Laurent Koscielny has given his backing to Arsene Wenger stating his manager is ‘still the man’ to lead Arsenal.
The French defender, who was signed by Wenger from Lorient in 2010, also spoke optimistically about not giving up on the Premier League title, even though the Gunners sit 11 points behind leaders Leicester with just eight games remaining.
“He has been at the club for a while now, the banners are not something new for him,” Koscielny told press in France ahead of his country’s friendly game with Holland.
“He’s very calm. He knows what he has done for the club and the coach is still the man to help us, maybe with a little luck to win the championship.
“I can understand the frustration of the fans, having not won the championship for a long time. In any case, we try by all means each season to lift the trophy.
“However, everything is not under our control. The club has to deal with injuries, periods of poor form.
“There is a small chance but mathematically it’s still possible. We must win all our matches.”
Koscielny’s support for Wenger comes less than 24 hours since Mesut Ozil took to social media to dismiss spurious rumours that he’d leave Arsenal if the manager remained at the helm next season.
“Have seen the media reports today,” he wrote on Twitter. “Arsène Wenger was a big reason for me joining Arsenal – this hasn’t changed!”
Elsewhere, The Times are ‘exclusively’ claiming that Per Mertesacker will not be handed a new deal before he enters the final twelve months of his current deal.
The German, who joined Arsenal in 2011 from Werder Bremen, is contracted until July 2017 by which time he’ll be nearly 33-years-old. The report also claims that Wenger could hand the captaincy to Petr Cech this summer when Mikel Arteta leaves the club.
Nice to see the Kos and Ozil backing the manager, but what else can they say? There has to be some changes in the summer and I can see Rosicky, Arteta and Flamini leaving the club. Per to be a back up centre back. I hope we buy some real world class players!
You gotta love Bellerin’s Spockney, now Laurent’s developing Frockney, our new midfield pair, has reduced our despair, and soon they will master El-Coqney
love it!
Nice to see the players backing the manager who has shown faith in them in what has been a disappointing season. Especially while Chavski players have said how they were right to sack Mourinho. Classier players, classier club, that’s for sure!
THat’s the difference between winners and loser
Yeah, Chelsea are real winners this season!
They’re as much winners as we are, they’ve just had the good sense to replace their failing manager
Yes they showed real good sense sacking their Champions League winning manager Di Matteo. Chelsea are an example of what not to do, that’s all.
What a bunch of losers they’ve only won the Europa league, Premier League and League Cup since then!!
What’s your point?
I know Arseblog disapproves of this kind of retort but this is just too obvious: is there a reason, then, why you claim to support us rather than them?
Well, to be fair, they WERE right to sack Mourinho. That guy is mental.
Bollocks!
Midfield additions are imperative as most of our options have unreliable fitness records. But the striking position is where the club needs to make a huge statement.
If our conversion rate this season has been anywhere close to what it should be, we could have wrapped up a second title at the Shite Hart Lane.
So everyone is backing everyone… What’s wrong then (unless there is nothing wrong)??
Yes he is still the man! Haters are gonna hate.COYG….
Is the Arseblog comment section totally unrepresentative of the fan base generally? I’m all for reasoned analysis without vitriol or bias, but it is clear that AW is not “The Man”, or we would be top of the league by 6 points and in the semi final of the FA Cup. Our aggregate score against the likely Champions is 7-3, yet we lose to Swansea, Man Utd, Chelsea (twice) and Southampton amongst others. I love AW and would love him to finish his career with a smug smile on his face and an “I told you so”, but do you… Read more »
I’m all for giving Cech the captaincy next year, as long as it doesn’t mean he suddenly turns shit or gets benched. I can’t remember the last time we had a captain that actually played football.
I can, it was RVP back in 2011/2012. I still wonder how these four years would have been with him still on board. Such a shame, really.
The word of the day is “facetious”.
He’d have continued to keep the medical centre busy.
Probably exactly the same as he has since he left us.
Good first season with United, terrible second. Non-existent third and then sold.
It’s a shame RvP felt he had to move on from us, think his last season showed us what a player he was.
To this day, I think over the 18 months since he left us, he would have made us stronger. And that’s not discounting Olivier’s contribution. Two very different front men.
Is there nothing to be anxious about? That’s when I’m most anxious! Because anxiety will come as a shock. Don’t back the manager, stop agreeing with each other, and lets go back to the manageable ‘everything that could go wrong is going wrong’ anxiety we’ve become used to!
One Boss backing another Boss…
Backing the manager is the very least he and his team-mates should do. Theoretically the manager has assembled a team with more quality than Leicester and yet they’re still gonna lose the league to them. What Leicester may lack in quality they’ve more than made up for in consistency and endeavour. The faith Wenger has shown in this team has not been reciprocated. You’re a professional footballer operating in a carefully constructed environment and paid handsomely to play football consistently to your potential. Collectively you’ve all failed to do so and now you’re offering support to the manager whose getting… Read more »
I think you misunderstand how journalism works. Journalists ask the questions and the subject in question answers and gets written about. Whatever they say, they lose. I don’t think these players get up onto their podiums to make these speeches. Unlike us posters on blogs.
