Henrikh Mkhitaryan says Arsene Wenger’s emphasis on attacking football played a key part in persuading him to join Arsenal.
In comments that could be construed as a little dig at Jose Mourinho, the Armenia international, who expressed a desire to play for the Gunners as far back as 2009, played up the prospect of being able to express himself on the pitch.
“Of course it’s very important to have respect from your manager,” he told Arsenal Player.
“I know that he’s demanding and he likes his players to explore.
“He was one of the [reasons] to join Arsenal as well because everyone knows he’s a great manager.
“I’ve known him for a long time and of course it was not very difficult to make this decision to come to Arsenal, because I think the way that Arsenal play [makes] it a dream for every player to come here and play offensive football.”
Mkhitaryan is expected to make his Arsenal debut against Swansea City tonight as Wenger’s men look to close the gap on the Champions League places to two points.
Can’t wait to see this guy in action. COYG!!
the wait is over mates
HEY MIKY ?? ?
You’re so fine!
You blow my mind!
Waking up at 3.45am later just to watch our Micky in action. Well, who needs sleep anyway…
Let’s hope he is buzzing as much on the pitch as in training (as Bouldy told Wrighty on the latest Arseblog podcast).
Ian Wright on the Arsecast said the noise from the training pitch is he is ”absolutely flying” and looking incredible.
“Dream to play offensive football”. Sounds like a neat dig at Moronhoe and his shit football.
Looking forward to watching him play. Philosophy? One that has been failng for more than a decade?
Twisted, granted there are better managerial philosophies out there, but failing? How do the FA cups we’ve won mean nothing to the fans? How does finishing in the top 4 for the majority of that time and playing in the CL mean nothing? I get it, we haven’t won the PL in a long time and that is apparently the ONLY measure of a successful philosophy.
Spending 100’s of millions of pounds over a relatively short period of time does help with successful philosophies.
PB70 getting battered in the CL and by rival top 4 clubs are part of that successful philosophy?
TB, I’ll just use a few specific scenarios where we did very well and say we have a successful philosophy. But that would be daft, so I won’t.
You’ll have to explain to me how you pick and choose very SPECIFIC problems we have at our club and completely ignore the many pluses or achievements.
Sure, the glass isn’t half full – but it isn’t a glass full of turd, either.
The team has underperformed for years, get battered annually in the CL and by top 4 rivals. No genuine title challenges for 10 years.
But I guess you’re right, Wenger’s philosophy is successful.
Wenger’s philosophy also created your pseudonym on this site, but we’ll just forget about that, shall we?
I don’t judge the team by winning the league. I judge it by its ability to really compete for everything, particularly the league. ‘Compete’ is the key word… Since I started supporting Arsenal (mid 70’s) we got to 3 FA cup finals In 3 consecutive years and won one of them. We were an average club, a sleeping giant getting 6th or 7th in a typical season finish. We went on to become a succesful club under GG, then fantastic sucess under the early AW. Since then we have come full circle, we went 10 years without winning any cup… Read more »
Twisted, I didn’t say our philosophy is great – I said it can’t be considered failing. The trajectory of a club can’t be in an upward direction forever – you’ve been a supporter for a way longer time than me – as a snapshot in history, we are still doing reasonably well. Especially if you take in to consideration the landscape of football has completely changed with all the non-football related money flowing in to the game. The players we have lost in the last decade have all been sold for different reasons, and I am sure some of them… Read more »
Well said PB. The other thing people tend to forget is that our club was once run by people that really cared. They trusted Wenger and he trusted them. The likes of Peter Hill-Wood, Danny Fiszman, Ken friar, Sir Chips and of course Top Man David Dein. They’re not around anymore for various reasons. Instead we have Gazidis, Kroenke and son of Kroenke. People argue about contract situations and all but how come the board never did anything re Sanchez? I listened to Wrighty on the arsecast and he mentioned that Bouldy said the manager won’t allow him to do… Read more »
Hi Wezza, too true – especially about David Dein. I thought he was a big loss for AFC. I do not like Gazidis purely because I feel his words betray him. In my eyes, there is nothing genuine about his love for the club. Also, it makes a massive difference when clubs are taken over by super rich owners who aren’t necessarily ‘connected’ to the club. If that owner runs the club purely as a business and actually cares about net spend and what profits the club makes, it’s going to make it that much harder to compete with clubs… Read more »
Leicester FC was no joke that season, and somehow the owner got all the ingredients together for a miraculous one-off. That’s the kind of hunger a new owner can instill, both by pressure and fear, as well as spending capital and new personnel. Kroenke sort of started the same, but all of his plans were half-assed, poorly executed, and we are still suffering. Still, because of the Emirates. The effectiveness of business as a whole is clearly not matching anyone’s ambitions, least of all Wenger’s, and I don’t know what to think anymore. Can Wenger do more with his squad?… Read more »
Fair point. DD was a massive loss which we have never recovered from.
