Arsene Wenger says he and the players are sorry for the 4-0 defeat to Liverpool last week, but has urged fans to stay behind a team that won the FA Cup against the Champions back in May.
The Gunners were woeful last weekend, and a confused end to the transfer window raised further doubts over the trajectory of this season, but the manager says that having the support of the fans is important if they’re to get themselves back on track.
Speaking to beIN Sports, he said, “People make their minds up very quickly.
“You forget very easily how good you are, much quicker than you think. We have to continue to believe in our strengths and not to forget.
“Our fans as well. To have a successful season we need our fans. Our fans can say ‘Ok, our squad is not good enough, we are not good enough, we have no chance this season.’
“That will not work. We want our fans to be behind us in this moment as well, even if we are very sorry for what we delivered.
“But to have a successful season we need to have that. Let’s not forget not one and a half months ago we won the Charity Shield, we won the cup in a very convincing way with the same players.”
And Wenger urged his players to show that the defeat to Liverpool was an accident, but hinted the transfer window uncertainty played a part.
“What we have learned from this is that we were not at all at the level expected from us.
“And that we have to very quickly to show that was a complete accident. I would say as well that when we spoke earlier about the transfer period, they played a part in that as well.”
For more on that transfer period, check out the full behind the scenes goings-on in this post.
True there are so many short term ups and downs. We did look good in the Charity Shield.
We do need to support them on the pitch and off. No one else will.
Respect is earned, not something you can beg for.
We have seen to much apathy and lack of heart.
Show us a plan, real fight and intentions, then I promise you the fans will be behind you!
just have a plan, any plan, when we don’t have the ball. I’d love us to push teams higher up, but it seems that all Wenger does it tell them to jog back into our own half and stand their like pylons.
Well said.
Arsenal, and Wenger, are in a position where they have to earn back my trust and respect.
Play for the shirt, try your best each game and do all you can to be competitive. Do that and then the fans will be behind you.
Like we have for so long. Look where it took us. A carefree board and manager who treat themselves with bigger money contracts while burying this club in deeper shit year by year.
Support the team, protest against the hierarchy at the club.
Same old shit trotted out repeatedly. I have a lot of love for Wenger but these days when he talks he just infuriates me. He and the club speak to fans so condescendingly. Like we don’t understand the game to some degree. Or transfers. Or contracts.
Telling people to support regardless and not complain despite falling standards and piss poor management is the work of a dictator. He speaks like we’ve been winning the league every season up until 2016/17. The guy has lost it and demanding that we remain loyal after everything we’ve been through is borderline sociopathic.
Well what do you know, he does accept that the team is not good enough looking at the transfer window. Something I don’t think I’ve ever heard from Arsene… Maybe he was also fucked over
He is right but not sure I can see it happening unfortunately
True and I agree we should continue to support but he hasnt been taken to task over his inept tactics and transfer management.
The fans support was never in doubt and I have no time for Wengers soundbites until he addresses those issues on matchday and in interviews.
Negative vibes is killing our season only three games in.
You are right but this has built and built over several years and the manager has to fall on his sword to quell it
And whose fault is that ?
Yada, yada, yada….
Good point. And who decided to play so many out of position!? And why?
“What we’ve learned” … that’s the thing that’s getting folks backs up , yous haven’t learnt !!
Of course they need us. THEY don’t have the highest gate receipts in Europe without us. But how about we change the narrative for once? How about we need YOU and the board to address our squad deficiencies in a timely manner when we miss out on the league AGAIN. How about we need YOU to have a plan in the summer and go about executing the plan with meticulous efficiency. How about we need YOU to identify targets, identify the deadwood and get to work. Sick and tired of listening to this rubbish
Maybe a drop in gate receipt will make them realise how important the fans are…for their take home pay!
“…Maybe a drop in gate receipt will make them realise how important the fans are…for their take home pay!…”.
Oh, but that might hurt the poor mollycoddled snowflakes’ feelings, and they might not play well. It’s all us, the fans’ fault, for not “getting behind the team”, didn’t you know ?
Drop in gate takings is such a minute amount of money compared to the big corporate sponsorships and tv rights etc.. it wouldnt bother them for a few years.
