind the players.
Forever COYG!!!
We played really bad in midfield but the quality of the players we had allowed us to come out on top in certain situations and if that wasn’t the case, we probably would’ve lost. It pays to have good ballers, even if they don’t bring their A-game.
only a delusional mug would downvote your comment. Palace indeed were the better team that day but we still won, and that’s what I’ve been missing for so long from Arsenal. COYG
I’m not commenting so that people agree with me. If I wanted to do that, I would just write COYG and/or some pretentious shit about being an Arsenal fan etc. Or insulting other teams, that seems to rile these robots up.
A bit off topic this, so sorry. What is the pin badge in the shape of a man that Wenger’s wearing in aid of? I’ve seen it being worn by a few people in football but don’t know what it’s about.
It’s for men United prostate cancer charity
Prostate cancer awareness
Prostate cancer.
Prostate cancer.
http://prostatecanceruk.org/
I think the little man pin badge is for raising awareness of testicular cancer, so I guess our equivalent of the pink ribbon.
im pretty sure it’s for the uk prostate cancer organisation. i think we got involved in light of bob wilson being diagnosed. well before my time but a proper legend according to everyone born in the olden days
I believe it’ s for Men United which is a prostate cancer charity. I have been known to be wrong though. It was way back in 1987……
Cheers all.
No, we were not lucky *cough! 🙂
Prostate cancer awareness Mash. Men United
On the same topic of being off-topic can we get Savage to sit between two woodpeckers on either side of his head doing their business with his hands tied while sitting on a Texan cactus…
Can we please..he might agree to it if someone baits him on tweeter especially as he so in tune with how fans feel…
Thats how I feel everytime I see him analyse a game on MOD…
Lucky or not a win is a win.
Is a win
We’ve got better as a team in terms of grinding out results over the last two seasons. I was surprised yesterday with how we didn’t control possession, it looked like a team which would dominate the ball, absolutely chuffed with three points though.
United have a very tough run in now, ours is considerably easier. I thought United would get 4th but it’s becoming clear that LVG hasn’t got a clue what to do with this team, and they don’t have another gear to go to, Southampton and Liverpool could grab that spot..
both of them, so it will be
1 chelsea
2 city
3 arsenal
4 southhampton
4 liverpool
seriously, as long as we are 3rd or higher I hope southhampton get 4th, I hate all those other teams. Maybe Westham finishing above some of them would be the icing on the cake
It would be nice for Southampton finish 4th behind us and above teams like ManU, Liverpool, etc.
Two oil money teams at the top inevitably for this season. Two teams finishing in 3rd and 4th based on a comparatively organic growth is only fair!
Win ugly away, win beautifully at home, win the league
Now gentlemen, that’s the spirit!
Only 12 more games left. So, win any which way. Play 10 – 0 if need be, just ensure it is within the legal boundaries…COYG.
And about time too. When have we ever had a season when stuff goes our way? ManU have, thanks to Ferguson’s ‘celebrated’ mind games. Ch*lsea have, thanks to Jose’s ‘theatre of the absurd’ verbal wanks. Maybe now it’s not so much them, but more us. Yesterday we scored two good goals. Two fouls on Welbeck one just outside … one just inside. And a hardly-outrageous approximate non-offside. At the other end we conceded a late goal and might have conceded another but for the laws of the game. You know … the one that states how wide the goals ought… Read more »
im forever blowing bubbles, pretty bubbles in the air! hahahaha get in. big sam aint so bad
Fat Sam :'(
Dreadful result for Spurs. Never mind they were 2 down still 2 dropped in a big way. Draw later on please. Is anyone watching Everton v Leicester. Puts our tough game against Leicester in to a bit of context.
You have to admire the BBC commentators sometimes.
How much practice must it take to be able to say: “Joey Barton’s been sent off” while sounding surprised about it?
This weekend results could hardly have been better. United and Southampton lose, Chelsea and Spurs drop points. Oh, and a big 3 points for Arsenal! Would have wanted City to lose, but really want them to overtake Chelsea.
Honestly i would have like a draw between soton and pool, let be honest soton is slowly going down the table they can’t keep up and liverpool now is much bigger treat that soton and man.utd, so next week it’s vital to win against everton and hope it will be a draw between liverpool and city, which we will close on city and extend the lead against liverpool.
With the luck we had with injuries, we deserve every bit of luck.
Don’t understand why we are not composed enough to hold the ball up field and kill the game off with a two goal cushion and five minutes to go. Henry and co use to do it very effectively, you could not get the ball of us. Maybe we need another technical genius to come in in the summer and hold the ball for us in this sort of circumstance but I would expect at very least Santi and Ozil should be able to. Don’t think it helps if we over extrapolate by sending too many defenders on when we get… Read more »
Liverpool bias media now making it out to be as if Liverpool are close to top 4 anymore than UNited or Southampton or for that matter Spurs.
Meanwhile we’ve slipped into 3rd and chasing second. We are a bit away from City (what price had we banked the 3 points off of Spurs) but that should be our goal in the league to catch them. Forget about the teams below us, cement third and go for second now.
Hunt down City and then Chelski… Maureen’s face will be hillarious if that happens. Go Gunners Go!!. It is doable.