Nacho Monreal says Arsenal will go match by match as they look to close the gap on the teams above them in the Premier League.
Saturday’s 2-0 win over Sp*rs in the North London derby saw the Gunners reduce the deficit on their neighbours to one point, however, they still sit outside the Champions League positions in sixth and are 12 points adrift of leaders Manchester City.
As the games come thick and fast before Christmas, Monreal accepts that consistency will be key.
“What we all want is for the team to maintain this dynamic in the coming games,” he told the International Business Times.
“We are a team that when we are playing well, when we are focused, when we have solidarity…we are very hard. It’s tough to play against us. It is true that we have this fault: we are a bit inconsistent.
“We are able to play two, three games at a very high level and then we have a dip. If we were more consistent we would be fighting for more things at the end of the season. But the win over Tottenham gives us confidence for the coming games.
“I think we don’t have to be obsessed about setting a certain target. We go match by match. The target was to beat Tottenham and now the next one is to do the same in the Europa League. When the months of January, February arrive, we will see where we are and what we can achieve.
“We aim to win everything but we cannot become obsessed. In previous seasons we arrived at January as Premier League leaders, it seemed that we were going to win the title and in the end we suffered a blow.”
Arsenal travel to Cologne on Thursday, a match Monreal will likely be rested for, before taking on Sean Dyche’s high-flying Burnley at Turf Moor on Sunday.
Monreal also touched on the contract situation of Mesut Ozil and Alexis Sanchez who both caught the eye in the North London derby. In just over six weeks, the Germany midfielder and Chile striker will both be allowed to talk to foreign clubs about a free move next summer. It’s a situation that continues to cast a shadow over the Emirates, although Monreal doesn’t seem too bothered.
“Yes, the feeling is that they will continue,” he added. “At no time have we talked about the possibility of them leaving. Not at all. They are committed to the group and we will see what happens.
“I can’t say much about it. It does not depend on me. The situation is clear. They are two vital players for Arsenal. They are two players who end their contracts at the end of the season. If the club want them to stay beyond December [the January transfer window] they will follow. Yet, I do not know the club’s intentions. It is other people who are the ones who have to make a decision.”
I know the Man U match is the next big match, but the two before that in the PL are tough, the teams have been performing well.
Nacho is spot on, we need that consistency as we have a very good team, so can do very well.
Just gotta love and respect Monreal. Such a pro. This is the talk of a captain and a leader. Not the usual rubbish that is always on the defensive. Admit your mistakes and target improvements. If all we ever go around saying from Wenger and Per et al. is character this unity that, that is literally the mental focus of the team, whereas the performances have not been consistent enough and we need to maintain focus on improving that. Which is exactly what Monreal is doing. Whether we like it or not the media calling Arsenal inconsistent consistently is correct.… Read more »
i praise your consistency for a very consistent use of the word consistency
Well if you examine the actual initial piece you will see it wasn’t a very consistent use of consistency at all, rather consistent was used rather inconsistently. At the start there was very little use of consistent, while at the end it consistent was in consistent rotation. The message on the other hand: very consistent use of the term consistent.
“We aim to win everything but we cannot become obsessed.”
Why? Surely you need to be in order to win? Or am I reading too much into this?
“In previous seasons we arrived at January as Premier League leaders, it seemed that we were going to win the title and in the end we suffered a blow.”
Sorry but it never looked like we would win the title…
Its funny, my man-love for Nacho kind of just crept up on me these past few seasons.
If the senior players are aware of that problem and have come to realize that the manager is unable to fix it for years now and it is unlikely that is going to leave soon, why aren’t they doing some self management among the group?
it reminds me of the french national team in 2006. the players realized that raymond domenech was a liability and they reacted in organizing themselves. they reached the world cup final only for zidane to fuck things up with his headbutt against materazzi. may be its easier in month cup competition. where the daily input of a manager int the life of a group is much more restrained.
In this case its never going to happen because if there is one thing about Wenger its his love and defence of his players. To a fault (been saying for years he needs to rip them one from time to time to snap them out of their complacency). Why would they revolt against a manager that always has their back even when they are playing like a bunch of prima donas?
