Arsene Wenger has spoken of his frustration after Arsenal failed to turn possession into points at White Hart Lane. The Gunners dominated the first third of the game but were undone twice before the break by lackadaisical defending and struggled to reassert themselves despite Per Mertesacker’s early second half header.
Facing the media after the game, the boss underlined his belief that his side should have taken the bull by the horns when the momentum was with them.
“It’s frustrating because we put so much effort it and we lost the game when we were on top of the game. If you watch the game again you will see that at the moment we were 2-0 down we should have been 2-0 up.
“They had a very difficult start, we were on top of the game, and the 2-0 lead of course gave them the confidence to defend well and that’s what they did for the rest of the game.
“It’s very frustrating because we had a great attitude but we come out with no points and as well because we were not efficient in the zones where it matters – at the front and at the back.
“Also, without being at any moment dominated, the only times Tottenham were dangerous today was on counter-attacks. If you are dominated and they create chance after chance, OK you accept it. But today it was a strange game to lose.”
Asked whether his defence could have done more to prevent two goals in two minutes by Bale and Lennon, Wenger stressed that ideally we wouldn’t ever concede before lamenting that conceding in quick succession had become an unfortunate trend this season.
“Ideally you don’t concede goals at all. It is frustrating because we had the best defensive record in the league away from home until today. When you go into a big game like that, once you’re 2-0 down you make it difficult for yourself because you have to come out, open yourself up against a team that is good at counter-attacking.
“But after in the final 20 minutes it was stop and go, they would foul and stop us from going. They stayed down a lot. We couldn’t get the final flow into the game because it was stop and go always.
“It happened to us many times this season [conceding two goals in quick succession] and only in big games. It’s difficult to say why, there’s no common thing, in all the games there is a different problem. But after you make it difficult for yourself. I cannot fault the attitude or the effort that the team produced, or the spirit the team has shown, but you give yourself a mountain to climb every time in a game of that magnitude.”
Well, predicatble debacle given our recent run in big games. Still, I can see a scrap between Chelsea and us for 4th… Here’s hoping.
Well atleast Adebayor injured his vagina.
Wenger, i am fustrated in you.
It is you who has sold all our top players.
It is you who has bought average players.
It is you who has £123million in the bank and refuses to spend it.
Who told you with have £123m in the bank? If that is indeed how much we have then he should be sacked on the fucking spot. After all that “we don’t need to spend” bollocks in January.
Atm spending looks like unlikely to solve our problem. No matter whom we buy they will always get into the team and deteriorate through poor performances as the season goes on, never really playing to their full potential. We have a back four of pure professionals but concede silly goals thru school boy, laughable defending week in week out. Nothing changes.
Wenger needs to change something tactics/motivation/coaching in order to get the best out of these “professionals”. Steady the ship first before bringing in more fire power in the summer.
Are there seriously 5 people out there who heard Wenger say “We don’t need to buy any players as the team is good enough” and believed he was right whilst sitting on £123m worth of funds to correct the problems that were glaringly obvious?
Because that is exactly what you are saying by thumbing down my post.
And Lee, Wenger has had 8 seasons of being given the luxury of utilising the transfer market. It’s safe to say that it hasn’t worked.
No idea what giving him another transfer window to ‘steady the ship’ after its been heading into the direction of an iceberg for so long.
Give a new manager a run at that transfer window with £123m, someone who doesn’t have a ‘we don’t need to buy any players because we are already a top, top team full of real quality throughout’ mentality.
Frustrated in Wenger? I am abit after these words. “we have conceded 2 goals in quick concession alot in the big games this season… its difficult to say why” Right so you are aware of this awful trend, and you have no fucking clue why its happening? Isnt that a bit frightening seeing as though your the manager? Does that mean that because you dont know why its happening nothings being done about it? I can give you a quick couple of reasons why….. lack of investment, lack of leadership, lack of tactical influence in the game, lack of anything… Read more »
@ Swish ” It’s safe to say that it hasn’t worked.” I won’t say so. We’ve achieved quite a bit considering all the money swirling around us in the Premier League and we’ve done it without going into debt. A lot of people will thumb down this comment because they don’t think that is important, but I am concerned as much with our short-term success and also our long-term viability as a club. If financial prudence is the price to pay to ensure Arsenal is still a viable, competing team in 50 years time, that’s a price I’m willing to… Read more »
Bard
Financial prudence, if you want to see good house keeping Sp*rs wage bill is £50 million less than us. Bayern have a similar wage as us. This is not good value for money. Wake up.