Honestly, I’d be happier if _you_ just didn’t say anything…
“mathematically it’s still possible.” hear the same old crap every year . arsenal business brand.
More talk from the players but ultimately they have let the fans down
When Will all these excuses gonna stop? I don’t hate Wenger nor the players but I’d love us winning trophies and making people Happy!
I think it’s time for the players to show on the pitch what they are getting played to do,they need to take some lessons from Leicester,and spurs and show the will not to lose.
Lol everyone in the comments section backing Wenger again? Your opinions turn on a dime.
Not a coincidence that Ozil and Koscielny (two of our best) back Arsene. This league has become unbelievably competitive and it’s going to continue to get harder and harder to win matches. It’s the ultimate test of cosistency and while we seem “far off” the pace, we are really just a few moments from being right there at the top. Just look at what’s happened to the likes of City, Chelsea and United. That would never happen on Arsene’s watch, and while our league position is disappointing, we have had some shit luck this season (as well as some shit… Read more »
Let’s just remember we’re closer to 6th than we are to 2nd
The surprising thing is how easily it is for the media to manipulate fans. Their agenda is to create unnecessary discontent to add drama to write about. Arsenal are such an easy target. Here we have United, Chelsea and City having spent way more than Wenger operating behind us in the table and yet we are the ones for ridicule. In many ways we bring it upon ourselves in not having the gumption to close in on or maintain the lead off of the two clubs ahead of us who have incidentally spent less. But the media first said we… Read more »
What a lot of gibberish.
I’ll try to cover all your points. 1) Qualifying for the champions league is pointless if you have no chance of winning it or even progressing past the first knockout round. Secondly under Graham you actually had to win something to qualify for Europe. Therefore Wenger would not have qualified for several years under those criteria. 2)We have the new stadium, charge the highest prices for tickets, have massive sponsorship deals yet the club sit on all that cash. Plus Wenger didn’t build all that single handedly, he’s not the one who decided on a stadium move nor the one… Read more »
Qualifying for the CL is not pointless. It brings in revenue, sponsors and fans. Comparing two time spans at the club with each other is pointless. Actually, the stadium move was down to Wenger in large parts. I don’t know what most fans want. If I compare Ashley to Kroenke, then Kroenke wins. Of course Santos and co had to be mentioned. There are always ups and downs, pros and cons in life, in football, too. As for the FA cup, hows that not an almighty achievement? And did we always play our first XI? I am all for change,… Read more »
Apparently Thierry Henry cost “nothing”, when in fact he cost about 25% of the clubs turnover at the time, the equivalent of us now spending £80-90m on a player
Where did “Thierry Henry cost “nothing come from?
I can’t see anyone saying that.
Although the high cost was more a reflection of our poor income then.
One on the reasons we needed a bigger stadium so badly.
The sentence below the 4th statement in Santori initial comment.
And it wasn’t just Henry but “Henry, Viera, Pires, Anelka, Llungberg. Cost nothing”
I think we were actually the second biggest team in England at the time
Sorry, I didn’t see that. However as a group of players (rather than as individuals) they did ‘cost nothing’ compared to other teams.
And we were very definately not the second biggest team.
We were in the group bouncing around just below the top teams (maybe call it ‘the everton group’).
Plenty of PL clubs think qualifying for the CL is a very major achievement.
The reason you don’t is because we do qualify regularly.
Our neighbours will probably have a parade if they manage to do it this season.
Probably one of those traditional parades with Molotov Cocktails, knives, burning shops……..
Although I understand your point about the accomplishment of a minimum fourth place finish under financially constricted circumstances, the fact is that now those restrictions are no longer applicable, and therefore are no longer a valid excuse. If the management is to be believed and we are able to buy any player bar Messi and Ronaldo, what possible excuse is there for our squad to be short in key areas? The buck has to stop with the manager, surely?
Well said! Occasionally someone leaves a comment that makes sense and is worth reading on here, as opposed to the usual regurgitation of tabloid sensationalist nonsense. COYG
“However, everything is not under our control. The club has to deal with injuries, periods of poor form.”
Huh? At the very least the “poor form” is under your control.
Bit disrespectful to take captaincy away from Mertesacker. Can’t see Wenger doing that. Great to see players get behind him. Wish they could do more on the pitch though. Some performances have been a real let-down.
simple matter of fact is, “We have heard this before”, question to be asked is, are we or I personally willing to go into next season and take the gamble or demand a concrete change before season opens and then decide upon showing our support based upon developments in summer?? I personally cant wait for wenger to be sacked if and only if we dont win EPL this season, sign 3-5 supreme talents and clear the house starting with theo and flamini, if not for those 3 conditions met, he should go.
The late Johan Cruyff (RIP) commented ; “People do not realise the achievement of this manager (Arsène Wenger) at Arsenal. I find it incredible that Arsenal have stayed at the highest level of European competition and England under his management without ever ending up in debt. “I cannot remember red figures at Arsenal over the last 15 years. How many clubs in Europe can say they have qualified for the Champions League for 16 consecutive seasons under the same management? “Arsène Wenger has put his life and soul in to Arsenal. In 15 years, I have not seen him make… Read more »