Arsene Wenger says Arsenal need to get back to basics after watching his side suffer their third defeat in eight days at the hands of Swansea.
The Gunners opened the scoring thanks to Joel Campbell’s smart effort but squandered chances either side of Wayne Routledge’s equaliser before Ashley Williams bundled home a winner with 16 minutes remaining.
Reflecting after the game, the boss said his side were unlucky on the night and lacking in confidence.
“It was a very unlucky defeat because we created many chances, we were unlucky in our finishing and they only had two shots on target which were both goals. It’s a very disappointing result. The players are very down but we have to respond to that.”
He continued: “It looks like it [they lack confidence] a bit.”
Arsenal travel to Sp*rs on Saturday knowing a win would put them level on points with neighbours (stop laughing in the cheap seats). Asked how he’ll solve his side’s problems in the space of two days, the boss replied:
Asked how he’ll solve his side’s problems in the space of two days, the boss replied: “We focus on our job and come back reminding ourselves that we have some quality as well. Of course we have to analyse it as well and bounce back. We have a big game in three days.
“At the moment I am worrying about our results,” he said, when asked if his side’s title chances are gone.
“We just lost three games and that is always a very disappointing moment for the team. At the moment we don’t dream. We have to be realistic and come back to what we do well, the basics.”
He later added: “I don’t know [if the title is gone]. It is very difficult to say because everybody drops points. At the moment, I believe that we need to get back to positive results before we speak about the Championship which is at stake at the moment.
“It is very difficult as it is unpredictable. Manchester City lost, Tottenham lost. It is very difficult to predict what will happen in this league.”
Last night I went back to basics: stripped off, burnt my house down and ran naked and wild-eyed to live into the woods. Crawled into work today on all fours like a badger, going to make a small nest in the corner of the office and try and lick my own balls. Good day.
I think it may be my slow but sure descent into madness due to Arsenal-related misery that’s to blame, but this genuinely made me laugh out loud in my office.
Lol…..thank heavens for people like you in this forum because, even in the depth of this deepest darkness, you still manage to make us laugh….thanks pal
Nonsense! We were supposed to go back to the basics after the man u embarrassment,how did we fare? while in the process of going back to basics,we find ourselves needing to go back to more basics.I wish our colleagues in London will do us a favour and stage a proper protest.Do anything possible to force a change.It is obvious this club never values it’s fans.
the only effective protest would be an economical one. however, this would be undermined by the thousands of people on the season ticket waiting list…
Yep – I’m number 50,000 by my last count. Which was three weeks ago, so might actually be quite close now
Wenger is a man that hast lost it’s usefulness. What more can he say? The reason yesterday was “unlucky”. He has ran out of ideas. Fans who dream like Arsene Wenger should continue to dream on but him continue to be in the helm of affairs of Arsenal, will not get us anywhere. I blame the owner and the board for all these mess. If someone like Usmanov or Aluko Dangote( Nigerian Billionaire) had bought Arsenal, I do not think we will be in the situation we are today. These are men who love Arsenal and not Kroenka who is… Read more »
The man is more than deluded, i thought he believed he did not need any out field player at the begining of the season, and thought Sanogo was the answer 2 years ago? Those who pay this man 8 million a year are deluded as well.
Kroenke became majority shareholder in 2011, who was to blame for the barren years before then? And I’d really like it if fans stopped championing Usmanov as some sort of saviour in waiting – he will make fuck all difference to the success or failure of this club. And was he not pushing for dividend payments to the shareholders of the club a while back? None of these billionaires “love Arsenal”. Most billionaires who takeover clubs are generally in it for the money and prestige. Of course we’ve seen Abramovich splash the cash, and the mad Sheikhs up at city,… Read more »
Thank goodness you’ve reminded yourself of “few exceptions”. I don’t know of Usmanov but Dangote is an Arsenal fan.
And yes! Kronke shares in the the blame because of one million reasons and still counting… No passion, no leadership, no guidance, no vision, no mission, no objectives, no blah blah blah blah blah.
