Arsene Wenger believes that Manchester City’s second goal in the Carabao Cup final should have been ruled out for offside, but he accepts that Pep Guardiola’s side deserved their 3-0 win at Wembley.
The Premier League’s runaway leaders outplayed Arsenal from start to finish as goals from Sergio Aguero, Vincent Kompany and David Silva denied the Frenchman a first League Cup triumph of his 21-year tenure.
Speaking after the game, Wenger lamented his side’s defensive lapses in concentration and called on his players to bounce back when the two sides meet again on Thursday in the league at the Emirates.
“We had the first good chance and a very easy one that we missed,” he told Sky Sports.
“After that we made a very big mistake on the first goal. We controlled them quite well in the first half.
“Second half, I felt we had a poor start. We were unlucky as well, because the second goal is offside. After that it was too much for us.
“I wanted to make a change at 2-0 but the game didn’t stop. After 3-0 it was late [to make a change]. Congratulations to Manchester City, they deserved the win.”
While Wenger refused to point the blame at specific players, he admitted that you can’t avoid criticism when you concede three times in an important match.
“When you lose games and make mistakes you have to accept to be criticised,” he went on.
“It’s emotionally difficult, after a game in a final, you do not want to go too much into criticism, that’s the easiest part.
“We have to recover quickly. We came to the final and at the end of the day, we lost, it’s true. Now we have to focus on the next Premier League game [against Manchester City on Thursday].
“When you lost 3-0, you have to look at defending better. I still feel that sometimes in periods of the game we defended well and suddenly we lose concentration, against quality opposition you pay for it.
“It’s not the application that was missing, it’s lapses in concentration in important moments of the game [that cost us]. I believe we were a bit unlucky on the second goal, I’ve just watched it again, it was an important goal in this game and it was 100 per cent offside.
“We analyse always the game in a very mathematical way. We didn’t give too many chances away today but we gave easy chances away today. Also, we didn’t create enough.”
What is this nonsense? Please just stop it, we’re already hurting.
It was just painful to watch. I know Jack was trying harder than some but he just looks like he is seeking a foul all the time.
We look like a team bereft of ideas with too many players who are just not good enough at the top level.
I agree with all your of your points, except the one on Jack. I understand why it may be perceived that Jack looks like he is seeking a foul all the time, however I disagree. What I see is Jack committing opposition players into challenges and attempting to advance forward with the ball, I recall Jack winning numerous free-kicks (not frequently looking for fouls which weren’t given). Positive midfield play in my opinion. I often read we play too many side ways and backwards passes, Jack does not contribute to this.
Not ashamed to say it, but I left the game early today. When Silva scored City’s third, that was enough for me. The cold weather was genuinely unbearable – much like our performance – so the combination of that, whilst watching City zip the ball around our midfielders to the soundtrack of their fans ole’ing each pass, I just couldn’t take it anymore. I had to walk out. It was just too painful to be there. I’ve been going to Arsenal home and away since I was 16. Now at the age of 29 I’ve seen lots of poor performances,… Read more »
Sad that you felt the need to leave early. But who can blame you? This is how the club has brought us all so low. Or maybe indifferent to the whole scenario.
I saw it on TV but I turned off after the Silva goal as well. Just couldn’t handle it anymore. We didn’t just play second rate, we LOOK like a second rate side. Miles off.
And other teams know it. We’re not to be taken seriously.
It just feels sad now. Like the dying days of a lost era coming to an end.
Don’t blame you for leaving. I started going in 1963. The team was not very good then now reminds me of those days
If I was there I would have done exactly the same. The nearest I could get the that in South Sudan was to turn the tv off after the third goal and walk back to my room mumbling obscenities under my breath.
We were crap going forward n we were crap defending as well. Simple as that. Crap overall
He was the future. Once.
It’s just sad now.
It was not offside, Arsene. Please stop it.
Of course it was. Ospina didn’t saw the Kompany and the ball ergo offside. But also like Wenger said our poor performance in the 2nd half is that what cost us the cup. If he says something that went against us it doesn’t mean he looks for an excuses.
He obviously didn’t see the crap defending and awful distribution from Ospina which led to the second goal nor the fact that we had only 2 attempts on goal or Ozil and Ramsey WALKING around in a cup final ! He was in fact delusional in his summation we NEVER at any point looked even on a par with City let alone better we did NOT control any part of the game ,City didn’t even have to get into top gear to beat us hell they didn’t even have to break into a sweat !!
Sane was blocking Ospina’s view and if Wenger is saying 100% offside then it is. Shows how they can cheat clubs even with VAR.
