Arsene Wenger says Arsenal’s recent schedule has made it almost impossible for his players to perform, and that the timing of the Carabao Cup final added to his side’s lack of confidence.
The Gunners went down 2-1 to Brighton on Sunday, making it eight defeats in 2018 alone – a horrendous slump in form.
The Arsenal manager’s future remains under intense scrutiny, but he insisted he didn’t want to talk about and said the uncertainty is not playing any part in recent performances.
“Nothing is permanent,” he said. “We have to continue, first to recover now, because we played Thursday, Sunday, Thursday, Sunday.
“It’s nearly physically impossible for some players who have played all of the games. So we have to first recover and prepare for Thursday night.
“I can understand the frustration. What can I say, I think the League Cup being situated in the middle of the season is always very difficult when you don’t win it.
“It brings a lot of negative waves. We were four times in the last five years in finals, we won three and lost one.
“But it brings a lot of negativity and on top of that, the game that was rearranged on Thursday night did not help us to compete today.
“The negativity of having lost the final, plus the fact that we are not in a fantastic position in the league, of course it hits us hard.”
Asked if he felt he was capable of turning things around, the Frenchman was defiant.
“Yes, because I have done it before and it’s the first time I lose so many games on the trot in my life,” he said.
“I believe in our quality. Until now, I always managed to do that and I still believe that I can do it.
“At the moment my future is not my main worry. My worry is to get Arsenal to win football games, and then we see where we go from there.
“I will try to give my best as long as I am here, and do everything to get the team back to more confidence. We need to recover physically first.
“The program we have is at the moment a bit too demanding.”
straws clutching etc
I wonder what I ll tell the next generation of Wengers ERA.
What advice do I even give my child that wants to be an ARSENAL fan
….Support the Ladies team
It’s character building. Tell them we are not the best anymore, but will be again in the forthcoming years.
Wenger will be sacked or will resign within the next 3 months.
Tell your child – being an Arsenal or any team’s fan means you support the team in every way you can to help them turn good performances . Supporting a team means you stick with them through the tough times , you do not turn on the players or the manager if they do not win . Support means learning to live with defeat and rise to the next challenge in front of you . Winning trophies is not easy —- most teams in the PL have not won 1 in years , Arsenal has won on average 1 every… Read more »
That is the most sensible comment I’ve read in ages. Bravo
Turning on them certainly isn’t going to help the situation …
This is true. I urge angry Gooners to simply show apathy instead and stay away from the Emirates. A half empty stadium is more telling to the board than planes and banners
This is true. I urge you to not support the team ???
I don’t think superfrog, what a scandalous name and SDWN, whatever that is, know what is going on. We are not talking about support here, they’ve received it all through this season. The decline is self-inflicted. If I am Stoke, Westham, Palace, or even Ostersund’s, no, Nothin-ham’s bush supporter, I’ll understand the reality, but with this filth called Arsenal, all you Wenger-in, are you really fans of this great club? The situation is now very quixotic!
When you loose after giving everything you have got or putting in the effort, the fans will appreciate it. Currently, the team cant be bothered to turn up as mummy wenger has mad them too comfortable. Virtually all the players were playing well for their various former clubs before being signed & none of them has improved. Rather it seems as if they have never played football before. Times up im sorry to say for Wenger. We need a breathe of fresh air.
Most of my frustration is focused at the board. As long as they use our club as a cash cow, without caring whether we win or not. Allowing a man who clearly has lost support of both supporters and players to continue regardless. I don’t think this situation would be allowed to happen at Liverpool, Newcastle or Sp*rs. And while I’ll always be an Arsenal fan it does make me think whether I should be feeding the Arsenal fat cats by supporting the club financially, 2018/19 season ticket anyone?
I mostly agree but, you should feel free to turn on the players with honest, grounded criticism of the players and manager for poor decisions and they should be courteous enough to accept it and work to correct the mistake. If that doesn’t work turn on the board. Basically there NEEDS to be communication between the club and the fans who pay everyone’s wages but at arsenal communication has completely broken down completely through the hierarchy, players , manager, board and owner are on completely different pages. E.g The players are told the goal is to win trophies. The manager… Read more »
Very well said sir
Found out something scary the other day. My daughter (11) actually though our clubs name had something to do with Arsene! That it was somehow his club
Buteo, you have a lot of work to do. You have to start teaching her now
I wish he was the owner. That at least would be better.
