According to Santi Cazorla and Nacho Monreal, losing to Olympiacos was a big factor in strengthening Arsenal’s focus ahead of their 3-0 victory against Manchester United.
Having been caned by supporters and media alike in the aftermath of their 3-2 defeat to the Greeks, the Gunners bounced back in style yesterday with a performance brimming with attacking vim and vigour that had Louis van Gaal’s side on their knees by half time.
“It was very important for us today,” Cazorla told Arsenal.com at full time.
“Together we played very well. Three points is very important for us and we need to keep at the same level in the next game.
“They have very good players with Carrick, Mata and Rooney. We need to play together and in the first half we did very well and this is vital for us.
“We needed to believe after the loss against Olympiacos. We needed to change the mentality and today the team was very compact and focused for the game against a big team. This is the most important thing for the team.”
Echoing the words of his countryman Nacho Monreal added: “We wanted to start stronger because in the last game, we played at home in the Champions League and we lost, so the memory wasn’t good enough for us.
“We knew that we were going to play against a strong team so we needed to start really strongly.
“I think we did – our first 15 minutes were amazing. We pressed high and I think we did everything amazingly. For this reason, after 20 minutes we were winning 3-0. We are really happy about our performance.”
I’m still buzzing.
And I got to rip the piss out of the office Utd gan.
Thanks Arsenal!
*fan
Did anyone else notice that Nacho did not celebrate the goals yesterday? While at the final whistle, he took no part in any celebrations, just embracing Mata (?) and then slowly walking off?
u sure he wasn’t taking selfies with cazorla?
That’s unfair mate. I remember him going mental on the bench when Flamini scored against Tottenham.
On that note, I’d love it if there was a “bench cam”. It’s always interesting to see how the players on the bench react after a goal is scored. Noticed the Ox jumping up yesterday at one point.
yep!….absolutely brilliant performance. well done lads. more of the same please!
On a side note, just thought that i should share with the forum the fact that our Coquelin is now statistically THE BEST DEFENSIVE MIDFIELDER (Squawka) in the premier league!…..http://metro.co.uk/2015/10/05/stats-show-arsenals-francis-coquelin-is-the-best-defensive-midfielder-in-the-premier-league-5422439/ …..described by no less than the ‘great’ Metro, as being a ‘Class act’?
talk about learning and growing into a role!….91% pass completion?……joint highest in the premier league this season…..not bad eh for someone the critics described as not being “good enough” because he is not ” a ball playing midfielder”?
Our Coq certainly IS a ball-playing midfielder!
if we are consistent and keep playing like that, im getting worried…..for FC Bayern.
Still in cloud 9 after that. It was a sweet sweet victory that was coming. Could have been last year if we took our chances; remember that one-sided game last season that we ended up losing 1-2? It was worth the wait. Now we’ve gone 3 games without defeat by United…may the dominance begin!
Meanwhile, if we maintain this tempo, we can go on a good run till December when we play City. Only Everton and Tottenham, on paper, are the difficult games between. On paper I said. Good times are here again.
On paper indeed, wouldn’t it just be so sublimely arsenal to follow a spanking of united with a dull 1-0 defeat away at Watford.
Not that I’m a pessimist at all.
This is football; anything can happen. But the more likely outcome is that there is a lot of belief in that dressing room right now and I don’t think the Watford back 4 can stop Cazorla, Alexis, Ozil, Ramsey, Walcott, Ox and even Bellerin from finding the net at least once in 90 minutes. I think Leceister is even a better team so I believe we will put them to the sword.
I am not arrogant but this team is finding its gears – at least in the prem.