It’s a clear offside and it’s day light robbery considering VAR was in use. It’s called an offside player screening the GK. Before anyone tells me this happened to us in the FA cup final against Chelsea last year let me remind you nobody was blocking the GK’s line of sight and Ramsey who was running towards the ball stopped his run while Alexis came on from an onside position to finish it off. It’s just good movement. Had the ball been played to Ramsey directly that would have been off but Ramsey had to run diagonally to get to… Read more »
Clear offside? You might need to watch the goal again sane wasn’t blocking ospina he didn’t even have to get out of the way of the shot he just casually stopped as to not interfere with it, Ramsey goal even though I’m glad we won had more of a case for offsides but you’ll justify that, smh we got beaten the min Wenger put out that line-up it simply wasn’t good enough. The team overall is not good enough and thats the facts!
No doubt we are sh*t but so are PGMOL.
Get a grip, he was wrong footed and diving away from the ball.
Same shit, different game. Nothing new learned from this latest shit storm.
Call it a day you stupid old man
Most of us think it best he move on. I hope most of us have more respect than you do. He’s done a whole lot for Arsenal and more in his life than you will ever do. Have some respect or cool off before you chat shit.
Before?
Stop being so caught up in past glory, yes Wenger is a great manager I have full respect for what he has done, but I just don’t understand why he keeps accepting a extension on his contract when clearly nothing is going to change we haven’t won the league since 2003, never won the CL and I can’t tell the last time we competed for anything major. I never said for him to get fired but as a top manager you have to know when to step aside, he brought Arsenal along way but it’s time for him to step… Read more »
And STILL some of our fans are as delusional as Wenger is !! Probably haven’t known anything else BUT Wenger, but let me tell them this ,today was WORSE than the defeat to Swindon in 69 at least then flu ravaged players from a squad of 16 or 17 on a pitch reminiscent of a bloody ploughed field damm well TRIED !! There were also NO excuses made afterwards from Bertie Mee except to say it hadnt been good enough ! I would imagine any of the old guard still with us would have been disgusted by what was on… Read more »
Yaaaaaawn. Night!
Yaaaaawn. Night!
I rue wenger
‘It’s not the application that was missing, it’s lapses in concentration in important moments of the game [that cost us)’
Isn’t concentration a hugely significant part of applying yourself properly ?
‘We had the first chance and a very easy one we missed’ then bangs on about an offside. Hate to state the obvious but VAR would have ruled out our first chance.
He’s chewing on scraps, we were played off the park simple as that. No leadership, no confidence, leading to a lack of motivation and BELIEF. The word bandied around this morning by Monsieur Wenger.
The cup final loss wasn’t the only bad news today: Liverpool, Tottenham and ManU all won in the league (Chelsea lost). 11 games are left for Arsenal, in which two of the four teams mentioned must be overtaken by 11/12 points. They will probably continue their average of 2 points per match, hence Arsenal must win 9 of the 11. Even that might not be enough.
Arsenal is no longer a top 4 but top 6 . Thanks Wenger. And by the time his done with his current contract Arsenal will effectively become a mid table side.
fact is if we continue on this self destructive downward trajectory, we might not even make top six!…not that being 6th or 7th matters really
You are still thinking of top four??? I gave up on that idea weeks ago
Yes. Even with victory Thursday, Arsenal are 7 points behind T.. If they continue to take 2 poins per match – 20 in the last ten matches – Arsenal must take 27. Nine wins out of ten belongs in the realm of superstition.
Oh come on! What was missing today was heart, guts courage and application. And we seem to have no game plan. This was the most wretched cup final performance that I’ve seen in 45 years of supporting the club. This was a disgrace. It’s so obvious now that the players have stopped playing for Wenger. This was a major cup final, for goodness sake! Even I was shocked at just how awful we were. We didn’t lose because of the referee: we lost because we were dreadful. It’s time for the Board to get together and then hand the old… Read more »
Stop it. It’s time to take your final bow. To a ripple of ironic applause.
No one seems to care.
Except the fans, and that’s “naff”.
It’s over
Have you ever ‘analysed’ in a ‘mathematical way’ the amount of utter tripe you have come out with, you boring, deluded old duffer? Not just this season, but for the past decade? If not, go figure – your time will then be far better spent than your omnipresent feeble attempts at coaching.
I have analysed in a mathematical way the amount of delusional bollocks Wenger talks when we get humiliated and torn an additional ring piece. My conclusion based on this analysis is that its a really fucking large quantity of delusional bollocks. Bollocks so big one would need a wheelbarrow to ambulate.
Certified mid table team.
Managed by a certifiable lunatic.
