Arsene Wenger says the disappointment of losing to Chelsea must be tempered by the fact Arsenal are still very much in the title race.
Diego Costa’s strike, five minutes after Per Mertesacker’s 18th minute red card, was enough for the Blues to overcome the Gunners who lacked spark in the final third even though they improved in the second half.
Reflecting on an incredibly frustrating afternoon at the Emirates, the boss played up the spirit his side showed having gone down to ten men.
“We are disappointed because we lost a game at home,” Wenger told his post-game press conference.
“We wanted to compete, we wanted to take advantage of playing at home, but unfortunately the decisive moment came quite early on in the game.
“Unfortunately Chelsea took advantage of that and scored. From there, they tried to control the game and playing 11 against 10 for 70 minutes is always an advantage [for Chelsea].
“I thought that, even with 10 men, we came back very strongly in the second half. We could have actually scored the equaliser but we were missing a little bit of the last touch inside the box and around the box.
“There were always moments where we almost got there, but we didn’t find a real opportunity to put the ball in the net.”
He continued: “I thought for 70 minutes we were brilliant, in terms of the team effort and the organisation. We were not far from getting something out of the game.
“When you play against the champions and are down to 10 men for such a long time…we are only three points off the lead and have Leicester and Southampton at home coming up.
“They are difficult games but if we can keep winning our games, we can go back to the top.”
Same result, same reaction.
Keep winning our games?
Surely he meant start winning our games.
That really was a poor choice of words.
The decisive moment came early on in the game – i.e. Mertesacker sending off – unfortunately Chelsea took advantage of that – errr no Arsene, costly errors at the back, failure to clear the ball, failure to spot Costa cost us the game, they didn’t take advantage of their 1 man advantage rather found us erring at the back.
If, if, if. It’s a miracle our recent run of results hasn’t left us too far adrift, but I fear they will be doing untold damage to our morale and prospects of piecing a run together. Hope I’m wrong, of course.
We have chased down many teams for 4th successfully before, we even nearly chased the title last year. However we seem to struggle to lead with the exception of on season in the recent past, even then we were as uncomfortable as a nerd on a date with the prom-queen, fiasco like the big defeats we suffered that season.
I do fully expect us to chase the leaders and hopefully on the last day – the only day it matters, we are top!
On the plus side we haven’t seen the annual Arsenal 10 game winning streak yet
We’re in the title race as much as we are in a position to finish 4th.. Spurs are two points behind with Leicester 3 points infront. It could go either way, but I know what I’d put my money on..
It was always going to be the Costa / Clattenburg show
sigh
I still can’t get over the fact we’ve conceded six points against the worst Chelski side any of us can remember… Incredibly frustrating, much like watching Theo week after week… Finding it hard to keep the faith tonight… COYG !!
to be fair it’s the same side that won the league at a canter last year – it’s not the players who are terrible, it’s their attitude
but who would want to swap places with chelsea? overpaid prima donna players who hate each other and the manager vs in touch at the top and with a great chance of winning the title, with a stack of amazing players about to return from injury, fresh and up for the fight
it’s a no-brainer
Chavski where much stronger when Mike Dean was playing for them at their place.
Clatenburg had a much quieter game for them.
Missing the last touch inside the box. Top scorer taken off. Hmm…..
We all knew we needed a better backup DM six months ago and it would come back to bite us – with Coquelin out that prediction has, so obviously, come to fruition. I honestly don’t think Flamini would be a starter for any other EPL team. Wenger has got to take the blame for that one.
Why buy Elneny if not as an upgrade over Flamini? The triple-whammy of substandard athleticism of Per/Flam, consistently poor performance of Flam/Ram pivot, and the utter ineffectiveness of Theo on the wing, makes that starting line-up completely inexplicable to me (as I shouted in colorful language, to the dismay of my wife, the moment it was announced). Was hoping for: Gabriel, Elneny, and Alexis (fit enough for bench, fit enough to start!), rather than Per, Flam, Theo, and think we would be 3 points to the good had that been the case! If fortune favors the bold, we got punished… Read more »
Fortune and bold has nothing to do with it. Wenger has to manage people into the squad be it for fitness or acclimatisation.
I just feel sad for Flamini.
#PrayforFlamini
Can’t help but feel disappointed about today’s result. This Chelsea team has been beaten by teams below our levels over and over. Isn’t there any remorse felt by the players? And taking Giroud off, gee! wtf was that?