I actually lay the blame for that squarely on Jack Wilshere. His finishing and awareness in front of the goal was pretty poor. I remember one point he had Alexis screaming for the pass at the other end, unmarked and unchallenged, and he took the shot himself, straight at De Gea. When he comes off, he comes off, but he was daft that day and we paid the price 😐
I blame a cunty referee who let both an offside and a foul go unpinished on Man Ure’s flukey deflected first goal, then let a red card challenge on said Wilshere go completely unpunished when it was still 0-1. If he’d got either of those relatively easy decisions right we’d probably have won that match. Anyone remember who that fuckstick was? Yep, the same cunt who cost us three points at Skunkford Ditch three weeks ago.
I thought Cazorla was berry berry good yesterday, no?
Weird dreams…must have dozed off again. Did a thing happen…?
YYYYYYEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSssssssssssssssssssssss!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
We played well, no? Very happy, no?
Yes. no?
Theo now a firm no 1 striker position at the club.
Where now for Olivier? Simply 2nd choice? Or worse?
come on man…….step up to the plate
I think this is a fair statement, I’d love to see Giroud hit a new gear and show the same level of determination Theo did yesterday. Just imagine how good are attack will be then!
I think having Giroud on the bench is one of the best things ever. He’s intelligent, and he adds a plus to all sides, defensively on set pieces, provides a passing target to ease midfield congestion, and is clever in finding space in the opposition box. All of these things are so useful coming off the bench, especially if the CB’s are ragged from having defended against Walcott. No shame in being a closer, Ollie, and surely he’ll start some games over Walcott. It’s a great thing to appreciate his services from off the bench – he always has a… Read more »
Don’t forget, every game Giroud has come off the bench he has had some great chances to score, even bagging a few.
Euphoric, absolutely euphoric
To see Shrek chasing the bsll around in the 80th minute 3-0 down like he would his hairpiece in a hailstorm gave me so much pleasure.
He was chasing his hairpiece. He was nowhere near the action most of the time. Too slow to catch a cold.
Anyone read that in santi’s voice? Lol
Now the dust has settled I can see that my dry cleaning bill is going to be enormous.
1st goal: nearly had an orgasm!
2nd goal: nearly had another one!!
3rd goal: achieved climax!!!
I’m not normally that slow but Theo, Mesut, Alexis, Santi, Francis, Nacho, Per, Hector, Petr, Gabriel, Aaron;
You made an old man very happy/sticky.
You’re happy.
We’re happy.
Everyone’s happy together. Because we’re happy.
Happily happy, too.
Where’s the cloak room? I’ll happily show myself out now
What an important “feel good” this was! We sunk Manure in convincing style 😀
“feel good” win
“Alexis Sanchez Baby” win
Most fun I’ve had this year 😉
What a brilliant result and performance. Clearly the team has the ability to beat the best. They now have to go and play like that every week. If they want it, then they can win the title, but it is really going to come down to desire and self-belief.
So are we title contenders?
Performing consistently like that we are.
LVG is a thumb-head… Look at your thumb and imagine a smashed up crooked nose on it.
With a crab’s arse for a mouth
Really love the player Monreal has become, so incredibly consistent and steady. Can’t remember the last poor game he had. So smooth and fluid with the ball, always keeps possession and picks his times to overlap well, but never so much that is unable to recover defensively. I know he’s older know, but in my opinion should be Spain’s first choice left back ahead of Alba. Carzola is just such a joy to watch play with the energy, skill and enthusiasm he shows every match. One of the few examples today of a footballer that can use both feet and… Read more »
ca-zor-la
Later in the second half – Monreal carrying the ball out of the zone beating 2-3 Untied players with Cruyff turns and safely laying it off. Initially made me nervous but was pure class.
Look at that smile.
I so loved it when he dinked the ball over schweinsteiger and took a shot which went just wide. The little magician!!
I know we’re still in celebration mood but cut man utd some slack, they lost because their defenders were small, young and blind
You, good sir, are a genius.
I read this comment, chuckled, went off to the fridge to grab a drink, chuckled, came back to my seat, and chuckled again. You got three chuckles. I think you get the comment of the week award.
waitin for it to upload on arsenal.com, i wanna watch the magic again
Ha ha ha, well played Rex!