To get to where we need to be we’re going to have to go waaay back to basics. I’m talking fielding 11 prehistoric organisms on a petri dish.
Just trying to stay from anything football related and I would come here just to see how the wenger bashing was going. Then I saw pooner’s post. Made me laugh a lot. Classic mate
Thank you Pooner. I shall do the same tomorrow and eat my lunch while it is still wriggling
Brilliant! Bravo, sir.
I’ve up voted this twice it was so good!
I woke up thinking “it’s OK, we only lost a point”. Clearly Arsenal have finally affected my sanity.
Buy a striker who gets lucky with his finishing .
Get out while you still can Joel!
Like Javier Hernandez??
You make your own luck.
We all say we need to spend but I don’t think it will work, since arsene doesn’t do tactics. Irrespective arsene never has a plan on how to approach a game or a season.
Even when we had players like chamakh and all, we always scored goals and this season we have failed to score goals and win convincingly. That is my biggest worry. Working the ball near the edge of the penalty area to run around in circles.
but wasnt that our basics? :/
Please just shut up.
Arsenal needs to go back to the basics, Arsene says. That, in my opinion, is the basic thing of judging a manager by his results. Nothing else will suffice. I will sheath my sword till May – (will it even last that long?) – then the board has to take a long hard look at the team going forward. Is Wenger the future? I sincerely don’t think so. There was a time I used to dread the day Wenger finally calls time on his career here; but now, I can’t wait.
Always sheath your sword – you don’t know where she’s been
Back to basics you say? We’ve got less points now then at this stage last season and we had less points last season (at this stage) than the season before that.
Decline it is.
This bad week is starting to feel a bit permanent.
Bollocks to this crap. We’re playing fucking Spores at the weekend. If we lose to them then, yes ,our title challenge is over for yet another year but if we get a little bit of luck and actually win the game we are right back in it.
If somehow these players gain the confidence and cohesion to beat a spurs side that has been well in-form (blip at west ham) at WHL then all my dreams will come true. if not it will just be a routine day and a routine reaction from the media players and arsene wenger
“We have “some” quality.”
Even he doesn’t seem to believe anymore. Perhaps I’m taking it out of context like a rubbish tabloid but there’s no evidence to suggest there’s even a shred of belief in this squad.
We have lots and lots of quality but the players just don’t know it right now nor have the confidence to rectify it.
Something drastic needs to happen because I don’t want to file a missing person’s report for a lost dressing room.
This was exactly my response to the quote.
It’s not fucking “reminding ourselves that we have some quality as well” it should be “we’re fucking Arsenal, we don’t sit below Sp*rs on the table, and we don’t lose the title to Leicester!”
Furthermore, it’s also not “I don’t know if the title’s gone” it’s fucking “No! it’s there to be won and we’re going to grab it!”
Swagger. Drive. Pride.
How difficult is this to understand?! This is what Alexis was talking about. This is what I’m disappointed in most right now.
I’m honestly so fucked off right now. Just shut the fuck up. I’ve had enough of these bullshit quotes – media lockdown until we can win a fucking game. I have NEVER doubted Wenger until this last month, but if we don’t win the league, he has to go. His position is completely untenable. Otherwise he sounds like a hypocrite, completely incompetent, or both.
“It is very difficult as it is unpredictable. Manchester City lost, Tottenham lost. It is very difficult to predict what will happen in this league.”
What is predictable is the manner of the defeat though. Wenger you are on more money than a Mexican drug lord. It is your job to get these players ready for games. We can all stand there in a long coat lifting our hands every 20 minutes.
Do the decent thing and tell that bald cunt Gazidiz that you’ll be off in the Summer and to make preperations for Operation New manager needed.