If this if that.. Aargggghhhhhhh..
If my aunt had a moustache i would call her my uncle.. Ehh
This déjà vu is wearing me the fuck out!
On a serious note.
When i saw Theo with the armband. After the inital shock i thought that he would play his heart out.
But it was a shocking performance from him.
What the FUCK Theo???
I dont disagree with Wenger but unfortunately those are very familiar expressions.
That being said, even though I am dissapointed with the result and tge manner in which it came about , I am not counting us out of contention yet. Not with the returning legion of first teamers and moreso Alexis and Coquelin
How does Flamini end up with 3-4 chances? Coq is never that far forward and it makes us much more stable. I was completely unsurprised by this result, the team has not really looked good since the Southampton Christmas massacre. My main frustration with Wenger is not with this game, but his refusal to properly strengthen the team combined with loyalty to too many “promising” players, we need a couple players that are more than promising, one up front and one in central midfield, and if that means getting rid of a few players, so be it. To those blaming… Read more »
I was going to give you a thumbs up mate, until I got to your final point.
This is actually the problem. We (fans and club management) always speak of competition in the squad but selection of starting XI is always overwhelmed in Wenger’s love for certain players.
There’s never two players with absolutely the same qualities anywhere in the world. Experience is always the difference but if the better experience available to you will fall short to the qualities of your opponent then you have to do with what can stand to the challenge.
I just want to point something out , that i have noticed many times.
When you play against a striker like Costa, id like to see one of our
center backs to mark Costa and the other play just a litle bit deeper.
Same stick everytime,we must learn and we will bounce back etc empty promises.
Should have been Theo taken off but once he made him the captain for the day, Wenger was too stubborn to admit he made a mistake.
He was made captain cos he is celebrating his 10th anniversary with the club
No one noticed
I believe it was Per who handed over the arm band to him. Not Wenger.
When are we going to sack Wenger??? He just does not get it right in the big matches, he knew we needed pace at the heart of the defence but still played Per’s against Costa he never stood a chance in a foot race. He keeps talking about needing 4 centre halves but does nothing about it. We need a top quality striker but do nothing about it (he will never purchase a superstar, he just can’t deal with them), we need a top quality mid fielder so we go and buy a cheap player from Basel. I am sick… Read more »
Eh, Costa isn’t fast by any stretch. If you feel he is to the extent it necessitated a change at CB, then Per would virtually never play again.
Hahah, I live your sarcasm, Jason!
It is sarcasm right?
…right???
What are you smoking man? Wenger is the reason you support this club. He has overseen the most successful and difficult period this club has ever had. And we are not liverpool. F.u
Disappointment implies us expecting to get in there and win confertably. Chelsea’s plan was to get us down to 10 men and mess with our heads. And everyone knows that.
Only shocking thing for me is that the score wasn’t or 3-nil.
Really missed Le Coq over the last few matches. Flamini and Arteta simply haven’t got it anymore. I suppose this is just a beef but you can’t rely on a player staying fit all season. Dropping some vital points at the moment with trips to shite fart lane, both manc grounds and Goodison to come. Suppose I’m just griping because I’m sick of losing to them wankers.
Agree about Flamini. Arteta like Elneny haven’t been played, either would have been preferable to me.
I expect we’ll see both Artetta and Elneny in the FA cup next weekend
We have. And gawddammit, why did we have to lose Coquelin and Cazorla basically at the same time. Talk about ripping out the spine Predator style.
Yeah, that is what has killed us. We can all blame Per or Theo all we want, but our midfield has unsurprisingly lost its balance since Coq and Santi got injured. Ramsey done his best yesterday and was one of our better players I thought. He still doesn’t offer the composure and reliability on the ball as Santi does though. Flamini works hard but is nowhere near the level of DM that Coq is – maybe a tad unfair the comparison as Coq is the best in the PL imo. The good thing is Elneny can start competing for a… Read more »
As soon as sending-off happened I thought we should take Giroud off. I didn’t think he’d do it, I thought he’d sacrifice Campbell.
I still think that was the right thing to do for many tactical reasons, mainly because I thought it would allow us to defend better and stay in the game. And so it proved.
After that you need to break well and take the half chances. We didn’t.
Into the next game. 3 points please. COYG. The league is ours
Except Walcott did fuck all in defending. Ozil and Ramsey ran their arses off to close down Chelsea’s defenders but they always find a pass out. And guess who’s side it was on? The fucking captain for the day. Unbelievable. If you’re going to go missing in attack at least put some effort in on the other end.
