Laurent Koscielny believes Arsenal have made a good start to the season by securing Champions League football and maintaining their unbeaten run in the Premier League.
The Gunners haven’t lost in 12 games across all competitoins; a run that stretches back to early April and includes two trophy winning performances at Wembley to secure the FA Cup and Community Shield.
Speaking to Arsenal Player the French international spoke of his eagerness to continue the run of form with the games coming thick and fast right through until the New Year.
“We won the FA Cup last season and I think that was very important for the players, the club and the fans.
“We are under no pressure this season about winning a trophy. Now we just want to win more because now we’ve started to taste [what winning a trophy is like], and we want to have more.
“During August, the most important thing was to qualify for the Champions League. We did well [to achieve] this. The start of the season has been good, because we won the first game and got a good draw at Everton.
“You have a lot of games every three days with the Champions League and Premier League, and you have the Capital One Cup too. September to February is a marathon and we need to be fit and ready mentally.
“It’s very important to be ready for the fight and we just want to be happy, to give ourselves for the team and to win the game.”
In other news Mikel Arteta returned to first team training today although it’s thought the Spaniard will not be risked when Arsenal travel to Leicester City tomorrow. The boss said on Friday that his captain had not yet recovered from the ankle problem he picked up in Istanbul ten days ago, although it’s positive that he appears to be on the mend. Arseblog News had feared the worst.
Abou Diaby, who played 45 minutes for the under-21s this week, also took part in the session. We’ve no reason to believe he got injured.
Can’t win a marathon with two specialist center backs. Chambers is 19. We can’t expect him to fill in every time one of center backs aren’t fit. We need defensive reinforcements.
Chelsea just trashed Everton 6-3. We need to get our rhytm back and make a bold statement by beating LCFC.
That was not a thrashing as you put it. It was much closer than the scoreline. Great attacking display but poor defensive wise.
Not a thrashing; but it was clinical on the Chelsea side, that’s for sure.
Still, some wonderful offensive movement by Everton.
Hate to admit, but Chelsea really do look the part. Now that a certain Cesc is lining up for them (the absolute fucker, pains me to watch him line up in blue). And it does seem Costa may just be Drogba’s replacement afterall, not just in the goalscoring department, but in being an absolute cunt who cheats his way with every dirty trick in the book. The good part is however, when Everton upped the tempo and closed down Cesc quickly, he wasn’t effective as he was in the first 10 minutes, something we may be aware of during his… Read more »
We’ll see what happens when the fixture list gets more crowded for them, or they pick up a few injuries, if we’re short up front then they’re practically pygmies.
They were everyone’s favourites for a reason, they’re a bit scary but then so was Scolari’s team at the start of the season…
I’ll start a prayer group for Diaby, pray he doesnt get injured one whole season. The man is class when he does play. Wish we had him throughout the season
He’s way ahead of you.
https://twitter.com/AbouVDIABY/status/416597470391848960
Good news across the board. Although this transfer business is a horse long dead from excessive beating, I genuinely think two quality additions before the end of the window will put us in title contention. Without them, I’m not so sure. Here’s to a 3-0 win against Leicester, Papastathopoulos, Falcao, and John Terry losing his hat only to discover that it was–in fact–on his head the whole time. Stupid git. COYG!
That transfer horse is not dead. It is just sleeping 😉
Well, in all fairness the only marathon run he can expect is the one to reach top4 given the low amount of goals we score per match.
Which I might add will not be resolved by selling Campbell and Podolski.
As much as I love Poldi, and as intriguing a prospect as Campbell seemed during the World Cup, I can’t help but feel that it’s in their best interests to go. We were desperate for strikers last season but we never thought to recall Campbell. As for Podolski, he seems unable to play as a lone frontman, so he wouldn’t be able to fill in for Giroud anyway. Also, Wenger seems rather unwilling to pick him, so wouldn’t it be better to cash in on him now, rather than him potentially becoming another Arshavin?
If anyone goes it will be Poldi but with what he’s done and the 10 mil we paid for him we won’t lose even if he goes on a free, Campbell is raw talent but he will come good under AW guidance I’m sure of it he reminds of Thierry when he first landed
I am sorry but I still do not see the reason why we would sell him other than that the board and Wenger wants to get away as cheap as possible with there transfers. Everyone can see what arsenal clearly needs atm: Defensive Midfielder, Centre Half and an world class striker. 🙂 We’re getting an centre half if lucky before the window closes. I am sorry but any player leaving us at this stage will make us weaker. Podolski gets to play from time to time and when he does, he’s been really good.
4 in 2 games is alright, I guess it’s 5 in 4 if you count CL though, that’s not so great but if we had been playing the best we could be and still not scoring that many…then I’d be worried, but as it is I’m a little more sanguine that we’ll click into gear soon.
I am sorry but the last season we was 30 goals behind the top competitors in the goal scoring stats. We clearly needs to strengthen in this area if we want to challenge..