I don’t understand all the hate Gazidis gets. He’s a man in a suit doing a man in a suit’s job. He isn’t responsible for keeping Wenger in place and he doesn’t make the terrible decisions in the course of games or who to buy. All this stuff about him not being a football man is bull-shit. Man City do pretty well with a load of Sheikhs making all the decisions apart from their ‘football men’ that they nabbed from Barcelona making tactical masterstrokes like “let’s sign Guardiola as manager” or “let’s spend a shit-load on an established player like… Read more »
It’s sad that he’s almost certainly going to go out (2017, clearly won’t be this summer) on such a low. I’ll never boo him or jeer him, but surely he’s aware that now the time has come. Even if by some miracle we win the league this year (we won’t), what’re the chances that City and Chelsea are as god awful next season as this? Zero. Meaning presuming that Spurs and Leicester maintain their form (logic would dictate they’d fall off but clearly logic doesn’t apply to them), we’re finishing 5th. And that’s if Klopp doesn’t sort out Liverpool, United… Read more »
That made me chuckle
I went hunting for Arsene’s post match comments & stumbled across his comments after our defeats to Swansea in 2014 & 2015 & in both games we were unlucky & didn’t take our chances while Swansea barely had a sight on goal & took their chances. Maybe we’re stuck in the one season doomed to play it over & over again until we win the league & it’s not really a case of chronic failure year after year. Groundhog Season perhaps?
Bill Murray would make a great manager. Arsene needs to get a few spliffs out, crank up the Bob Marley, and have a big smoke up in the centre circle before training. The players will relax and start banging them in. At least we ”only” have Hull B away in the FA Cup chase. Callum Chambers and Flim Flam (scores for fun) v Spurs pse.
He buys them, finds them, trains them, picks them……it’s his reponsibilty. Go, upstairs, out the front door, back door just go!
Yes this season is unpredictable. But we most definitely are not. Chokers who fold.
I remember two seasons ago we went to White Hart Lane after a disastrous start to our season. No one believed we could get any sort of result out of that game. Then Giroud scored a goal, we did a classic 1-nil to the Arsenal, and we signed Özil in the following days. Why am I saying this? I don’t know. I don’t know what to think about this team right now.
It was at the Emirates.
Dream on. Even if Spurs field their 18year olds these deluded chokers will find a way to collapse.
The manager has lost the plot, maybe gooners are finally waking up to this fact, 10 years late.
Or maybe he will suddenly become better in the 13th year after the last BPL win.
It’s not 10 years late. He isn’t doing well, no, but in 2006 he took Arsenal to the Champions League final with a back four of Eboue, Senderos, Djourou and Flamini. The revisionism of some fans is fairly annoying. Other revisionist opinions that are popular among some are that (a) he only won things when he first joined because of the players he inherited, forgetting that the team in 2004 had exactly none of them; and (b) that he only won before because everyone else was rubbish. I think he should go because he’s not the right man now. That… Read more »
We have lots of quality. Apparently we also have the worlds only unending supply of “bad luck”. I stand firmly behind our team, and I’m genuinely a supporter of both Giroud and Wenger. But if I have to listen to one more “excuse” along the lines of “unlucky”, I will murder someone. Also, if I have to watch Giroud do another one of his “I was right here” signature moves everytime he doesn’t get the ball, I will murder his beard. You’re not helping your teammates by wasting time pointing out where you were, sir. Shut up, keep your theatrics… Read more »
Summer is when we have to get back to basics; get a fukcing striker that can actually score! With a decent finisher and all the chances we create, we should be out of sight in the league by now! Thierry questioned our ability to win anything with Giroud upfront but he was brushed off as a “rat” and hater. Well I guess he’s been vindicated. I’m sick and tired of watching Giroud stick out his tongue every time he misses chances that a 18 yr old would dispatch blindfolded. So gutted.
its unlucky that we have had a board who do not question the manager. it is unlucky that we have a manager who does not want to buy players who can affect games when the going gets tough. its unlucky that we have £150 mil sitting in the bank gathering interest. its unlucky that we have deep lying issues across the fabric of the club from the board to the coaching staff to the atmosphere in the stadium to the prices we are being charged to watch this unlucky team. its unlucky that the same bad luck has been happening… Read more »
We have no confidence? Against a side like Swansea? Why? Why? Why? Is it because mr Wenger is a bit wet? All verbal dribble, no balls. And also we have far too much press before a match! can’t we just have no press until after the match? train behind closed doors? Feels like our opponents already knows what team and what tactics we are going to play before a match, what happened to a bit of secrecy before a match? It’s all bollocks!