I think we have many reasons to be positive.
I still expect us to win the league from here for the following reasons: 1. We are on the same points with City even though we’ve had a worse injury record. 2. I have seen nothing from City that convinces me they are better (the points haul is proof). 3. Our first teamers are gradually coming back. 4. This team has shown that they can rise from adversity (eg. Champion’s league). 5. The hunger in the team is palpable. 6. We will beat Leceister at home. Beat Leceister at home, and that clears the 3 point deficit. Avoid defeat at… Read more »
Exasperating, but Spuds are also dangerous…
We will beat Leicester? You mean like how we will beat Chelsea right? Do we ever learn.. The crowd at the Emirates today almost sounded like they expect to beat the shit out of Chelsea. And so they got what they deserved. Moaning and groaning as early as 10 mins in.
I am counting on the fact that Arsene will be able to do better than Flamini/Ransey midfield combo by the time we play Leceister in 3 weeks.
Coq should be fit, Alexis back in shape and Elneny ready to play.
I admire your faith, but for me the result on Sunday is really worrying.
Too worrying to assume that we are just going to walk over the other teams fighting for this title. We still have to play United, Spurs, Everton, City all away from home. All of those fixtures in the last 3/4 seasons have caused us serious problems. If my memory serves me right, we haven’y won away at Everton since 2011/2012 season ?
I’d be surprised if we take 4 points from those games.
Your points about injuries… you’re acting as if when people start coming back from injuries this season (if they do) that more guys won’t get injured again. This team is a revolving door of injuries, as soon as someone comes back another one will get hurt and the cycle will keep on happening. Different year same old story. CL? you mean making out of the group stage like the should have? im sorry but that adversity was because they got beat by something from Croatia and Belgium. They need to win the EPL this year. Chelski have sucked (still managed… Read more »
if we are serious about winning the league, the BFG had to be dropped along with Flamini. Could chambers have really done worse than Flamini in the DM? As for Mertesacker, it’s not a coincidence that the Germany national team improved immensely and went on to win the World Cup after dropping him to the bench. We get needs to do the same if he’s serious about this title thing.
Am I the only one who thought it was the right decision to remove Giroud and not Theo? We we’re down to 10 and were always going to play on the counter so needed pace for that
Naturally yes, but not if your opponent is going to defend deep. Mikel and Matic hardly crossed the halfway line.
Giroud’s hold up play and flicks would’ve been useful and as wasteful as he is, would’ve scored at least of those flamini chances.
They defended deep because Walcott was there surely.Without him I’d expect they would have put us under greater pressure.
giroud can play on his own up front, you can send long ball to him , you can cross the ball to him,
theo cannot do any of this, we were playing the chav defence they would have never leave any space to theo tu run ,you may as well with 9 player
The only counter Theo knows is the deli one Harrods.
I didn’t think it was wrong and I could have gone either way. What I find bizarre is how many (take the Beeb, for example) are so adamant it was a shit decision. Why on earth should we give a crap what a journeyman spud-plank like Jermaine Jenas thinks? OK, so a good pundit can be anyone, but you get my drift.
It really wasn’t such an outrageous decision, especially when you take into account Wenger’s thinking. Theo stinking the place up made it look worse – lad couldn’t time a run with a stopwatch.
We gave it a good go, per needs to be replaced by Gabriel as he has shown a loss of form with his slow mind and panic passing, think he needs a rest….. As a sharp defender would of let dirty costa go as it was early in the game and Petre would of stopped the Spanish term from scoring. And we could of ruined them 2nd half with Sanchez
I meant terd not term to describe Costa
top 4 it is then
It’s the inevitability of the performance/result that sucks the most
I’m just tired.
Fuck right off. We prepared poorly as fuck. How the fuck did Willian run straight through our midfield free to play Costa in? Per shouldn’t have been stupid enough to jump in like that but the passage of play beforehand was bloody criminal. And this is all too bloody familiar.
Nah i don’t see us winning the title. Between Nov and Jan, we’ve lost 14 points in games which should’ve won.
We can’t keep screwing up and expecting leicester to slip up because those guys are the real deal. Spuds are right behind us as well.
Arsene Wenger should be held responsible for the loss. per Metersacker is too slow to play against a counter attacking team. Gabriel should have started the game. Let’s hope he will not make the same mistake against Southampton, Leicester and Barcelona. Gabriel should be benching per and not the other way round.