I blame his fear of living without football or not being able to have control over another football club like he has on ours.
Arsene IS the problem.
If you were so worried about physicality. Maybe you should have made at least one fucking substitution when 3-0 down against man city then. Incredible.
My question is what is Man Citeh’s excuse then? They’ve had a similar svhedule, cup final, etc and I don’t see them falling off of the face of the earth.
I can’t believe we have to say this, but grow up, Arsene, and take a page from Cech’s book. “I screwed up, it’s not acceptable, and I WILL get better.”
Its clear from this that Wenger their excuse (for good form) is they won. Because we lost that is why we keep losing…weird
Apt!
Maybe it helps that they have spent 1bn on a massive squad of players.
This is exactly the point. Man City numbers for the last 7 days:
7 goals scored
3 clean sheets
They played the same schedule as us, like you say, added to that they are still in the FA Cup and Champions League… so you could argue our players should be fresher. Meh Wenger
Errr… They’re not in the FA Cup. Lost to Wigan, remember?
At the beginning of the season Thursday Sunday wouldn’t be any issue and he was surprised it was use as an excuse
With the BBC- not looking for excuses but we were jaded from our schedule.
A good reporter would then say that’s an excuse arsene
Like who was honestly surprised by that? None of us, thats the honest answer. We are so bad, some of the stuff you saw out there you genuinely wouldn’t see on a park on a Sunday morning. Arsene has lost the players, they 100% do not want him there anymore. They are not playing for him. Its so sad to see, it really is. I think the last couple of seasons have really hurt Wengers’ aura, and his image in modern football. All of those ‘Wenger Out’ memes popping up all over the world have literally made him into a… Read more »
#Perspective
The only time in the game I felt we looked any good was in second half when jack and Ozil moved us forward quickly and intelligently. The injury stopped momentum. That’s as much perspective as I can come up with
Shove it up your Arsen
Is Brighton & Hove dominating every clubside?
He’s utterly deranged.
If it’s the first time in his life he’s lost so many times, how come he’s done it before?
Its a nightmare.
So basically it’s football’s fault & not his.
Okay ?
Stop looking for a scapegoat
So everything except underperforming players, lack of coaching, no strategy, no tactics ……..
No tactics! Exaxtly! We always try to make simple things look harder. Always passing and passing while the opposition happily jogging back to their box and overcrowd it. Brighton clearly knew our weakness and abused it! And they did something simple. Kick it quickly to open space and from then on there are 3 possible outcomes. They’ll lose the ball, the defender commits a foul, or have an open space to create goals. We on the other hand always pass the ball to static players. I mean what’s the point of having so many players upfront if they are not… Read more »
“I’d do a better job coaching these football games if all these football games wouldn’t get in the way.” — A. Wenger 2018
oh my word you’ve nailed. It makes me sad but you so have.
Nailed it*
Sheeyt. This has to be QFT (Quoted for truth) and assuming he himself isn’t aware of what he said, then it has to be shown to Le Prof himself to see if he is as “out of touch” as he is purported to be…..
Is anyone even still Wenger in?
Yes, Spurs fans ;-( But even they seem to be getting bored of taking the piss out of us.
Gone on hiding. Even them can’t make excuses no more. They should announce that he will step down at the end of the year and give him the sending off he deserves for what he has done for us…
Please let it stop.
Wenger said it….nothing is permanent…including being AFC manager.
Arsene has lost it..he’s getting more annoying by the day
Utter
Bollocks
Fair comment
If I thought, for one moment just one moment, that he could stop Mustafi from playing like a complete c**t, that he could galvanise these players to stop giving the ball away, pass to each other, cover and fight for the ball when we’re out of possession, break a fucking sweat, have some pride in the club, each other and themselves and actually play like they give a shit – then I’d be right behind him. But he can’t and he won’t and – sadly – he won’t ever again. Sad times.
He bought Mustafi.. payed 35mil in desperation after dithering the whole window.. his eye for talent has needed Specsavers for a while now..
Also could have got Lacazette a year earlier for 30mil.
Do not scapegoat Mustafi
Mustafi consistently makes mistakes that lead to goals. He is not fit to wear the shirt.