Can someone please explain to me why Wenger took Campbell (our best player on the night) off and left the ever misfiring Ramsey, Giroud and Sanchez (only to remove him later for the even more abject Walcott) on? Where is the logic? He needs to go back to the basics of proper tactics. The man is senile, there’s nothing “unlucky” about what happened by any stretch of the imagination. Either that or he has some strange beef with the lad, because all I saw was him putting in a shift and scoring our only goal and yet Wenger rewards him… Read more »
Honestly I’m Arsenal until I die, but fuck me these are desperate times. The game has developed more in the past twenty years than in the previous one hundred. Arsene can’t keep up and it’s sad to watch. I can’t be angry at him, for what he not only has done for us, but for English football as a whole has been revolutionary. He will eventually be revered with Herbert Chapman-esque status. However, I do think he is becoming stubborn, the pressure for him to buy players is making him more reluctant, the pressure for him to splash out when… Read more »
What do you plan to do? Immolate yourself?
Amazing, ha!
Yeah, taking Campbell off was a bizarre decision, even more so than not playing him at all on Sunday. I used to defend Theo Walcott because I really thought that he would blossom one day. It seems that he is never going to have the consistency to perform at the required level. Mind you, no one is performing at the required level at the moment. We have strikers who cannot get the ball into the net, despite the side creating more than enough chances for them. Giroud really should have scored from that BFG nod down last night and I… Read more »
You guys need to stop fooling yourselves about this man’s past glory. It is not about spending money, but finding the right players! Mahrez/Kante didn’t cost the earth, neither did Kouyate at WH and what of that Aldewerld (sp) at Spurs, a manager needs to idenify the weakness/es in his team and find players to fill those holes? Does anyone think Ramsey is a title winning DM…….even Coq. is barely adequate, an experienced manager who thinks these 2 can be at the heart of a title winning team is taking the piss. Because he knows he can spout rubbish excuses… Read more »
Thought Campbell’s direct running was the only injection of impetus in our performance, from the only player seemingly showing confidence, and this in spite of Wenger’s harsh treatment of him. Maybe if we’d have stuck with him on the right instead of trying to play Theo/Ox into form, in spite of their woeful displays, we mightn’t be on this terrible run. Played 10 won 3 drawn 3 lost 4 gf 9 ga 10 since the Liverpool game, after which we were top of the table. Now I’m not saying Joel’s presence in the team represents salvation, far from it, but… Read more »
I just find this team completely fucking baffling. So much talent in there but no guts. We should not be losing from a winning position, especially not to a team as shit as Swansea. That performance was as naive as it comes and there are some very experienced players in this side. We did not steady the ship at all. Right now, if there’s no confidence, I think we should be playing two solid, no nonsence midfielders in the middle if we don’t have Cazorla to play alongside Coquelin. That would mean Coquelin and Elneny, and stick Ramsey back out… Read more »
“Of course we have to analyse it as well and bounce back. We have a big game in three days”
We just had three big games. We ballsed them all up in typical Arsenal fashion. Cant wait for the next one…
Think the man we miss most is david dein, it’s all been a bit downhill since he left.
Well said that man! I’ve mentioned this on here before, especially in light of all Wenger’s ‘i nearly signed so and so 5 years ago’ type outbursts. I think Wenger identified the targets and Dein had the charm, charisma and know-how to get the deals over the line….along with being a friendly and inspiring presence in the changing room.
Dein in.
Hollow words from a man who barely looks like he believes them himself. His timid response to the Campbell sub question looked like a man trying to explain why the Earth is indeed flat. We look a mess, he looks a mess, and there’s really no good reason for it to be the way it is. I selfishly told others to keep the faith a week ago and I’m sorry for that. Nothing will change at this club until the people running it do. Thats Arsene, his coaching staff and the board behind him. It’s rotten from the inside out.
