Theo Walcott insists 2-1 defeat against Dinamo Zagreb hasn’t derailed Arsenal’s Champions League ambitions despite the questions raised by their insipid performance in Croatia.
The Gunners paid the price for a muddled defensive display – compounded by the first half red card to Oliver Giroud – as an own goal by Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and a second half header from Junior Fernandes put the hosts firmly in charge before the hour mark. While Walcott came off the bench to net with 11 minutes remaining it was a night of few positives for Arsene Wenger.
Paying lip service to previous poor starts in Europe’s premiere competition, Walcott told Arsenal Player that he’s still confidence of qualification.
“We can’t blow one result and say it’s the end of the season. We’ve still got a long Champions League run. We’ve had setbacks before and we’ve managed to bounce back from them.
“We’ve been in this tournament for 18 years now so we’ve had a lot of experience and we know how to deal with setbacks. We should be able to come back stronger.
“The manager will make sure that it’s put to bed in the changing room and that it will stay there. The journey home won’t be nice but we need to reflect on this game and move on quickly.”
Walcott’s introduction in the second half briefly sparked the Gunners into life as he applied a cool finish on 79 minutes to reduce the deficit.
While his fourth goal in three games indicates a burgeoning confidence in the box, the England international underlined that the shine was definitely taken off the strike by the result.
“As a forward you just want to score goals and create chances,” he continued.
“As long as I can do that, that’s the main thing. It’s all about the team winning. If you score a load of goals and the team doesn’t win, it doesn’t mean anything at all. I’m a team player, I want this team to do well and I believe that this team can do well. I’m sure we’ll bounce back strongly.”
Arseblog News doesn’t for one moment believe last night’s result represents a mortal blow to our hopes of progressing from the group, but it does once again highlight how difficult a competition it is to win. It’s also worth noting that no team has ever gone on to win the competition having lost their first group game…oh well. Maybe next year.
To be fair, Arsenal generally are good at bouncing back from setbacks. But I don’t know why we have such awful setbacks in the first place. Every team has on off day but we seem to have TERRIBLE days – i’m thinking, 8-2, bradford, blackburn, 6-0, monaco…
Theo is right, we should be able to come back stronger but we never do. Every year in the Champions League we make the same mistakes, all that changes is the point in the tournament in which we do it.
Arsenal is like shampooing our hair. We lose foolishly (lather), bounce back “rinse” and then lose foolishly again (repeat if necessary).
If you notice our response to such performances in the past have been 0-0 draws or 1-0 defeats. After which arsene has come out saying that we were a bit circumspect, played with a handbrake on etc.
I don’t want a similar response against Chelsea. We need a stronger response because in all honesty they’ve been shite this season and this is the perfect opportunity to take points off them.
We’ve had a couple of these self destructive performances already this season and its just 6 games. We need to stop this trend pronto.
Yes we have. Every second game is a set back. I mean there are at least 250 midfielders in europe better than Arteta. 4-5 only in our own squad. Tragic.
The guy hasn’t played in almost a year
That is true. But he has lost his ability to move his legs. And by that he aint no footballer anymore. While there are plenty of players who has……. Legs.
I get it, I’m not gonna write him off based on 60 minutes when the rest of the side is playing completely crap with ten men though.
250 is a stretch, but there are better midfielders than him who are available. Agreed.
I can see Olivier Giroud going through a full on Britney Spears 2007 style head shaving breakdown before the weekend.
At least it’s never boring following the Arsenal.
Leave Olivier aloooooonnnnnneeee
We know how to deal with setbacks because Wenger is a genius in crisis management. The question is, why are there so many setbacks in the first place?
because Wenger is not a genius at averting crises?
Classic!!!!!!
All sides go through this sort of thing. Chelsea. Man City. Man United. Sp*rs (in perpetuam).
And the quality of the manager has little bearing on the ability to avert a crisis: Klopp, Mourinho, for example.
Even Bayern (2008, 2010, arguably 2011), Barcelona (2000, 2001, 2002, 2007), and Real Madrid (2003, 2005, 2008), have had their problems over the years.
So, this has nothing to do with being a genius or not. This is just football. Show your support, get behind the side, and the sooner things get rectified.
Arsenal (2005,2006,2007,2008,2009,2010,2011,2012,2013,2014,2015)
take 2006 out of there! That was a fantastic run.
Well said.
If one loss and a bit of bad scoring form makes it a crisis you need to check yourself.
For me the only positive is Theo looking good!I just hope he starts becoming prolific.
And Gabriel.
muddled is a good way to describe the defensive performance. i think that gibbs and debuchy were nowhere near as sharp as they needed to be – understandable given the lack of game time they’ve had, though on the other hand they both showed strength in challenges and some adroit overlap play at times. main problem in my view was there was a general lack of coordination at the back. kos isn’t vocal or an organizer (well known), gabriel can’t speak english, and ospina lacks the language skills/leadership/experience that cech has. so there was a bit of a vacuum. im… Read more »
Agreed, I thought we made at least one too many changes at the back, especially without the safety net of the Coq. But I also thought our general attacking play (even when we had 11 men) was slow and ponderous. It reminded me of watching England with all the sideways passing. Given the pace we have available in the squad, we seemed slow, predictable and lacking in aggression. There was very little movement off the ball, sloppy passing and no urgency. Far too casual. As for Giroud, he needs to sort his head out. Want to see him stop whining… Read more »
You’re right about one change too many. Thing is, the changes seemed schematic. “let me put in everyone I can, while not dropping those who can’t be or are likely to get stroppy (except my favorite project Ramsey- that was a surprise).” what about considering the opposition, considering its the first game, considering its an away game?