Just watched Wenger post-game…. This guy should think about doing politics next
He sounds like the Orange Creamsicle Prick in charge of my country. He is now completely deluded residing in an alternative universe with fake news and alternative facts. He needs to set up a twitter account and start tweeting #NoCollusion and /Sad over and over. Next he can deny climate change. Then he can directly address all Gooners the world over and let us know we actually are winning the league by the biggest, bestest, most amazing margin ever, and we will sign all the players and keep winning. We are winning so much we are all tired of winning.… Read more »
I prefer the Orange Creamsicle Prick by a mile now.
No way. I’d like the boss replaced immediately. I think being elite at managing this game has passed him by, but he was very competent, and very informed, and would probably not start a trade war with the globe to deflect attention from how shit we’ve been as a team.
Hmmm … if everyone’s so tired, we might have considered a few subs last time around. The club really is infuriating. No responsibility, no accountability. So sad ….
Wish someone would call him up on his contradictions and excuses. Can’t tell you how much id love to have a conversation with him and put stuff like that to him, just to see if he’d finally admit to some kind of culpability
But Man City also played the same amount of games and have beaten Chelsea. This is not a valid reason for playing shit and not having a clue about how to win a football match. We have been shit pretty much all season and this stubborn old goat still thinks he is the man to get us out this shit. We could potentially drop to mid table if teams around us win and we continue like this. The old man will still claim he can challenge for the league next year. It pains me to say it, but I think… Read more »
not my fault Guv !! Honest
This man is a walking, talking, breathing bag of excuses.
By far the shitest team,
That Arsenal’s ever seen.
Always blames everything and everyone apart from himself. That was utter sh!te today! He needs to go. Not at the end of the season but now.
Hopefully we will either win the europa league or drop out of the top six. If we find is sixth and don’t win this year’s europa, we enter next year’s competition and the 2nd qualifying round along with the Scottish, Irish and Eastern European teams. Our season would begin on 26th July, just 11 days after the world Cup final!
Hmmm – not convinced. Anyone else just hear the poor sod on 606 phone-in, an Arsenal fan who’d been to the match basically distraught and sobbing down the phone? I’d say get some perspective in life, but I suppose it will hit some very hard. I just hope Callum (I think that was his name) is kept away from loaded revolvers and gas ovens.
Time to blood the youngsters and rest the so-called jaded players. No pressure to finish top 4, let them have a run out in the league and gain experience, maybe they will surprise in a good way. Better than the same old. Pretty please?
I like the concept but would that help them or destroy their confidence as well? If he sends the first team out without a plan, I doubt he would have one for the kids, unfortunately.
He has a point. Playing football is tiring compared to not playing football.
We need a captain on the field. Bring back Rosicky or just play 10 and let Santi yell at them from the edge of the pitch.
Santi at the edge of manager’s box:
Pass no
Shoot no
Tackle no
Maybe we should not enter cup competitions like man u did that one year. That way we won’t accidentally get into distracting cup finals.
Didnt City just beat Chelsea? They played the Carabao final too. What’s their excuse?
Yes they did, but city didn’t have to work very hard in that final. ?
Also Chelsea tried playing like us and walked around the pitch for most of the game…seems like everyone waves the white flag when City turn up…
To be fair, that is kinda Wengers exact point. If we’d somehow scraped a win in the cup final (or even more so won in convincingly) then are tails would be up and we’d be full of confidence. We didn’t. We got thrashed. Then got thrashed again by the same team again but now with ‘their tails up.’ It’s an excuse, but it is logical. Seems he getting at ‘this is why I’ve always thrown the league cup away on purpose, it just gets in the way’ excuse. Southampton did similar last year mind. Made it to the final and… Read more »
He reminds me of John Belushi explaining to Carrie Fisher why he missed their wedding in the Blues Brothers…
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=aY4YOsjCI-Q
I never want to listen to this man again. He keeps finding ways to make it hurt more even when i kid myself am now apathetic.
A lot of this sounds like it’s for the players, a handy simple excuse. But clearly there is a wider issue that we can all see. If it works for Thursday I’m ok with it buying some bull
He blames everyone and everything but himself
‘It’s nearly physically impossible for some players who have played all of the games’
Did we actually have anyone though who played on all 4 games ? We rested loads v Ostersunds, Aubemeyang ineligible for Europa, MickyTaryan ineligible for League cup…..so my guess is not ?
Curious why someone would vote me down on this. Assuming I am wrong, could the down voter confirm who did play in all 4 games cos that could be the only logical reason for a down vote ?
I think some people like to down vote just for the sake of it…and I fully expect to be down voted for this comment.