Yeah, I did the same. I really thought that we’d be brave and show why we have the mental fortitude to go on and win this thing. We didn’t do that. The bravery had to come from team selection and substitutions.
Arsene, I really hate to say, bottled it.
I don’t see anything selfish in you trying to be positive – no need to apologise. I give credit to you for being positive – I certainly wasn’t, and I isn’t doing much for my health!
*it isn’t
“We were unlucky last night that I am the manager, and I am rightly infamous for my lack of regard to tactics. After the last minute _substitute_ manager for that glorified Championship side we faced adjusted to a 4-5-1 to stop the early success we had down the flanks, my team was unlucky to be managed by a man who categorically refuses to make any kind of response to that. After a brilliant start, we were the other side adjusted and we had no response. What are the odds? We are unlucky, because no one could have foreseen that we… Read more »
I am sorry but someone needs to say it. So here it is – Arsene, Arsenal are not unlucky, they are not good enough. Now the sooner you wake up and understand the difference between the two things, the better for everyone who cares about Arsenal. When Arsenal won the league last, They had – 1 World Class Keeper (Lehmann) (Cech is Better) Best Left Back in the World (Cole) (Monreal not even in the same league) One of Best Centre Backs (Campbell) (Kos is good, but not in the same class as Sol) One of Best Def Mid-fielders in… Read more »
This doesn’t really make sense when we are watching Leicester and Spurs fight it out for the league title. How many category 1 players do either of those teams have?
I don’t want to see Ramsey, Walcott or Giroud start the next game. Wenger’s children can take a place on the bench where they belong. Give me Welbz, Campbell, Alexis, ozil, coq & elneny as a part of a 4 3 3. Change it up Wenger!!
Disclaimer: Wenger will do none of the above
So much emotions about Campbell substitutions, however, let us run some reality check, Campbell is not a game changer as much as he is stabilizer in the team , he complete the team jigsaw puzzle, mind you he was playing well,but the whole team was out of sort and his contribution beyond that point will add nothing as everybody is singing a lone.
This Summer will make or break our future. I fear our owners are no better then Gillett and Hicks though. Just because Usmanov looks evil we judged him to be the worse of our two options. He would be better than this dick silent stan. Who I now hate. I hate everything about modern football. How many premier league owners can say they care more about success than money? Chelsea and City are abused for “Buying” the league, but how often do you hear complaints from their fans about the owner?? Success comes at a cost we’re not willing to… Read more »
Times have moved on, football has moved on. Perhaps we Arsenal fans don’t quite see it yet as we have an almost unbroken connection to those old days in Arsene Wenger. I fear that when the day come for him to leave we are left with a souless corporate entity that exists to enrich an American billionaire. That could be the day many people leave Arsenal and top level football for good.
Don’t know why we didn’t go back to basics last night. In hindsight, wouldn’t it have been better to play for the 1-0 last night? Sit deep, frustrate, play backs to the walls and look to hit Swansea on the counter? It’s what I seem to remember us doing in the last few seasons when we needed to gain points for our last ditch attempt at fourth, and we really grinded out some games. I remember after United would lose a game badly, Fergie would win the next few games 1-0. At the moment we seem to get hurt the… Read more »
AFC has become a dominant factor in my life.
When we are going well, my mood is well.
When we are going badly, my mood is bad.
Mostly, my mood has been bad over the last 10 years or so.
Mu psychotherapist says I should follow a less emotional sport, like tiddly winks.
I’d like to think that if I watched another sport I’d be less frustrated than I am with Arsenal, but I’m exactly the same watching other sports I like. Andy Murray does my head in!
Try being a fan of the Toronto Maple Leafs (NHL). The comparisons between them and Arsenal are astounding.
At least Arsenal have won the league in black and white, hehe. 🙁
choose between where ARSENAL is and LIverpool, Man U or Man City and Chelsea, I think we should appreciate our players more. Ozil is playing well because he needs another big contract. Ramsey and Walcot should be on bench for next game… COYG
Blogs! Why so serious son!