Chelsea aren’t in as much of a free fall as we seem to be. I would love 4th, but I have some serious worries that we can reach that high. At this stage, I’d be surprised if we finished any higher than 6th.
The league has gotten stronger and we have gotten weaker. Sadly, it won’t be a surprise if we don’t fluke our way to 4th again.
Fingers crossed nonetheless.
My explanation for our frustration is we have sold our best players the last four years, replaced them with players who could be great under the right tuteledge and team leaders but are failing without that continuity and structure, and we sit on a cash kitty and pay stupid loyalty to players psychological fragility and misguided managerial beliefs.
here we r again..cnt do our job, jst hoping othrs will do us a favour..its nt dat arsenal we love..its f**kin annyoing..we all keep discussing same shit 4m last 8 yrs, dis can b done, dat has to do n all d vry shit.. but does any1 hear us..?? i dnt think so.. jst lower ur expectation guys.. ITS NOT THAT ARSENAL WE LOVE..
Fuck off. I’m behind the Arsenal regardless of how successful they are.
4th place is hoping?
I’ve never been so pissed off with the team like i was yesterday. I ve never been a professional footballer but I swear I would have never let those two cunts get behind so easy to score. School boy defending. How can you let so few players score 2 goals in 2 minutes making the same mistake. I swear Gibbs would never have let that midget get past him without a fight. Its advisable to have at least one player over 30 in centre of your defence because experience is invaluble (thats if you learn from your mistakes). Football is… Read more »
He’s frustrated!!
Is he? I’m beginning to doubt his frustration these days. Line up just didn’t seem to make sense. Doesn’t seem to have the fight anymore could be wrong fancy an argument!!!!
?
same shit different day
Same shit, different season as well.
Might as well read the chelsea, city, liverpool, blackburn, bayern, e.t.c post-match press conference transcript.
I’m not sure it’s the same shit every season. From my perspective, we’ve looked worse this season than any other in recent memory.
In fact, I’d say this season’s shit is like the shit you take the morning after a late night out that ended with a dodgy curry. You know, the one so bad it stings your eyes?
Sp*rs will shoot themselves in the foot as always, they are just a small club in disguise.
Good point. Spurs ought to now finish at least fourth, but they have a habit of bottling it when it comes to the crunch. And they do have a much tougher run-in than us. That’s the only glimmer of hope that we have right now. I just can’t see us finishing ahead of Chelsea. But there’s now way it should have come to this. We are a much bigger club with a much bigger wage bill that Spurs. We should have been challenging for the title this season – not hoping that Tottenham fuck up in order for us to… Read more »
I’m with Blogger on this, I think we are clutching straws if we are expecting them to collapse like last season. As annoying as it is, they do seem stronger this season and with the momentum from this win, they’ll feel like they are on top of the world.
The lillywhite cunts.
What is so much tougher about their run in? I find it pretty similar to ours…
But it’s really sad that we have to hope on that instead of just having a laugh when they do that.
The worrying thing is he recognizes our defending is not good enough.But has been able to do nothing to sort it out.We have conced 54 goals in all comps this season. Simply not good enough.
If only he had a proper defender as an assistant manager. Who he listened to. I was listening to a podcast the other day and one of the comments was that Bould was caught on camera either during the Blackburn game or Bayern game saying to Wenger “how many more times do I have to tell you?”. Couple that with reports earlier in the season about Wenger not letting Bould handle the defensive side of the team, makes for some shocking arrogance by Wenger. Bould was part of the greatest back 4 we ever had, why the hell is he… Read more »
Wenger way if sorting things out is to let the players think about it own their own. The organic way.
i just think his time is up . he`s been good for us over the years but his tactics are old hat by todays standards , can`t help thinking of brian clough . top man in his day but the game left him behind . and it ended with him being sacked and the club in dire straights
squillaci . senderos . park . reyes . denilson . djourou . santos . mert . chimak . fabianski . almunia ,the other fucker in goal . the list goes on ! can`t even spell half the fuckers he`s wasted millions on ! this monreal is like a lightweight santos for fucks sake !
Two of those were academy graduates.
Empty words
Hey, Wenger, follow the pope.
Where? To the toilet or the vatican van?