COYG. ..
GET YOUR HEART TOGETHER GUYS…
Wenger is right. The Liverpool result this season is absolutely the first indication that anything is wrong with the current way Arsenal is being run. We’ve not seen results like this at any point over the past 10 years. We’ve never had a summer with relatively little transfer activity. We’ve never had a transfer window that’s ended with us making money instead of spending it. Come on, it’s not like we’re told again and again that we have the money to make big signings only for us not to bother because it’s a difficult market. Ooooor… maybe instead of telling… Read more »
I get it, unlike the plumbs who down voted you
I’m picking up your sarcasm.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mSy5mEcmgwU
Someone with true perspective.
“People make their minds up very quickly” Yep, that’s what it is. It’s not based on seeing the same mistakes for 7 years on the trot, nope, we just jump to conclusions quickly. Sigh. “That will not work. We want our fans to be behind us in this moment as well, even if we are very sorry for what we delivered.” I predicted this in Gazidis news post. This is just part of the annual seasonal routine. Get spanked, then request the fans to get behind the team, effectively paving the thinking of if we perform badly at home, it’s… Read more »
And people say we lack consistency! ?
This club will always win the P.R. spin trophy.
Right from the moment Mourinho came into the EPL, Wenger lost his mojo. It is about 13 years now.
So true. And that’s not even including Wilshere and Cazorla – who I see as naturally number 10s (although Santi handled being moving further back with his usual style). This is nothing new – e.g. Arteta.
I feel Arsene in the transfer window is like a kid given money to buy lunch from the shops, who comes home having spent it all on loads of his favourite sweets and no actual food.
Somehow that uncertainty never seems to go away. Every summer transfer window closes with us wondering what’s happening. I don’t recall the last time we went into an opening league game with confidence. This Liverpool spanking isn’t much different from that of last season.
Delusional as per usual.
What we don’t forget Arsene is the constant humiliations that you seem to do and on reflection many, if not most fan’s aggregate these results along side our exceedingly rare positive results against top opposition and generally come to the conclusion that we’re just not good enough.
And nonetheless the club does have the support of the fan’s, it’s your and your superiors that don’t.
Ha yes…your classic slip on a banana skin and pick a team that makes absolutely no sense. I do think we should dust ourselves down as fans though and get behind the team….It is what it is
“…we should dust ourselves down as fans though and get behind the team….It is what it is…”.
It doesn’t NEED to be what it is. It’s that way because of continued neglect and poor decision making both on and off the field. We are paying for and expecting a sirloin steak, and being served up a ham sandwich. And a very stale one at that….
Yeah sure we will support the team. But bollocks to you for claiming to have a great team because we won the FA Cup and Charity Shield. That is not what The Arsenal should be measured with. We are not unhappy because we lost just 1 match. It is because we have seen this movie played over and over again for almost 10 yrs now, and have zero confidence in YOU. We will of course still support The Arsenal, because that is what have signed up to do for the rest of our lives, and hope that one day we… Read more »
You nailed it Salman!
“I may little bit tinker with Rob Holding as false 9, he has all the attributes of a top quality left back/goalkeeper hybrid”
Please don’t give him ideas…
We need a team, manager and board who aren’t completely abject and ruining the club. Wenger had his chance to do best by the fans and leave. He didn’t, so this is just emotional blackmail. We need to let them know how unhappy we are. Only way to change anything
Nothing can change until January.
Other than everyone, fans and more importantly players, become more demoralised.
We have to hit the bottom in order to get back to the top
This might be the bottom, unless we decide to demoralise the players.
We have a choice on what we supporters do.
Clearly it isn’t if there isn’t positive change from those that can administer it, and that’s not the fan’s but the board and manager
Do you also celebrate the victories? Or is it only the defeats?
I’m indifferent to both unfortunately
Then why bother? We won the fa cup last year, beat the chavs, and I had a fucking stonking all dayer and celebrated late into the night. If you can’t enjoy that then you’re redundant, you only exist as a fan to come on message boards and moan obsessively about how shit everything is!
Bottom is relegation. Man. Utd. supporters never thought it could happen to a famous historically successful big club like theirs. But it did in 1974. Hopefully WE won’t get that bad, but we are undoubtedly a club in decline, and as things are going….?