You know every bad person was good once or even great until he made that thing that made him be called bad So i don’t get when people say Wenger IS a great man or he deserves respect, if he is really that great and not a selfish cunt he would’ve resigned years ago and spared us all this drama, sadness & humiliation The fact is he WAS a great man, a legendary manager but now he IS a selfish cunt that only cares about himself and his big fat check, any honorable man would’ve left if he (felt) he’s… Read more »
Jesus wept…we’re all hurting but when we get to a point where a supposed Gooner is calling the coach a selfish cunt it’s time for me to leave these premises…so long and thanks for all the fish…
WTF.. is the coach holly or something, why do you think he is above criticism !! isn’t he a selfish person (if it’s the word “cunt” that bothered you then excuse me, it’s my frustration at the manager that me use such a foul language) My love for the coach is conditional to the success he brings to the club i love and support, other than that then my love to him would be personal, & i don’t know the man to love or hate him, all what matters to me that he’s Arsenal’ manager & he’s doing a disastrous… Read more »
Um. He certainly doesn’t have the teams of old but that hes been crap for the past 10 years is foolish. And you call him a cunt and that he lacks honor. Even after his players failed to turn up he spares them public criticisms. He has won 3 of the last 4 fa cups, lasy year coming from one down to beat city and then beating chelsea. If the players dont play for him or respect him then how did that happen. Has he made mistakes? Yes. Has he lost luster. Yes. But calling him a selfish cunt says… Read more »
An honourable man would walk away would admit that he cannot any longer motivate the team not even for a cup final ! He would not cling to his job and take his rather hefty salary for presiding over failure after failure in the two major competions that define a top team for presiding over abject performance after abject performance ,the man’s overseen more absolute pastings than any manager of Arsenal that I can ever remember in 58 years support in the last 7 or 8 years ! No other club in world football would have accepted the humiliations we’ve… Read more »
Same intagibles about luck and concentration. They simply outclassed us. 1st vs 6th, it was evident.
They outclassed us even though they played shit, that’s the worst part.
This season has been a total free fall. Hope it sweeps Wenger out too. Even Ostersund Swedish fans had a Wenger out banner
Those lapses seem to happen extremely often. Maybe the moments of good defending are the lapses and the shite defending is the norm for this bunch of pussies..How many fucking times have we conceded 3 or more…shit how many times have we conceded 4 or more in the last few years… its no doubt in double figures.
Mustafi is garbage, Kolscieny has passed it. Per is about to retire, Chambers and Holding are not even championship level. No good DM, so Arsenal is terrible
Reginald: yeah but we do have Welbeck
We be fucked.
He has to say something but this is just silly.
We are behind City in every way and – for example- Burnley are closer to us, than we are to them.
The EL is now our only salvation for the Season and it is a long shot.
But the main thing is that his once great tenure must be ended, voluntarily or otherwise, come May.
One more season of this – not to mention three more seasons of this ? – is unconscionable.
I really hope he had the good grace to apologise to the thousands of dedicated Arsenal fans who spent their hard-earned (in most cases) to watch that shower of shit show as much resistance as Kevin Spacey at a Boy Scout jamboree.
Forget the repeated, lame excuses. Lapses in concentration are as much a part of the DNA of this team under Wenger as not winning the league is part of the Spuds’ DNA.
well if you bought better defenders we wouldn,t have defensive lapses, and we wasn,t unlucky, we was absolute shite, its just one excuse after another, just shut up and GO
Didn’t see the match due to travel,but was dumb enough to see the goals tonight. The first goal was a new low even for Arsenal. Mustafi backing into Aguero and claiming a foul(!),the two morons behind Aguero are of course totally misplaced. To call it a lapse in concentration is to call breathing an act of will.
One in duel, the second in cover is stuff you learn as a 6 year old playing in the schoolyard,what principles we play after is unknown to mankind.
lapses in concentration ???. we were awful.
Extremely sorry to pump up a rival club but in these sad times, the truth need to be said
Recently tot’nham went 0-2 down to Juve but came back to make it 2-2.
If this was our dear Arsenal the scoreline would have collapsed to 0-5
Top 4 gone
FA cup gone
Carabao cup gone
Europa ???
Indicates how far backwards we’ve moved. Some people are already shifted to now talking of top 5 and removed us entirely from top clubs
Urgent action required ASAP
The top or big 5 is solely down to these clubs hiring the best coaches around, whilst we cling on to the past. God help us if Wenger decides to stay or helps choose the next manager.
lapse – noun
A brief or temporary failure of concentration, memory, or judgement.
What part of our lack of concentration, organization and application is brief or temporary?
The only lapse in concentration was giving you a two year contract extension by our clueless board.
Wenger out.
What seemed to be missing for me was talent.
Regardless, what was pep jabbering about to wenger. The manager works for a club owned by an oil rich state that still uses slave labor. And he spends 700 million on a team that won the league a few years ago and he has the nerve to bitch at Wenger.
What a joke.
After reading Wenger’s post match analysis, I wondered whether he was analyzing the final match or the one at Etihad which ended 3-1. Where was the lack of concentration, mustafi was in an aerial duel with Aguero and was completely outfoxed. Company had been threatening
with clear, visible presence before his goal. Silver, was clearly in control when he put it past Ospina. This Wenger and Arsenal debacle is becoming quixotic.
His team talks must be so boring it lulls the team to sleep when they come out for the second half.
Wenger is in denial I fear for his sanity. More concerned about Arsenal .
I rue the Board handing the muppet endless contracts.