Google translation – From : Wenger speak – To: English
blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah
Simple solution , Feed Wenger to the lions and buy good players , how hard could that be ?
spieler sind Ok. Idiot
With different teams and players throughout the past 8 years wenger has consistently failed to motivate the squad for the games that actually matter. The ability to do that is what defines a quality manager. We need a personality/motivating influence/no bs ruthless winner in charge.
You are correct sir. I don’t know how anyone can thumb that one down. He even admits when asked that he doesn’t have a strategy and doesn’t use tactics.
I agree with that to a certain extent, but then again, what about the years before those eight years?
What about those second half resurgences?
Or the wins against spuds in the last few games?
I’m not sure hiring someone else with just one extra quality (motivation) but maybe lacking in all the other departments that Wenger is actually good at (the same skills that brought us trophy) is necessarily a safe bet.
Wenger-‘We were not efficient in the zones where it matters-at the front and at the back’
You really couldn’t make that shit up.
(Sigh) I am at a low… Even Arsene knows how shit we really are Why can we just not improve? We need a change in mindset at Board level. We keep getting fucked year after year on transfers, out with the good in with the will-be-good. Then when they do become good, they move on. It is frustrating! I am hoping this takeover story is true, because I for a fact know that Gazidis and Stan have had their chance with my Arsenal – and they have fukd us over. I do not want to become another City, but I… Read more »
“Why can we just not improve?” Probably because we have sold our best and most effective players every year in recent seasons and haven’t spent the money to replace them with players of equal (world) class. I can’t see any of our squad leaving this season, so that’s one positive. The other is that there is reason to believe that we actually have money to spend this summer and will spend it. Sp*rs have been improving solidly every season while we’ve been gradually getting worse. Hopefully we will at last see our great club turn around and start walking forwards… Read more »
I swear dear Arsene, there is no other more deluded man on planet earth than you. Blame everybody but yourself and look for answers where there is none. You are worthless, Senile cun-t
So am I, but I’m not a staff member or a player that can a make a difference. Nevertheless I still love arsenal COYG!
Why is he frustrated? Did he expect to beat tottenham without Tottenham picking up a red card?
furk off smug spud
For fucks sake wenger… Your fuckin frustrated….?!? 8 fuckin years we’ve heard judge me at the end of the season… 8 fuckin years…! We’ve had frustration up to our fuckin eye balls but we can’t do anything about it… Only you can… We’ve defenders who can’t defend, strikers who can’t score and £123 million sat the yanks bank account… ( closer to £200 million by my reckoning but stans probably had the extra away already…) Your the manager, your responsible, sort it out or fuck off….
You and me both, Mr. Wenger.
Sadly though, I don’t have the £9m wage to console myself.
Is the thumb down because I don’t have a £9m wage? haha.
Rosicky must play in each and every game till the end of the season. Sacrifice Arteta, Diaby, Ramsey, Giroud, whoever. I don’t give a rat’s ass anymore. First step to recovery is play your best team and not bench players like Podolski and Rosicky.
If Giroud needs sacrificing, I’ll volunteer to do it. Just saying…
I agree on that, giroud has not scored for some time now and it doesn’t looks like he’s close to any kind of form either. Try Podolski upfront for once, he has played there for most of his career except when he played for the German national team. He’s a better finisher then giroud and at the moment we lack goalscoring threat upfront.
It’s not just this game Arsène. Man u has been hitting us on counters for years with us ‘on top of the game’, well not till recently. Now they even dominate us.
Point is we’ve become weaker and weaker season after season but expected to remain at the top. Just like this old Ugandan saying “we are boiling beans and expecting to serve steak. ” lately
Plus ca change, and all that. In older more elegant cultures, a man who had failed as badly as you for so long would simply, honorably fall on his sword. Such a demise never diminished that man’s great works. For it only served the most noble of concepts; accountability and culpability.
Central midfield, right midfield, left midfield, defensive midfield and now right back, where next for Ramsey? Goalkeeper? Wherever he goes will Wenger ever realise he’s NOT good enough for the team. Take off a fast right back that can cross a ball and replace with Ramsey…..priceless.
I wouldn’t mind giving Ramsey a punt on managing next 😉
Can’t blame goalkeeper today stuart never stood a chance with either goal.
Wait what? Why are you slagging off one of our best players on the pitch against the Spuds? Besides Ramsey and Jenks who the hell else showed up last night?