It’s Wenger’s tactics and team talks that are demoralising the players, not the supporters. You think Ox, Ozil, Sanchez, Wilshere aren’t signing their contracts because of the fans? They sympathise with the fans and don’t believe in Wenger ,and the reason they collapse against big teams is that they have never been taught what to do out of possession.
Wenger has had everybody’s chance. We missed on Guardiola Klopp and many other young brilliant managers while hes been giving us same shit every year. Well as long as the board is satisfied by the profits who needs to cares about the game itself.
Some perspective though… He finished within a couple of points of both klopp and guardiola, and knocked the latter out of the fa cup semi final. That was despite Man City spending the GDP of Luxembourg and Liverpool having no European commitments. I’m not saying it’s all rosy, and believe me, I think change is now well overdue, but it ain’t, it absolutely, most definitely ain’t as bad as most people on here make out.
Arsenal Football Club not challenging for the PL or CL for over a decade is not bad enough?
“Perspective” ? Perspective is Leicester City ( under a new manager in only his second year with them, incidentally ) finishing a massive ten points clear of us, after we had led, yes LED the table for much of the season, before collapsing all too predictably. And this was achieved by them with far less resources and money than we have. Thus giving the lie to Wenger and Gazidis claims that we “can’t compete with the rich clubs”.* *1. Leicester did. 2. Arsenal are one of the richest clubs in Europe. And the board have always said that Wenger will… Read more »
Not really though. If you put Leicester’s achievement into perspective it makes your perspective appear lacking in… perspective. It was a freak. Fucking outrageous and amazing, but freakish and unlikely to happen again. It doesn’t prove how shit we are. We know how shit we are regardless of what Leicester did – we’re quite shit, but we’re a lot fucking better than most.
Freakish yes, but they still did what Wenger hasn’t been able to for thirteen years. And why did we finish up a distant ten points behind them, instead of being consistent enough to stay on top of the ladder where we were for much of that season ? Why did we fall apart yet again ? All WE had to do was to hold our nerve, keep winning, as the tough minded teams do, and WE would have won the league, not them !
Leicester got how many penalties because of that diving cheating Vardy. That’s what got them the points! Whilst we took 6 points off them.
Keep clutching at straws. What about penalties that we should have had given against us, but weren’t ? It all evens out.
Make total sense, problem is we are only three games into the season and some fans willing to wreck our entire season.
What about the wrecks of the last thirteen seasons ? Some fans ( like you ? ) are fine with a fourteenth. The writing is on the wall already. Get a clue.
It starts with the team. With the general toxic atmosphere, he knows a couple of bad performances, and people are going to be restless. People are pissed off and intitled to communicate that. Hopeful that he and the board will listen eventually. Not holding breath.
This is a shared responsibility, the negative vibes from the fans create toxic atmosphere, support your team
‘what we have learned from this is’…. Give me a break, if you ever learned anything from our humbling away defeats of recent past, they would stop fucking happening wouldn’t they.
We’ll NEVER park the bus! That’s not football!
Come on you gooners!
Ozil and Sanchez have already checked out, they’re meant to be leaders of this team. We told Giroud, Mustafi, Chambers, Wilshere, and whoever else that they weren’t good enough but then sent them a text saying lol or something to make it all better. Our only signings have been benched already for no apparent reason. Bellerin has had his confidence torn apart but we insist on playing him out of position while indulging AOC despite him being out the door already. Holding is being mismanaged. Ramsey has no discipline. Xhaka needs someone along side him to defend. Elneny can’t get… Read more »
Per doesn’t even make the bench….
Well aware of the dire situation of current, but not getting behind the team is only going to make things worse.
During their 90 minutes it would be good to give them everything, I believe larger concerns should be voiced outside of that. No point in holding the team ransom whilst they are playing, as negativity, whether directed at board, Wenger, or the players, is contagious and we don’t want to spread anymore of that onto the pitch, their morale (justifiably or not) is probably fairly low as it is.
When you dont deserve love, thats when you need it the most.
“…When you dont deserve love, thats when you need it the most….”.
So why doesn’t Wenger move to another club ?
