Arsene Wenger says his decision to start Mohamed Elneny, Francis Coquelin and Aaron Ramsey in midfield at Old Trafford was made to counter the physical threat posed by Manchester United.
The Gunners engine, also devoid of the injured Santi Cazorla, had a distinctly conservative look about it with the boss explaining he wanted ‘experience and fight’ from the off.
“I knew it would be a bit more of a physical battle so I chose players who have experience and fight,” Wenger told Arsenal.com after the 1-1 draw.
“That’s why my selection was because of that. At the end of the day, everyone gave their maximum and there is a special spirit in the squad. That’s why we came back, because the players who came on made the difference. That’s remarkable.”
Given United’s possession in the second half and the chances they created, it’s widely accepted that Arsenal were lucky to escape with a point. Indeed, Olivier Giroud’s headed equaliser in the dying moments was the visitors only effort on target all afternoon and came after a raft of ‘last-throw-of-the-dice’ substitutions.
Despite the stats stacking up against his side, the boss said he still felt the result was fair.
“Considering the first half, yes [it was a fair result],” he added.
“We had a lot of possession but in the second half when we came out of the dressing room, we dropped. We offered less going forward, but when we were 1-0 down we found the resources again.
“We want to be about style and steel but today we were more about steel than style. There’s a remarkable resilience in the squad and that’s why we came back to 1-1. We didn’t have the usual fluency in our game. Was that because Manchester United blocked us well? I think it was because we were also not at our best going forward.”
Okay we get the selection but what was with the positions? Why play Ramsey on the wing?
I have seen Ramsey on the wing in at least 80% of games he played for Arsenal. What is the purpose of your question ? Doesn’t he have more experience than Iwobi?
Why play Ramsey at all
I totally agree Ramsey is over rated by Wenger adds little to the Team. Granit is far far better player and would have been a greater influence on the game. I deeply fear that our aging Prof is unable to choose wisely from this seasons bigger squad, and that bodes badly for the final outcome.
Ramsey has isn’t technically very good, his passing was poor, doesn’t have great vision or pace, selfish in front of goal and not disciplined defensively,he’s actually quite overrated. He’s good at arriving into the box , but that alone doesn’t justify his selection. Ramsey slows down play, takes a few touches before he can pass, can’t find a way around pressing, he wouldn’t be great even if played in the middle. Elneny might not be more creative but is a very tidy player, a good passer. We should sell Ramsey and look forward to bringing back Wilshere into the squad.… Read more »
Aug 2014 – Nov 2016 – Win ratio with Ramsey starting: ~49%; without: ~68% (stats by Orbinho). Correlation is not always causation, but I’d say the sample is large enough to suggest that there’s a problem with the player himself. This can mean two things: Either the team is not playing the way Wenger intends them to or his unconditional devotion to Ramsey is making him blind to the fact that he just can’t fit into the team. At the very least he’s being stubborn, as I’m sure he’s seen the stats. Ramsey is clearly a very good player, however,… Read more »
Ramsey was terrible – but we’re used to that.
The worst performer on the day was Wenger. I don’t blame him for the original selection but I do blame him for doing nothing when it was obvious that it wasn’t working. Everyone watching could see the goal coming. The 10 minutes leading up to it were a disaster. Yet there was no change even then. Lets be honest – we are aiming for the last Champions League place again
Sat on the bench in silence told his players that performance was acceptable too
The players need to take their share of the blame. Ozil was gash. Sanchez clearly not fully fit
Agree. I was like yelling to the TV for Wenger to use his sub before the goal. U could sense their goal coming but he did nothing. Should have call for the sub to interrupt their rhytim before their goal
Must say, I absolutely love that photo
Just had an interesting thought. In the big games this season (Liverpool, Tottenham, Chelsea and United), we’ve been distinctly worse in the second half. In the case of Chelsea, the game was up, but any suggestions why it happened in the other games?
Fitness? No one taking responsibility in the dressing room at half time? I honestly don’t know.
i dont know if people are gonna be upset about this but we are not gonna win the title with the kind of form we are in. we need to beat the top teams but except at chelsea we are yet to do it. liverpool(lost), spurs, united, psg and even if we include leicestre we are yet to win a game .
Well we beat Chelsea. Leicester and united were away matches so you wouldn’t expect anyone win those games easily. Liverpool only managed a draw against united and now they drew against Southampton. It’s an open race. City and Chelsea looking strongest now but it could change in the coming weeks. Doubt the other top teams will get 3 points at OT
i get the the idea of playing ramsey . we get one more midfielder who can battle for us . it was a good move. but ramsey was off form so it didint work for us .
but what i dont get is why we didint start xhaka. apart from santi the one player who can carry the ball out from the back. elneny wouldnt do that and so we barely created a chance . w should’ve atleast made the move after halftime rather than wait for the goal to make the change
My guess is that Wenger knows Mourinho would instruct his team to incessantly try and bait Xhaka into committing a red card offense (or two yellows), and Wenger doesn’t trust Xhaka to not take that bait.
Whilst I thoroughly enjoyed the role reversal i.e. play well, dominate possession, shots on target etc only to get sucker punched at the end, Sunday was a pretty shit performance. And this is against a ManU side in questionable form with a make shift back four. And we didn’t play THAT well in the first half and I don’t think we deserved anything from the game. Wenger was perhaps a bit too cautious in starting Coz and Elneny. Their passing was rather predictable and very side ways which probably explains why we created so little. In the continued absence of… Read more »
If you though Sunday was bad, you should have seen us playing the early kick off on Saturday :p
You know what?
This is all about belief, a quality that goes missing at AFC, when certain games come along.
Yesterday , against a sub standard , injury/suspension ravaged outfit, formerly known as Manchester United, we set the tone all by ourselves, and the sound of a graunching handbrake accompanied our every movement.