I’m not slagging him off. I applaud the effort he puts in every game but his ability is not good enough. He does nothing with the ball, once or twice we had the chance to break down the right but he dithers ( As he always does ) by which time the defence is back in position. After hesitation the ball either goes square or backwards…attack over. I agree with your comments about Jenks so why take him off ? The change forced Jack to go further back and from the number a times he gave the ball away we… Read more »
I remember the days when players chose to leave us and they found that the grass on the other side isn’t greener. Sadly, we’ve sold 18 players in the last 8 years and they have all accumulated 54 trophies.
Fucking annoying.
THAT, if true (or even close, for that matter) is quite staggering a stat. 7AM!!!!!!
‘can’t knock the players efforts’ but he must recognize he’s brought in questionable abilities when it came to replicating standards previously set under rhis tenure…..
The usual Wenger bullshit. The truth is that he’s a lost man. Our failure to keep up with with Spurs is no surprise or mystery, we simply have a manager who has lost the plot and is well past his sell-by date. For years now we have had deep-rooted problems with the squad which everyone but Our Wonderful Leader can see. The failure to sort out our goalkeeping; our lack of proper defensive organisation; and the lack of in-depth quality up front have all badly hurt our prospects for seasons now. But Wenger either can’t or won’t do anything about… Read more »
failure to keep up with spurs????
Yes, that’s what it has come to now. We should be miles ahead of them, they are not a great side, but we now can’t even keep up with them.
Sad, isn’t it?
As well as Wenger going….he must because he fails season after season tactically and in paying money for average players who would only have previously got into sides like Liverpool & Newcastle!! But getting another manager in will be only a start if there is a change in ownership and board so that we have people who want/demand sucess, not those like Stan K,Hill-Wood,Gzaidis who are only interested in one thing…..earning Money!!!! Otherwise what chance will a new man stand?
The really great teams simply do not make errors over and over again, we do. What gets to me is the coaching staff are not drilling this into the team or the team do not follow instructions, something big has got to change.
Giroud was disappointing today, tried too many clever flicks and made wrong decisions, he’s a very good footballer no doubt but he’s making things hard for himself right now.
CL football is a must for our club and its gonna be very tough..
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/21649200
Ah, now we see the real purpose of this story. Check out this retarded headline.
“It’s difficult to say why, there’s no common thing, in all the games there is a different problem”
There is a different problem but always the same derivative, that being you Mr Wenger
Im not in mood to comment ..
Good, I’m not in the mood to reply.
D’oh!
So if Arsene recognizes that we are being hit on the counter attack, maybe a remedy would be to drop a certain defender whose idea of dealing with a runner is to sprint into midfield. Or at least not make him the captain.
I think scapegoating individual players is lazy and often misguided, but for me it’s really hard to think we don’t win this game if we had been able to feature a better CB than Vermaelen (Koscielny?) and a better striker than Giroud.
KROENKE OUT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Until Captain Vermaelen is dropped these riculous lazy defensive performances are gonna be here to stay, absolute liability for last 18months at least, Mert not much better when paired with him, can’t help but think Djourou or Bartley would have both had more determination and higher concentration than these two, Kos no better at moment, at least last year we were able to push Song back when necessary
Weren’t efficient in the front or the back ? What the fuck are we doing then ? Don’t blame Wenger blame us, the players ? It’s Wengers fault for you, the players we have, because you can’t attack or defend
On a positive note, I like Rosicky when he came on, Monreal had some real classy touches as did Cazorla… Too bad you sprinkle that with the glory hunter Walcott playing for himself and the clueless Giroud who I had been a fan of up until today
This team couldnt win against cloggers united if their lifes depended on it.Exactly what have Wenger done to eradicate the same mistakes that happens over,over,over ,over and over again.You are not a very good coach if you cant eradicate simple mistakes but to spend 8 seasons making the same mistakes from a managers point of view is simply unforgiveable.This set of players are not a bad set of players but Wengers lack of tactical drills have copletely destroyed them.Mertesacker a wonderful stable defender when he plays for Germany,Vermaelen composed and secure fro Belgium but a nervous wreck playing for Arsenal.
It really breaks my heart to see my national kepper/captain play for those shitty cunts! Was so sad and gutted he signed for them out of all teams around as i just cannot manage to hate him and i so wish we’d of went in for him since he’s the kind of class keeper we need with so much experience at international and CL level!
When a kepper doesn’t break your heart, you know he’s a keeper
*gets coat*
Their saying on the news we are a club vunnable for a takeover because we have a amazing stadium, a big fan base and we make money.
I hope its true personally.
He must be frustrated now,but we the fans are in a frustration zone since the day we start winning nothing in a season..Arsene you knw you are the problem,but you can’t sort it out!