Exaaaactly. People like to disagree and wallow in negativity because…. that’s far easier and it doesn’t require much effort (speaking from personal experience).
Like a (once) great man once said, “it’s like I’m masochistic and a glutton for punishment.”
Much like the players, I’ve just stopped listening now.
Guess this will be very facetious at the very least if not very ill timed but this comment is sooo oaahahahahahahahahaha! ???
The blame firmly falls at the door of our boardroom.
#KroenkeOut
Regardless of who replaces Arsene as manager? There’s a massive job to do.
I don’t hold a lot of optimism for our future over the next few years at least
I blame wenger
Oh you forgot to the freezing weather to the list. Pathetic!!! The decline started before the Carabao final. Also other clubs still in the FA cup and CL with as much schedule, have better results
Lesson for other clubs: DON’T LET YOUR MANAGER GET TOO POWERFUL, IT WILL COME BACK TO BITE YOU IN THE ASS
This old man just won’t let go.
Wenger out NOW.
If you thumb down, you are clearly not an Arsenal fan.
I just blame him. Full stop.
Wanna laugh at ppl who called me a cunt when I said things couple years back or asked me to support chelsea or city…. but I simply love Arsenal too much to laugh. So here’s just a little ‘told you so’ for ppl whos been supporting these businessmen instead of their beloved club’s success. You bunch deserve it and you’ve ruined it for supporters who wanted the club to succeed by supporting likes of Stan Kroenke or Arsene Wenger. I won’t laugh at you but we told you so. You can shove that wenger out in your ars now that… Read more »
Why you little fat piece of……ohhhh wait. Duck me sideways! You’re making (some warped) sense?!? FML…..seriously. ?
““It’s nearly physically impossible for some players who have played all of the games”
1. City beat us and Chelsea of an aggregate score of 7-0, with a trophy and all in the same schedule.
2. If it’s impossible, maybe you should’ve bloody made some subs last Thursday then, should ya?
City had 3 more hours of rest mind you.
Wenger would make a great Tarantino villain.
Having skimmed thru the comments all saying basically the same thing, I’ve never seen so many up votes. Go, just go.
That’s right, Arsene, blame everyone/everything but yourself. Just take some fucking responsibility! Every time it’s some stupid, pathetic excuse. Bad officials, hectic schedule, tired players, etc. Just once, please say, ‘I got it wrong’, ‘I made bad decisions’, ‘I haven’t a fucking clue what I’m doing any more’.
I have a very sincere doubt. Arsene is most likely a (grand)dad to most, if not to all of us. And the man by all accounts seems to be quite intelligent. So why would he put……HIS OWN self down in a public forum?! ?
So everything but himself
Can anybody name the last signing to improve at Arsenal? How come Mustafi and Ozil look great for Germany? Why did Holding look great in the Cup Final and now gets nowhere near the team? Coaching, what coaching?
Oh ok, so it’s not his fault… that’s fine then
Typical, the only person Arsene Wenger cannot blame is himself……..and possibly Kronke who refuses to sack him. The day he begins to understand that modern football has left him behind, the better ARsenal will be for it. As things stand today any team, I mean any team can beat this spineless bunch of ARsenal players.
It’s a never ending joke. Playing two games in a week is too much for some players. All these problems he comes up with lead back to him, either not buying the right players to have a good enough squad or training the fucking players to be able to play two fucking games in a week.
Very sad he has to resort to all these nonsensical comments. Just hold your hands up
What’s the difference between Wendesday Saturday like you get in the Champion’s league to Thursday Sunday?
There is none. Especially when you’ve rested most of your ‘first’ team for almost all the European games.
Everything that was good about Arsene, the records, the runs, the things he has achieved in his time have all but gone this season. Lowest finish in a season, most losses this season, failed to make Champs league, some of his proud records obliterated in 1 season. Its like when your granddad passes from cancer, the way that disease ruins a body and they look a shadow of their former selves and your memories are forever tarnished by those last days of his life….. Arsene has become like that. All the good stuff will now be overshadowed by the last… Read more »
Showing signs of dementia
I know there’s really nothing else for him to say, in a way, but I’m beyond tired and apathetic. These sorts of comments make me angry. Before today’s match I honestly wondered if we’d win another match this season, but after today I cannot possibly imagine we will. The way we are playing…it’s beggars belief. Of course, I’d like us to win every match from here on out but don’t see how it will happen even once.