As far as I’m concerned, with the exception of Ozil and Sanchez who haven’t signed new contracts, Arsenal players are 100% behind the manager. This bullshit perception of arsenal created by click-thirsty media isn’t the same perception our players have of the team. In an interview with Copa 90, Iwobi was shocked that they didn’t rate Walcott, and that baffled me! As far as he was concerned Walcott was a top player!!! Don’t forget that Wenger have a lot of these players their chance at a top team in a top decision, and has always been loyal and good to… Read more »
To a fault…give them too much credit and it breeds complacency. IMO that has led to a lot of our inconsistencies. Players need a bit of fear of failure to motivated them too. That doesn’t exist with Wenger
What else would he say? “Walcott is shit, I don’t even know why the manager keeps picking him instead of me…”
umm, every heard of “no that was not a good enough performance, everyone of our team needs to have a look at themselves and realise they have to be better. This sort of performance may lead to changes in the team” Or even do it more constructively: “Theo is struggling in this area, he is going to have to work on that to improve his game and force his way into the team”. After the Liverpool game it even came out it was Petr that ripped into the team while Wenger sat back and said nothing…These guys are pros paid… Read more »
Glad to hear this, sounds a bit more self-aware than Bellerin and Mustafi yesterday. The manager needs to find a way of getting that level of performance out of the team (and especially out of Ozil) every game, not just one match a season.
I love this guy. The one who is actually consistent and solid takes the blame for the whole team. What a signing Nacho turned out to be.
Our Nacho doesn’t do dips
Beaten to the pun again!!
Damn!!
Whatcha talkin bout Willis
Nacho is a great, great man. Maybe the greatest.
Man it is frustrating how underrated he is by most pundits and the rest of the media. But at least us gooners know just how quietly and consistently brilliant he is. Just as good as the frequently lauded Azpilicueta
Better*
Kinda disappointed the title is not “Mr. Consistent talks about consistency.” Quality player with a great attitude to boot. We need more players like Monreal.
We all know Sanchez ain’t staying. I know it’s not right to bring up negatives after the high against spurs. But sometimes, I do wonder how we would be this Jan if we sell off Sanchez and buy a replacement. The amount of times Sanchez gave the ball away in nearly risky situations…. I don’t think Wenger can fix this part of Sanchez. Sometimes I just want to fast forward to the transfer window. We’re already out of the title race and it’s another race for the Champions League spot. We play so well, then we dip again. I can… Read more »
As blogs has said about 1000x sure he may give it away cheaply at times, but he is the best player we have and does things no one on the team can get near, which lead to goals and that is the point of the game. And I don’t think his give-aways are that costly especially when we play a higher tempo which we seem to be slowly (and FINALLY) shifting towards
p.s. I’m sad as hell that we are inevitably going to lose Alexis. Amazing player. We just dang well better replace him because as good as guys like Welbeck and Iwobi are they simply aren’t of Alexis’ class level
Alexis form has been poor the last season plus, but the immense effort he puts in hides this. He does give the ball away too much and his first touch has been erratic (great 1st touch for his goal against the spuddies), plus his shooting has been poor.
However that has nothing to do with his seemingly inevitable move away from us.
Yes im not degrading Sanchez. But he is 100% leaving. Im just waiting for him to leave fast, granted we get a proper replacement (we MUST)
Nacho is our new Sagna.
As one if the senior players, he is taking the lead.
And spot on. We must not let the recent victory go to our heads.
We need to show equal efforts against lesser teams away who will be a different proposition altogether. They will be more compact and deny us space.
Consistency is key.
Nacho is the new Sagna.
Found Monreal’s comments on Ozil and Sanchez quite interesting. He reckons the players want to stay and it is purely down to making the deals happen. Of course, if you’re planning on leaving your current employer, you’re not going to start telling everyone your intentions before your next job is in stone! I just think in such a close group (a football team), the fact that Nacho believes that the contract rebels want to be at Arsenal is quite encouraging and a little surprising. Hoping personally we can get Ozil tied to a new contract. Sanchez seems a tougher customer.
This guy has had 4 maybe 5 poor games in 3 and a half seasons…Most consistent player for sure.