Arsene Wenger declared himself pleased with the response of his Arsenal side after they bounced back from an opening day defeat to take three points against Crystal Palace yesterday.
Goals from Olivier Giroud and an own goal forced by Alexis were enough to get the first win of the season under our belts, and the Frenchman was happy that his team were able to grind out a result at a stage of the season where that’s always a challenge.
“We have shown our strong response,” he said, “and we have shown different aspects in our game that are vital in the Premier League.
We had a good, fluent game in the first half and when they came back to 1-1 it was a mental test to see how we could respond. We managed to find a second goal and after that in the second half of the game we just had to dig in, fight, and we did it as well.
“I’m pleased because we have shown many different aspects that will be very important in the season.”
The manager also had words for Alexis, whose desire to make something happen brought about the goal that turned out to be the winner.
“He brings a drive forward,” said Wenger. “He brings the pressure on the opponent. He brings goal chances. When it was 1-1 it is no coincidence that he found the header over Ward [and] maybe it’s a typical Alexis goal.
“More desire than fitness, he is still a bit short fitness-wise but he is a fighter.”
Everyone connected to Arsenal was pleased with that response. Hope we will build on that next week monday against Liverpool
As much as I hate the manager. Palace looked good. And home support were on form as usual. This was a very easy game to drop points in.
Not our manager! Theirs!!!!
That just demonstrates how hysterical and dopy some of the people on here are.
Read the flaming thing before commenting !!!
The original post was entirely correct. Although for all his shortcomings, Pardew does appear to have found a home at SP. He looked a fish out of water on Tyneside.
Nothing better than 3 points…..God, it feels goooood
Ok now we have a week to prepare for the mug mashers,let’s push on as Chelsea continue sorting out their medical situation.
Weird game. On another day we could have been 2 or 3 up. And then on another day we could have been 2 or 3 up, didnt and get punished for it. Bit lucky towards the end but a good result at a hard ground these days. Oneards and upwards. Another hard test with liverpool, a chance to show we mean buisness. COYG
Great win, but should we be worried about Cech? That’s two saveable long range goals in a row. He looked slow to get down. Last season Ospina had a few of those he just managed to push away.
Agree,Cech looks a bit slow. At his best he would have saved those shots going in.
Its twice now in two matches that he has been done by long range shots.
Normally our goalies cop goals from short range like a corner or set piece but not from long range.
It might also be a question of Cech adjusting to the positiong of our defense and vice versa.
I guess there is time to adjust as long as we are winning.
My worry exactly also. It is the case one chance, one goal all over again.
How long did it took for Ospina to settle in with our defense? More so, he came from another league.
I think everyone was pleased. Now can we stick with that tried and tested formation/lineup for a few more games in a row and see how far the run can be?
Seems a bit puzzling that the boss always talks about carrying the good run and momentum from a previous season into a new one only to start changing and experimenting a bit.
Throughout his successful years you could name our best 11
Last week I said Cazorla needs to come back alongside Coquelin instead of Ramsey as that partnership had provided the foundation of the best team in the league from February to May.
I don’t want to say I told you so.
But I told you so.
Congratulations to you. As if it wasn’t glaringly obvious that we work best with a midfield pairing of Santi and Coq. Santi makes the team tick and Ramsey will have to deal with being played out of position on account of a truly incredible player.
Ok well thanks for repeating my glaringly obvious point anyway.
Oh and my original comment wasn’t meant to be taken seriously unfortunately my ‘tongue-in-cheek’ text isn’t working at the moment.
You can use this emoticon though: :p
This is significant. We all know that palace are a good side specially at home. Ask Liverpool about it. Although we didn’t score a lot, what impressed me was how many times we came face to face with their goal keeper. That means opening their defence each time. In another day this could be 5 nil but still 3 points yesss. Great season ahead folks. Very good season ahead indeed
Rollocks.
We beat a decent but not great Palace side. I was impressed with the hunger and aggression that we showed, which was missing against West Ham; but the lack of clinical finishing meant that we needed an own goal to win it.
Our “great season” will be another third/fourth place finish: we don’t have the striker who we need to win the title. Unless we go out there and buy one.
But Wenger won’t.
Didn’t your mother never tell you to never start a sentence with ‘but’, fats?
Some great writers do just that.
But many don’t.
He he… You said but fats
I know.
Actually, my English teacher (not my mother) used to tell me to never begin a sentence with either a preposition or a conjunction. And then is see well-known writers doing it everywhere. From which I’ve come to the conclusion that my English teacher was wrong. But he could have been right. Or he may have been wrong. From which point I have decided that he my have been incorrect. Or he might have just been pedantic.
At this point I’ll stop.
we were saved by the post early in the second half. if that goes in the game probably ends in a draw or loss given how bad we are at coming back from behind. also, it’s not impressive to be in front of goal and not convert…that’s the opposite of impressive.
Still one major player short.
I don’t know if it’s a forward or a DM, or who it is. But we need one big signing before the close
of the TW to give us the best chance. If no one comes in, we’ll fall short again.
As great as it would be to get a world class striker in we are far more desperate for a solid DM to compete with and compliment Coquelin. He was nearly sent off yesterday and will surely have suspensions for card accumulation throughout the season. Like any other player on the team he needs competition for playing time to push himself and make him better and to give Wenger the option to rest him. Wenger doesn’t have to go for a big name DM, but someone that can do the job that Coquelin does and maybe offer something a bit… Read more »
I was pleased Arteta looked so fresh when he came on but that was a twenty minute cameo and nothing we can expect for a whole season (unfortunately).
I am truly fearful he will not suplement midfield/Coquelin. He would have to displace a favored/favorite attacking midfield player player to do so and I can’t see that happening in a month of Sundays.
Did I right – did Wenger mention ‘some players thought they just have to turn up to win the game against Westham’ reason again, in his interview with Sky post the Crystal Palace game?
If that was one of the reasons, it would be massively frustrating!
yes he did say this but it’s always something i’ve felt over the last couple of seasons from some of the players
Cech out, Neuer in. Per out, T.Silva in. Ramsey out, Reus in. Giroud out, Pele in.
never Seen Wenger’s hair so white! canonize this guy before He dies….. lolz
Hey Bloggs, can I just say (because we can’t on regular blog posts) that Mr. Hassan’s tactics column is a highlight of my week? He does great work.
Thanks!
You can comment on regular posts, of course. See ‘# arses’ at the top of each post where # = a number of some kind. That’s the comment system.
We won a match. Of course it’s now unacceptable to say anything mildly negative about Wenger or the team again.