Arsene Wenger says he’s pleased with the way his team responded to last week’s 0-0 draw with Boro, and how they reacted when brought back to 1-1 by Sunderland today.
The Gunners ran out 4-1 winners in the end, with two goals each from Alexis Sanchez and Olivier Giroud, and the Arsenal manager was glad his team got back to winning ways so quickly after last weekend.
Speaking after the game, he said, “It was important to restart again after the draw last week. Today we missed many chances and suddenly we were down to 1-1.
“After that it was more of a mental test. How do we respond? Do we feel sorry for ourselves? We had the strength to push and in the end it was a very comfortable win.”
Wenger did admit he was a bit worried when Sunderland scored, especially with Arsenal so wasteful.
“You think ‘Here we are’, because we missed so many chances or final passes,” he said.
“The ball was a bit short or a bit long, I was even worried we could lose the game. Sometimes a team misses so many chances they feel like they deserve to lose but we bounced back.
“We had some response as soon as it was 1-1, we kept going.”
And with Giroud scoring with his first two touches, it was put to him that the substitution was ‘inspired’.
“I think it’s easy to have inspired substitutions when you have quality on the bench,” he said, so that was quite an obvious decision.
“We have plenty of options up from and in the middle of the park as well, so it’s interesting if we keep united, focused and motivated.
“If you don’t win two games on the trot, doubts creep in. After disappointment it’s always respond straight away with smartness and determination and that’s what we did today.”
“I think it’s easy to have inspired substitutions when you have quality on the bench”
Haha, perfect! ?
Giroud’s toughness, both mental and physical is the best in this Arsenal team.
Alex was knocked around a lot today, maybe needs some bench rest at Ludogrets
Alexis*
Rotation will be key to both keep the squad fresh and morale high.
Never a penalty for them. Gift by the ref probably feeling sorry for their plight.
Good patience from us and a good substitution by the gaffer.
Both Giroud and Ramsey added something.
Excellent to see GIbbs on again today and thought he was good putting in the assist plus adding pace to cover at Lback.
Arsene, you classy beast! No wonder Susie Countdown fancies ya!
Our depth right now is marvelous to the point that we could probably even go a few games without Özil and not miss a beat. Not so with Alexis, the man is consistently incredible and utterly irreplaceable, oh please merciful injury gods could you spare him this season?
What have you done?! The gods weren’t looking our way, obviously. But now…
Quick, someone, slap him with a 2×4 of pure oak.
neh,we’d miss ozil as much, if not more
After Ebo’s post, I fear for Ozil’s health more than Alexis’s. From everything I’ve seen, gods can’t resist a bit of irony.
Haven’t you heard ? There is no…
Cool a lightning bolt !!
Him too.
Some well-taken goals today from our two strikers. Still second on goal difference. The team needs to rack up the wins now. No prizes given for beating the bottom club.
Prize for beating the bottom club is the opportunity to claim top spot once you beat the one above us..
We can’t hit the doldrums in November like we have in years past. Let’s ignore the weather and pretend it’s April!
The luxury of having someone like Giroud on the bench to be called upon!
Glad Arsene ignored the cries for a world class striker… he knew we already had one in Sanchez!
Only question is why it took 2 years for him to be played and flourish there…
My answer is mainly Walcott. When Sanchez goes deep to get the ball Walcott goes upfront. Previous years when Sanchez was upfront we felt like we have no bodies in the box but this year Ozil moved a little forward and Walcott goes central + constantly when the time comes we have one midfielder there who runs through the channels and is making space for the others (Coq today in many occassions). In that case Ozil finds himself as a CM where he breaks the defense with his pass or in the box (that’s why he doesn’t have so many… Read more »
As to why it took 2 years to transition Alexis to CF, I think it has to do with the fact that Alexis has never had a proper preseason with the team with the World Cup in 2014 and the Copa the two subsequent summers delaying his return to the squad until pretty much the start of the season on each occasion. It’s a lot harder for the team to make, and adjust to, such a big tactical change (shifting from playing with a target man like Giroud to a fluid front 3) in the middle of the season when… Read more »
Wengerout
#AtkinsonIn
Imagine where we would be if we had a world class striker and a new manager! Since we neglected to get a world class manager….Is anyone noticing we also have a number of exceptional young players available in every possible position, especially central defense. We literally have 2 full starting lineups capable of a top 4 finish. COYG!
Yeah the lousy manager we have promoted 3 youth team products when everyone said they weren’t going to be up to scratch – Coquelin, Iwobi and Bellerin.
he also kept some lousy striker Walcott when every one wanted that player sold.
And he put Alexis as a striker, what was he thinking?
And he wasted money with panic buys in market like Granit, Mustafi, Holding, Perez.
He’s a bloody disgrace he is.
It’s the lack of world class grounds men I’m worried about. Not to mention ball boys. The academy isn’t producing the quality we hoped for so we need to buy more and better ball boys.
We’re coming into getting an idea how the league is going to shape up now with ten games in. Clearly we’re in the thick of it with City and Liverpool. Chelsea and Spuds are also hovering. United…well, spend some money in the market and surely a recipe for success…not…unless you are a pundit. Some difficult matches ahead but we have to believe we can do it. We were top of the mini league between the top four last season. It was small teams that was our undoing. We seem to be grinding them out better this season but we have… Read more »
There’s hope for Arsenal this season, we’re proving a point and coming with a force.
Arsene’s comments get a thumbs up from me