So, the dire period last season was down to uncertainty about the manager renewing contract.
The dire performance at Anfield was due to uncertainty in the transfer window.
There’s a common denominator here; The Manager. Who clearly didn’t learn the lesson of the former, thus allowing the latter.
There was a time when Wenger considered the then English League Cup a run out for the youth and he would only play (mostly) the youth throughout the tournament.
And now, the Community Shield had become a real trophy??
Constant excuses!!! Nothing changes full stop! Same fucking old!
No, no. I’m not having that. It’s all our fault that the club is in a laughable mess. Wenger hasn’t been at our club for very long….
Inconsistency over a very long period of time has left even the very strong supporter of the club cheated and violated . It is up to the team to make us dream again . We all wonder the negativity surrounding the team has something to do with the manager and board more than the fans. While the board sits there patiently trying to swallow the ‘war chest’ silently. They must be happy to have a fan base most of it is easily gullible. A promise to sign a star player in January or during summer window would come as a… Read more »
Lol…manager asks fans to support the team is still something to complain about?
There’s been a fair bit of negative Kroenke news leaked from the club.
An article in the Guardian who Amy Lawrence I believe writes for?
https://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2017/sep/04/arsenal-problems-stan-kroenke-premier-league-los-angeles-rams
And Ornstein has got his information direct from someone within the Emirates.
There’s also been quite a few other leaks, which is strange from a club that’s usually so secretive.
The wheels are well and truely falling off, I hope there’s people inside the Emirates that are working to oust Kroenke
The team will always need the fans but it no longer requires your makeshift management and inept player preparation. Thanks
Suggestions: Get the transfer business done earlier. Don’t play a player who wants to leave. And play players in their own positions. We do need to support the team though.
So we have learned from that defeat??
Fcol how on earth can he expect us to believe him after we heard the same thing about 50 times until now?
Solution ? “…We must focus on the next game…”.
I think we’re all just sick of apologies and excuses. I’m fed up of the lies, PR and spin from this club. I’m bored of players coming out to talk about autopsies, clear the air talks etc. None of this seems to impact on the squad in anyway.
Yeah, funny that, eh…? And how many teams have been built in all this time ? Yet it still happens. Hmmmm. Got me beat…
Not every body sees the club they you see it, you need to stay positive and support the team.
First and foremost we have too many unhappy players. Players that are being played out of position or not getting games, players that want more signings or are otherwise unhappy with teammates, players that want to be anywhere but at Arsenal. Everything Ramsey is rumoured to have said rings true. Then you have to look at the tactics which have been firmly found out at this stage. Neither formation nor style of play really suits our personnel and that’s costing us in the big games. Finally what can you say about our transfer dealings that hasn’t already been said? A… Read more »
It isn’t just the Liverpool shambles. How about Stoke the week before and scraping a win the week before that. We have let in 8 goals in three games. We were told all summer that Alexis was not for sale then we are being told why he wasn’t sold on the last day of the window why he wasn’t sold. We are told by the invisible man that ex players have no right to criticize. The players who are the clubs leading scorers and have titles to back themselves. Arsenal stink at the moment and Wenger reeks. We haven’t forgotten,… Read more »
Sounds like it was the fans’ fault after all. I wish our fans would bloody well sort it out, we’d have won the champions league by now.
Wenger: You shall support the team “waves hand in mysticle Jedi way”
I dont think your powers work here anymore, Arsenal fans have been manipulated and lied to enough over the years! Liverpool was not a a complete accident. This is becoming routine in our seasons; do some good, do some bad, do some bloody awful…it’s just all too routine and boring now.
We will support the team, sure, but don’t give us any of this one off/ accidnt shite because it wasn’t.
“People make their minds up very quickly”.. actually Arsene i’ve made my mind up over a 4 year period, it’s why i didn’t renew my season ticket. Cheers for that.
It’s been over a nine years period for me. I saw his decline back then. Now he’s like a punch drunk, over the hill, aging boxer who is staggering around the ring with his trainer ( i.e. Kroenke ) still believing he can win the heavyweight title against all the odds. So sad that it has come to this. But that’s what happens when you out stay your welcome. You become the object of derision. And justifiably so.