Agree with much of what you have posted PB70. Don’t worry about the essay as it was interesting & well thought out. The only minor niggle I have is with the: “If we had won the PL in the last 5 years, I doubt a lot of our fans would look at any of these issues independently and be as upset as they are”. Your point is very true, however it is also because of these issues (which have to be looked at collectively) that we have NOT won the PL in the last 5 years. This is what upsets… Read more »
Stuck…your name sort of sums up what a lot of fans seem to feel! You’re right, it definitely is the various collective issues that causes a lot of fans to feel such angst! Also, how things are very slow to change (or change at all). Maybe people want something new and feel without some major changes – we will be stuck on repeat 🙂 I tend to over do it with my long-winded explanations on here when it all gets too much – I love this website and sometimes the negativity in the comments section on almost every story gets… Read more »
Good post from both of you. Nice to have conversations with fans prepared to accept different opinions without it turning into a bun fight lol.
Keep it up boys.
On recent developments I’m quite excited
Thanks for putting so much effort, its much better than a straight thumbs down!
However, your opinion on what is a succesfull philosophy and what I consider it to be are miles apart and always will be.
Regards
Not failed, just not fulfilled.
Not a decade, just since we lost Santi.
On the other hand, Alexis could say that it’s a dream to work with Mourinho and challenge for titles and other big trophies.
I don’t see Man U challenging for many titles. They’ve finished below us in the league for the past four seasons.
he’s got you there
It’s called transition, something we have been going through for 12 years…
Which team looks like they’re on the way up?
Which team is going the other way?
alexis clearly went for the big pay cheque
I see only two possible ends to the Union between Alexis and Mourinho:
1. A short honeymoon and then, a very painful divorce,
2. A marriage of convenience with no real spark anymore.
I have to admit I don’t see Alexis flourishing under Mourinho – Alexis is too much of a sulker and Jose is too much of a cunt who doesn’t care a fuck for his players. A decent component of me not renting clothing over Sanchez leaving us is the soap opera at Old Trafford that will unfold over the next few seasons. It’s not a possibility, it’s a fucking certainty. Then there’s the salary thing. Alexis likes dogs not people for a reason. Imagine Alexis repeatedly and angrily gesticulating to his team-mates over and over again as he did with… Read more »
I agree, sadly others can’t cope with seeing the other side of the coin!
“I’m more jaded than you are, so I’m the better Arsenal fan!” Yeah, lets not do those things.
Pretty thin to me. Can’t take much for your wife to set you off.
What philosophy? I haven’t seen much free flowing wengerball this and last season.
Answer: “free flowing wengerball”
i can recommend some good opticians with relatively less charge
It’s not as though Wenger has all of a sudden ditched his lifelong philosophy of how football should be played, though, is it, silly billy? He’s just struggling to implement it lately. Mickey Targaryen might just be able to help with that. Fancy that.
Apart from 45mn here and there, we have not been clicking right since Santi left us
Precisely, as much as I love Ozil, Santi was way more important to how we played and got the best out of our attacking players. Speedy recovery Santi.
I agree that we haven’t been playing free flowing football for a couple of seasons now but then again who can when you have a ball hog on the left throwing tantrums unless he has his way? I know its too early to say this but i believe we will be soon back to our sexy footballing ways.
And for all his shortcomings, Wenger has never been a park the bus kind of manager. So maybe he is referring to that philosophy
Swansea, a good opportunity Micky.. a debut goal would be fantastic
After a flaccid spell with the boring one, mikhy is finally excited by Wenger.
Looking forward to seeing Ozil, Jackie, Mikhy and Laca link up. COYG!!
I can see him getting either a goal or an assist…
Nostradamus saw him too
Typical for our Micki to be so easily excitable.
Kudos for resisting the obvious tinkering with the headline ?
Who wouldn’t be after spending 18 months in the camp of Mourinho? Welcome to Arsenal, the home of proper football.
Nothing i enjoy more than taking the Miki out of Man Utd. Does that now mean we could get away with playing something resembling RB Leipzig’s 4-2-2-2 formation and system? That formation has lent itself to some pretty high octane and dynamic football in recent seasons in the Bundesliga, it would seem nicely at home within this supposed “Wenger philosophy” and at the same time take advantage of all our latest acquisitions in positions they are adept at (which would be a welcomed beak from what has become the norm). Something like this i would imagine: ————Aubameyang——Lacazette———– ————-Mkhitaryan———-Ozil————— ————–Wilshere———M-Niles————– Monreal——Koscielny——-Mustafi——Bellerin… Read more »
Very unlikely we play without wingers
Who are the wingers we play with at the moment?
I thought we’ve simply repurposed fullbacks to wingers via the switch to three at the back, these guys would be the same ones providing the width just as they do now… no?
he has got to say that, hasn,t he, I’m nobody else thinks that
Can’t wait to see him play in shirt this evening.
Welcome to Arsenal!
Then wh didn’t you come for the philosophy before?
I feel Wenger is using a set of two “rotating wheels” of 3 players up top and 3 players in midfield. So if you look at a potential line up : …………….Aubameyang………….Lacazette…………………… ……………………………….Ozil…………………………………… ……………Jack……………………………….Mhkitaryan………. Monreal……………………Granit…………………………Bellerin Taking away the two fullbacks which must provide the width, we have the striker set in Aubameyang, Lacazette and Ozil each taking turns into the box or pulling the defense wide in conjunction with the fullbacks. Then the midfield also rotates with any of Jack, Mhkitaryan and indeed Granit slotting into the deeper position when need be joined by the Cbacks as the other two… Read more »
You are free now, Henrikh.
Wenger has a philosophy?