The ultimate shame here is that we’ve become “Spursy” – good in the Cup but flakey and unreliable in the league!
How did it come to this?
I was thinking about writing a long piece this morning until I read this on another website:
http://onlinegooner.com/article.php?section=editorial&id=601#.VtgcEvmLTIU
Then decided not to bother. It says everything that I wanted to say – only better.
Yep ! Kevin Whitcher tells it like it is. He’s good on the OLG Podcast as well.
When Wenger starts sounding like John Major, you know his time is well and truly up.
We’re still only 6 points off top spot. That’s two wins. Perhaps if we all got behind the team, and the manager, until the title was out of reach, we would be in a much better position. The atmosphere in the ground last night was toxic – no wonder our players are lacking confidence. We win on Saturday, we are right back in the mix. Lets get behind our team, our manager, and Arsenal until there’s absolutely nothing left to play for, instead of behaving like a bunch of moaning spoilt children. Imagine supporting a club like Leicester, who until… Read more »
It is not bad luck, it is a lack of character in the squad. We k ow who is responsible for that!
All this fluff about steadying ships, bad weeks leaders and confidence is a load of effing bollocks. I wish Wenger would stop picking his favourite players rather than thinking tactically and picking a squad required to at the very least grind out a result against a particular team. I can’t remember where I read it but I recall a quote that goes something along the lines of “stupidity is continually doing the same thing and expecting a different result.’ Persistently playing Ramsey in CM when he has shown time and time again this season that he can’t produce the goods… Read more »
So Long as we are doing the basics, here’s my two cents:
1. Playing Walnut shows balls…but breaks em too!! SELL HIM!!!!
2. Tie a horse-shoe on each player’s neck and put a four-leaf clover in their effin mouths. That shoulda take care of them LUCK!!!
I was Wenger out 3 years ago when he refused to invest in quality that would lift the team despite being in a financialy strong position to do so, but instead he continued his mantra of letting our best players leave and join a rival and replaced said player with cheap affordable players like Podolski, Giroud or Gervinho etc. Tactic wise all we did back Then was the usual Gung Ho Attacking/possession football nicknamed the Arsenal Way. This caused us to drop points or lose in the majority of games against other top clubs. Substitutions was never on merit then… Read more »
It’s simple, Wenger is too old, passed it already. We need new energy, a younger guy, like Koeman or Pochettino.
What is unlucky is that we’ve had you Wenger for too many years. +10 years without a league is unacceptable for a team that is supposed to be big. It’s time to go and bring new energy. Wenger Out, like I’ve said for the last 4 seasons circa!
We may have had some trouble scoring but in ultimate analysis we are conceding very soft goal because we do not defend as a team. The last two games sum it up. We scored 2 goals at OT – do that and you expect to at least draw. We scored first at home. You do that you should win the game – just don’t concede. But we get caught on the most basic of counter attacks. Any team that needs to score 3 goals to win a game will struggle. I get the back to basics thing. Set the stall… Read more »
Though the title is long gone, Arsenal still have pride and position to play for; that means the ‘return to basics’ is winning the midfield. We’ve been overrun too easily this year, and as everyone has been saying, it is time for Elneny-Coquelin to reestablish our presence. A sturdier central midfield platform is the heart of good team defence and the springboard to attack; we clearly miss Cazorla desperately, but Elneny is the closest replacement (snappy tackles, always open, good passer, wicked shot) – he should have been playing the last 2-3 games, at least, but what can we do.… Read more »
A killer tackle from an Arsenal player will resultin a red card!
Is he saying this as a Pundit? Or is he just having a bath talking out loud? Baldrick has a cunning plan! Wibble.
Wenger will not leave this season and probably not next. If you think a mass call and revolt that forces him out this season is best, you are fooling yourself, your odds of success are about 50/1…think about it. Now ask yourself this…the same question the players and managers need to ask themselves. ” How can i be the best fan,player,manager for the rest of this season??? COYG!