You saw his decline 9 years ago? Ridiculous comment.
Less of the naive comments in these posts Danny Boy & more time spent practising shots ON goal please.
Really ? When did YOU first start seeing his decline, then ? Oh don’t tell me – you haven’t noticed any.
The first thing to do to get the fans onside, is to pick players in their proper positions.
This may lead to people out there not having their fuckin heads wrecked before the game even starts.
God, how arrogant can this guy be?
We won nothing for a decade and since then the only silverware we have won is not really as significant as the EPL or the CL.
At least he’s not asking us to take lessons from the Spurs’ fans.
Spurs are on the up, and are waving to us as we hurtle down past them.
I was referring to the fact that last season he asked us to be more like them…
And yes, it’s sad to see then perform in a manner we can only dream of.
Kroenke Out!
Lets start by looking at who were in charge of recruitment for everton cos they wgot quite a lot of deals done. Study how theu get things done, and recruit talents to manage transfers in.
I love the way this forum has finally woken up. Not so long ago you’d be thumbed to shit for anything even neutral about Wenger but now the majority are alive and alert to what is going on. It’s a beautiful feeling and very soon I hope the club will be rid of this fraud and starting again .
Sometimes, people are simply too deep in a situation to realise what is going on around them. I hope that he has had time to reflect upon his team selection for Liverpool and as a result realises he was mostly responsible for a comical display of Arsenal-esque proportions. I think everything he could of done to implode that day he managed in spectacular fashion. We, the supporters are always behind the club, always. There is no maybe or not, but you cannot constantly fail to prepare, self harm and lie to our faces then tell us everything is OK. At… Read more »
I don’t think they understand what the fans are angry about. To apologise for the Liverpool result is just a fraction of what they should be apologising for. They should be apologising for not being pro-active with player contracts, for not taking advantage of the funds in the transfer window, for not playing their best players in the biggest game of the season so far.
The Liverpool result was only a small drop in the ocean of Arsenal FC’s current problems.
If you cared about the fans you would of compensated all the travelling fans there ticket prices back as that was a dreadful performance.
We’ll be behind the team when there’s a new young good manager with clear ideas and capable of motivating our players, who currently want nothing but leave. Wenger, you have your days counted as our manager and we’ll get noisier and noisier until you f… off the club.
Maybe if the club didn’t treat the fans solely as a revenue stream and actually cared about what was important for us and tailored decisions that were in our best interests as well, we would be more willing to accept the ups and downs.
However the owner, board and manager insist on doing things their way, shutting the door to the outside world, thus shouldn’t they take full responsibility for the decline we have been facing for the best part of a decade now?
Did Stan give us that consideration?
Delusions of a madman
Coward. When have the fans not supported the team? Most of the boos are directed at Wenger, not the players and these are reserved until the game is over.
I think it is just too late.
He has had far too many chances to put things right – far more than any other premiership manager will ever get.
He needs to go and if that means booing this team then so be it – its full of players who are either not good enough or want out.
The sooner he goes the better for everyone…
Arsene ‘the king of spin’ Wenger
Blah blah blah. Defended like cunts in 3 games straight. Haven’t scored in the last two. It is all completely his own making. He’s completely lost it.
We cant do it more because to support the team is to support regime, we don’t trust you any more mr wenger u better find support from your family but not us arsenal fans we are tired of your old endless story
But it’s not the first capitulation. Players not focused for the full 90+ minutes. Ramsey totally switched off too often from throw ins. Liverpool, Watford, etc. Wenger sitting there rather than berating the players, alongside his appointed coaches. Team selection mystifying. Then we get “get behind the players”
Wenger says its ‘a complete accident’ after the abject liverpool display.But in truth we have been consistenly been outplayed out thought.been bullied.destroyed.no passion shown..leaderless..and so on..So everytime we go to manchester..stoke..chelsea..liverpool its always ‘an accident’..Well mr wenger if i was driving to any of those destinations knowing ive been in an accident before…as i driver i would be aware of the dangers ahead Make sure my driving is secure and safe at a safe speed..neutralise any dangers ahead Ensuring i get to my destinantion in on piece….if by chance even through all my care awareness safe driving..Another driver ends up… Read more »