”It’s difficult to say why, there’s no common thing, in all the games there is a different problem.”
shit defence?
As I have said and been castigated by many Gooners on this site before, as much as I thank Wenger for what he has done for our club, he is not the man to lead us forward. We have no defence, yet have one of our most decorated defenders of the modern era as first team coach. Who is responsible for our lack of team solidity and defensive shape? I doubt very much it is Bould. We have an attacking midfielder trying to play defensive midfield ( Arteta). Once again he proved today he is not a specialist in that… Read more »
hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha … yur shit so yur going down the pan, where yu belong!
FU!
And you are clearly a complete and utter cock.
c***t
I think we’ll be okay mate. but thanks for the concern.
Fuck off Anus
Anons you are a wanker
Damien Joyce is spot on. The captain has to be the example for the rest of the team and also bollock complacency in his team. TV5 doesn’t bring either. Sad to say but his captaincy is just another mistake by AW
A bit fickle, but loads of people were pushing for his captaincy when the shit was going down with van Persie.
Agree Bard, this whole blog was asking for him to be captain and now it’s wengers fault again
How many times have we heard of this teams “fantastic spirit” and “great attitude” and the quality they posses, yet here we are 7 points of the spuds and 5 ponts off chelsea and 13 wins out of 28 games in the league….
Wenger reckons there is no common thing as to why we are conceding goals. Really, Arsene? Let me help you out on that one…..WE CAN’T DEFEND, YOU TOOL!
Let the coaches do their jobs, specifically Steve Bould, or go.
Maybe if we spent some time pre season working tactics and drills instead of trying to sell our brand in asia and germany…..
If i wanted to support a business id watch the stocks not “football”.
When Wenger took over we were shit. At least we have money in the bank and spending power and no matter what happens we are a bigger club now than when we were. Some fans’ hostility towards him is sad.
I will continue to support Wenger and Arsenal, BUT this summer I want to see some serious signings and the captaincy handed to Wilshere.
I don’t know… Look at the recent crop of players that has come in. Even if the debt has forced us to sell our best players, the replacements have been sub-par. What’d be spend on Podolski and Giroud when Dempsey was out there for half the price of either. I don’t know if Michu was even on our target list, but why not? It’s not like he was an unknown. We gave up on Mata, why? Because we missed a deadline to trigger his release clause? We just haven’t bought well. Even buying on the cheap we’ve got too many… Read more »
Cazorla, great signing and would get in any team in the world. Podolski is a great signing too, as,was monreal. Giroud, im not so sure, but 3 great signings in one year.
its a new team, they need time together and we need a,clinical forward. We aren’t that far from the top clubs imo.
Podolski and Giroud have contributed more to our play than Dempsey has at that other club so I don’t see why this is an issue.
The grass is always greener when you feel frustrated, but don’t let that cloud your judgement.
GOOD LUCK!
Are you a real gooner??? If you were you would know that before Wenger took over we had a team already on the rise, had Bergkamp & Ian Wright up front, the best defence in the world & a midfield with the like of Platt,Merson,Parlour etc., Overmars was already a done deal for the following season after we had been chasing him for 2 seasons. All Wenger did was build on a great foundation…..so don’t overblow how great he was and that he turned things round!! Thats not true …… George Graham & Bruce Rioch were the one’s who were… Read more »
Depressing. As others have said, it all feels a bit same shit different day – and its hard to be rational or draw any positives at the moment. The only one that comes to mind is that if there’s one team in the league who are even better than us at bottling a lead and managing to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory – its that lot. Still, uncomfortable to be in a position that we have to rely on that happening for the 2nd year in a row, although it has to be said it would be pretty… Read more »
Hilarious on Sp*rs yes…….but it would mean that Wenger would escape the major criticism he deserves ….again!!!
Arsenal fan frustrated by listening to the the same old sh!t!
If this buy out is true looks like we will have the last laugh over Spurs.
Lets bring the Arabs in. Then there will be changes. Stop paying under performing players 60k a week to sit in the stand. Then we can buy more expensive players to underperform and sit in the stand and pay them 200k a week. Lol. Dont worry we will still Qualify for the UCL.
Look we have done well for ourselfs a club of achievement and support and for a club like City inferior to us in everyway to be winning trophys and not us is a insult.
I say we have earned our good fortune lets get the arabs in i say.
bollocks..and oh, ramsey is still shite.