Watch next Wednesday night, and I guarantee we will approach it differently, taking the game to PSG, and “enjoying” the occasion.
I do agree that it was a lack of belief but I’ve gotta agree with Souness in the post match yesterday who said that these are supposedly top players who want to challenge for the title. Top players would break though that mental block.
Agreeing with Souness is the main problem here. Even if he says something interesting, it is usually founded or covered in utter bullshit.
Polished turd punditry at best.
He got it wrong, that’s all. It happens to everyone, no matter what they earn. But Wenger shouldn’t be countering Utd too much – that fear transmits to the players. Careful team selection = better be careful = they are a danger. I would pick Giroud for most or all of the bigggest away games with Alexis on the left, Walcott on the right. Yesterday I would have had Xhaka in for Elneny at the start and Rambo on the bench. Giroud is a pain in the arse for defenders – he is a massive threat in the air meaning… Read more »
Ramsey, out of position out of form and definitely out of fight. Statistics tell us we have a better win rate without him, Iwobi, Giroud, The Ox & Zhaka have all proved better options so far this season but Wenger insists on playing Ramsey at every opportunity, sell him, Ramsey mot Wenger.
If he was worried about the physical battle then why not play Xhaka? he’s definitely stronger than El Neny. Also I have no idea how Ramsey was supposed to help on the left. Did absolutely nothing. Rather play Iwobi or Oxlade
Lastly I thought we were very late with subs. 5-10mins before they scored everyone knew a goal was coming. We couldn’t even string 3 passes together. Still did nothing and conceeded that goal. Really disappointing stuff
Would have started Ramsey in the middle, the closest thing we have to Cazorla in his absence (apart from Jack, clearly) and a driving influence through the middle. He looked utterly lost on the left, and if we really wanted someone combative and defensive on the wing we might as well have started Gibbs
You would have started Ramsey in middle. Thank god you ain’t the manager. He needs to be sold, awful player.
We set up defensively and we nicked a draw.
Lack of ambition and fear of defeat. I could not recognise our team out there.
Wenger made the same comment last week after the Spurs game… “in the second half we dropped”
Maybe he should establish why we keep ” dropping” !
The thing that bothers me the most about the Arsenal game on Saturday is not the result or the performance, as horrible as that was to sit through, but the media and fickle-fan reaction. Last season, and the season before, and the season before that, everyone criticized Wenger for not being more like other managers who recognize tough opposition in a tough away game, and play defensive-minded football first with the aim of securing a narrow win (i.e., Arsenal lack steel …). Well, Wenger does that, explicitly on Saturday, and EVERYONE criticizes him for not laying down a marker, for… Read more »
Thank god for a sensible comment. I hear all kinds of BS from the so called pundits and Gooners just swallow it like holy water. I think Wenger did great. Last year we went there all gung ho and got spanked by a kid. Next game after that was the awful loss to Swansea at home and we were out of title race. I, in fact am very pleased that Wenger setup a conservative team. If that wanker Mou would have done this, there would reams of praise written about his tactics as if he won the game (like after… Read more »
I thought we missed Jack yesterday
Just hope we would try 4-3-3 in one match with 3 of Xhaka, Ramsey, Elneny, Coq starting in midfield. Remember us beating City away a couple of years ago with Coq as DM and Cazorla and Ramsey as CM. This formation we are using just doesn’t work without Cazorla (and Bellerin).
Chamakh, where does Ozil play in this formation?
Wenger style is a plan B which is plan A just with other players. A lot of short passes in the middle without any value add for the play. At least we’ve got plan C this season with Giroud..
He completely got his tactics wrong. No still understood the inclusion of Ramsey. He got it wrong each time he sets up hhs team to play against Mourinho.
Yesterday was a lack of ambition but we got what we came for. I’m still unhappy we drew against Sp*rs because otherwise a win against sh*t would have made this draw against United seem much better. I just hope we were resting players for the CL. Might have a go at that competition, now that Chelsea seem to be in full control to walk this league without any mid-week distractions.
Watching arsenal is like trying to knit fog?
I think Wenger is inclined to see the positives because he really, really did not want to lose to Mourinho.
The players don’t have the belief that they can win at old toilet. It’s been this way for years. It wouldn’t matter if one of the teletubbies was the manager of man u
Arsenal have an awful record At Old Trafford right the way through the Wenger era
P21, W3, D6, L12
96/97 to 05/06
P10, W2, D3, L5
06/07 to 16/17
P 11, W 1, D 3, L 7
our record at home v Man Utd is not hectic either
P20, W8, D6, L6
Highbury P10, W4, D3, L3
Emirates P10, W4, D3, L3
it is true ramsey is not performing,why is he not playing iwobi wenger must change his attitude he is killing the team i think we have a good team arsen is the problem
Lucky point no doubt, would have liked Wenger to offer more input. His hands off managent style is outdated. Even after the break he did not seem to have fired up the players at all and we just looked even more shit than in the first half.
Than chosen for physicality and fight.
Leaves Xhaka on bench
Team chosen.
Fuck
Goodnight
Awful team selection yesterday.
If Granit had started he would have gotten a red
Because of the first half the result was fair? How does that make any sense? We did not have a single shot on target in the first half, and besides a football game is 2×45 min and when you see the game as a whole we were very lucky indeed. If it had been the other way around we would have felt robbed. Considering United played such a ramshackle defense with obvious weaknesses i kikd of felt Wenger was to cautious with his lineup. We should imo have selected a lineup with the purpose of putting as much pressure on… Read more »
Question about Ramsey. Why did he play the shit out of himself, his team and all their opponents in the euros while managing to underwhelm for us on a too regular basis? No doubt he’s a good player, because I’ve seen him play well, but with us…too meh too often. Why?