Like Wenger’s in-game subs- usually the same ones, usually at a fixed time- the management seems schematic and not dynamic.
‘Drive for Champions League is immense’
Acta non verba ffs!
I’m totally sick of hearing every single time how we have great desire, great mentality, how we will bounce back, how we will learn etc. etc.
We are used to having setbacks pretty regularly.Where has cohesion and automatism gone??Need to up the anti and well play good until another setback.
We always disrespect smaller teams. We are a big scalp for these mid grade European sides and they simply want it more than us. I would like Olivier to shave his head- would allow him to concentrate on playing football rather than that fucken mop of hair! Less complacency please. Need to get something from bayern in one of the games, and win all the others, which ain’t going to be easy as we can never win in Greece
We should give our “£200 M” to Greece and we might have a chance.
The Olivier-Giroud-Head-Shaving-Campaign-2015 starts now!!!
Last nights result did feel slightly inevitable though, you can’t predict with any sort of assurance what this team will do at the moment.
Wouldn’t surprise me if we went to Stamford Bridge and beat them 3-0 before going on to lose our following 3 games.
Frustrating!
Can we not do this.
Setbacks on our way to the Final even quaters fine but majority of have been group stage cock ups to illustrate our utter mediocrity in the UCL.
It really should be no surprise given we do it every year but somehow it still fucking is and that’s what drives me mental.
I think it’s best if the players let their performances do the talking.
So far, it has been all bark and no bite from us. We talk like a big team, but always fail to show up when it matters the most.
Enough talk and go get a result at stamford bridge.
Well put.
How is this not wenger’s fault? The first UCL game and he chopped and changed, he shouldve at least waited until the last group game no?
And of course we just had to implode right before the chelski game, watch us (in regularity) go on to give much needed 3 points in the league, lets be honest, we’ve had “setbacks” with too much regularity for them to just be setbacks.
the only part I really agree with is the ‘regularity’ – we do great when we have the ‘underdog’ mentality, but when we’re expected to win easily, it always feels like the players are shocked when a team that’s ranking-wise beneath us, show up biting at the bit. It feels like insanity, where we just repeat the same shit and expect a different outcome. Granted every team has their off days, and even slumps, but for Arsenal, it’s predictable – first leg of quarterfinals in the knockout, within the first three games of CL group stages, and at least 4… Read more »
True. Their coach said this was nothing new, every team that has beat arsenal has won playing like this.
Damning
The performance was just not good enough. Arteta-Santi combination won’t work. Neither have pace or presence. Now onto Chelsea. Win it and all is fine, loose and there will be a complete meltdown.
And you really think Moureen would take that match lightly? Better prepare you mind for the worst while you hope we win.
After Giroud got sent off, I caught up with the latest episode of “Pointless” on iPlayer.
It’s less stressful, and more unpredictable.
I didn’t watch the game out of fear as this is the kind of result arsenal normally looses. When we are clear favourites we just don’t rise to the occasion in critical moments of the season. Refer to home and away matches against man utd last season. Chelsea at home last season. Monaco. Kiev. Milan some seasons back….etc other than Aston villa in the FA CUP final we have I can’t recall and that has always been an issue even in the invincibles erra. When we are clear favourites I’m never optimistic. Is it just me or is it a… Read more »
Some say Wenger is the greatest, others say Wenger is not so great anymore. Now, who decides at Arsenal which players to buy/sell? Who at Arsenal is responsible for the players’ training/coaching, the style of play, the gameplan and the tactics to employ? Who at Arsenal is responsible for the player motivation, the mental toughness and the substitutions during games? Who at Arsenal is responsible for not wanting to accept the market prices of players but is guided by their own valuations of players?
Where I come from all these issues are the responsibility of an accountable Management.
It’s not dissappointing so much as it is embarrassing. Every single one of them should be ashamed for creating history, for being the first ever side dinamo zagreb has beaten in the champions league in some 13 years. This “nothing you say can get us down” attitude is good in some ways but I have a feeling it’s blinding the team to some serious shortcomings.
No one is interested in these interviews any more. Just shut it up and start delivering.
If any one must speak, that’s Arteta, Giroud, Gibbs , Ox and Debuchy. Mental strength anyone??
Way to contradict yourself in a few simple sentences Mr Walcott:
“As a forward you just want to score goals and create chances, as long as I can do that, that’s the main thing. It’s all about the team winning. If you score a load of goals and the team doesn’t win, it doesn’t mean anything at all.”
Such a pro at talking to the press. He’d make a great politician, really got the knack for producing the right soundbites/quotes while actually saying nothing at all of any substance.
Anyone think he has a wee pull string on the back – ‘please pull here for press quote’ ?
Seriously. How many times have we heard this? How many times have we argued over the same issues on this website over the years? Come on. Nothing has changed and it does not seem like or feel like anything will change in the near future. There are problems and I am not pointing fingers but let us be realistic. I have learned to keep my expectations low and just take it game by game.
In the 5 minutes after Giroud’s yellow I knew he was getting a second yellow. Ospina looked like he was going to concede a couple goals from the off. I blame myself, I skipped work to watch the game. The Gods punished me……F*ck
Criticism of Ospina is unfair. He saved our shit twice ( Gabriel back pass and a save from their young sub when one on one which would have made it 3-0 ) and made a good block for the first goal only to see it bounce back off Ox.
Walcott = iceman.