Our central defence looked shaky from the off……… Against last years Champs? Surprised?
Not at all.
“Protected” by Flamini in the DM role, since Coq got injured, the best we could hope for was an up and down period. And so it came about. He did ok , Flambo, but he is not Francis.
From here, we move on up…….players in positions to suit the efficiency of the team……..
I believe that we are going to have a good run in.
Wenger needs to hold his hand up on this one. His decisions are costing us vital points. It’s clear that Flamini and Mertesacker are an accident waiting to happen. Why continue playing them when we have better options on the bench. Flamini is no more than an emergency back up yet he’s keeping out a new signing who was bought specifically to do a job in the absence of Coquelin.
1st I feel luck it’s Per who got the red and not Kos, recovery time has been increased by 90% (out with the slow in with the fast I hope it’ll last) and I don’t see the BFG on the pitch untill the day he comes from the sidelines to come pick his premier League winners medal 2nd Alexis is back we forget about Walcott’s unreliability. Ramsey needs to be benched for a month can’t he just get a runny nose untill the time we play Norwich. Flamini: who knew the 2-1 score will come and bite us in the… Read more »
To be fair, these few games will be a toughest run for the rest of the season. With key players coming back I hope we can push on and start getting back-to-back wins. A boy can dream
Prepare for 4th people. What’s worse is it will be behind those cuntbuckets down the Seven Sisters Road. Unfortunately we’re finding our level in the table. A few difficult games and we’re dropping points all over the place.
No Wenger, we’re tired of your excuses. If we can’t beat a piss poor chelsea side, then i’m sorry we can’t win the league.
If leicester or God forbid, spuds win this league, then Wenger needs to leave.
Well done Chelsea! Enjoy the slim victory achieved by cheating today. Enjoy having a diving cunt like Costa in your team. A man so despicable even John Terry is about to pale in comparison. Last but not least, enjoy the number 13 place in the Premier League.
this one is all on wenger. he didn’t even give chelsea anything to think about. same old tired team and no game plan. the difference in preparation between this and the man u game at home is criminal.
What an absolute crock of shit. The man is losing all credibility.
We have Alexis and Coq back, and played pretty well against 11 men. I really don’t see why we should not be more optimistic. Have to enjoy the position we have gotten ourselves in. Seasons are filled with ups and downs – no one is walking away with the league this season, so strap yourself in because this wont be the last disappointing part of the season.
I’m ready for the thumbs down but if we don’t win the league this year with this squad with this much depth, with this much talent performing in a league where our main rivals have been average at best, Wenger must go.
Wenger made two bad substitutions today – First it was taking off Giroud for Gabriel while keeping Theo on. I can quite understand the rational behind this; Theo can play upfront, has pace to push their defense back etc. But his current form is so far down the gutter that he wouldn’t have started if Alexis was fully fit. Early in second half, he took Campbell off for Alexis while keeping Theo on. Our we improved suddenly, but Theo was again missing. While the first one was understandable, I did not get this one at all – You are playing… Read more »
Surely it’s a good sign to be within 3 points of the top of the league in January, while having to overplay so many players due to having so many players out through injury? We’re no where near being out of the title race and with our injured players back we should have a good crack at it. Some thoughts on today. I don’t think Per should have been sent off, no contact with the ball or Costa, that was a blatant dive to make it appear that Per fouled him. It was just naive if anything. Ive seen Ramsey… Read more »
About the best thing I’ve read on this depressing day.
We’re still in the title race but we must be honest and know that’s because the standard at the top is lower than its been in recent seasons. I see people arguing about whether Ramsay or Walcott or flamini etc were worse today and for me they are missing the bigger picture. All those mentioned and also some others have not been consistently good enough this season. With the finances and infrastructure we have now the aim must be to get to the very top level of European football in the near future and with that in mind, only perhaps… Read more »
Not gonna win the league, sad but true
So many overreacting… Where we’re you guys when we drew against Liverpool? That was the match we shouldn’t have dropped points given the opportunity. Chelsea was always going to be a shitfest for our team and tactics.
We’re not playing like champions at the moment, but if we play like champions from now until the rest of the season we will win the league. And personally, I am hopeful that integrating Elneny and the return of Rosicky, Coquelin and Welbeck over the next few weeks can get us playing like champions. Hopefully we can bring those players in while winning the next three league games (which we really should win), which would put us into a strong position going into the crunch games against Leicester, United and Sp*rs.