Like getting in a guy for 35m? Or getting Theo back fit? Both will make a difference, and their dynamicism wil create chances for others.
We have strengthened, might not be enough if the Ox/Wilshere/Santi/Ozil don’t step up to the plate in front of goal, I agree with that but we are stronger. Worth remebering too, if we didn’t bottle it against the big teams we could have actually won it with the amount we scored last season…
There’s definite signs of the team getting a lot sharper, some nice passing moves in the second half of the Everton game and in the Besiktas game. Only a matter of time before we start hitting the heights we were hitting around this time last year.
3 points tomorrow lads please, COYG.
Hahaha, “we’ve no reason to believe he got injured”. Blogs at his best yet again.
It’s not that we don’t have a very strong squad. It’s just that there are two others that are a fair degree stronger than us, and that’s frustrating.
Yes, I just saw Everton – Chelsea. Frightening to be honest, especially considering their squad depth, as an injury here or there is not likely to affect them at all.
an injury to Costa will affect them
It could, yes, but Drogba should still be good enough to lead their attack for a few matches if Costa is out. A long term injury to Costa might affect them, but that’s about it.
They’re signing Remy.
There is nothing to fear. To their credit, they have got going early. If Cesc or Costa gets injured they will revert back to type. Long balls to Drogba and 2 holding midfielders. I was surprised with Mourinho today. He brought in Mikel, Louis and Drogba and took off all attacking midfielders. The media will go crazy claiming tactics. If Wenger had done that, the same folks would be screaming cowardice…
A lot of which is AW blind faith in players like Arteta
Good news, I feared the worst when I saw Arteta injured. As for the marathon.. we do need a few more players if we are to beat Chelsea to the trophy. They look very strong, so we need to be stronger. The next 48 hours will be very, very interesting. Also, I see that Falcao is now more or less ready for Real Madrid. It’s a very strange situation to be honest, as Real Madrid don’t really need him. What are they going to do now? Sell Benzema, who just signed a new contract? Or are they going to try… Read more »
Well, if he doesn’t want to use Ronaldo down the middle, which he apparently doesn’t, then getting rid of Benzema leaves them with Jese as backup to Falcao, unless Rodriguez can play up top? I doubt he’d do badly there, but might lose some of his spark having to be the guy at the tip of the spear rather than directing it himself.
Have a nagging feeling that this season everyone in the squad is going to get game time. It’s not a bad thing, as we actually have a great squad, & will be a result of actually competing on all fronts & in all competitions.
Utter madness mind you to not further strengthen with at least 1 more quality signing…Suicidal to even ponder shipping out the likes of Podolski &/or Campbell.
Have a feeling that what we now do in the remainder of the transfer window will be the determining factor of how this season actually goes.
We’re not worried about LCFC, Alexis Sanchez has the taste for goals now and there’s nothing stopping him getting his first Hat-trick for the club tomorrow. Yes Koscielny is right about it being a marathon task ahead of us. But it’s nothing we can’t overcome with a great midfield duo in Ramsey and Wilshere if they can stay fit and injury free.
We’ve no reason to believe he got injured.
===
really?
No reason to believe he didn’t get injured either.
Having watched Chelsea demolish Everton, and considering who they had on their bench, I find it even more frustrating listening to Arsene talk about poker when our needs are so glaring. Remi may not be world class but he isn’t a bad option for COC games against lower oppositions. Also, how come the chavs have spaces for non home grown with all their multitude of foreigners? I don’t appreciate us relying on Sanogo to do the job if Giroud is out. Even everton seem to have more depth in attack than us at the moment. A Bony would certainly calm… Read more »
Good question about the Chavs. Their only home-grown players are T*rry and Cahill. Their under-21s are Ake, van Ginkel, Salah and Blackman. Anyone know what’s going on?
Terry, Cahill, Fabregas count as homegrown for them.
Zouma, Ake, Blackman, Christensen, Baker, Chalobah are U21.
That is more than 8 which I think is the rule
Though I’ll be damned if the latter 5 get even a minute of action.
And Fabregas as a ‘homegrown’ for them feels like a fucking slap on the face.
http://www.premierleague.com/en-gb/clubs/profile.squads.html/chelsea
Who really knows what’s going on?
Maybe Fabregas loses his HG status since he moved abroad and doesn’t play for England? Is that the rule?
I don’t believe so, as that wouldn’t make much sense, then again this is the FA we’re talking about…
I’d fancy William Carvalho.
I die a little inside each time i see Cesc line out for Chelsea. Signing Falcao would help solve this issue i have….
I just hope/wish/pray Ozil has a better season than fabregas. That would help a lot I’m guessing.
Alright, 1. Falcao is going to Real Madrid. 2. Fabregas would not have improved our squad as we do already have a lot of capable players in that position, sure he would have added more depth… But we need money invested wisely, we are not fucking chelsea and spend money just for the sake of it and because we want to avoid our rivals from getting that particular player. Our budget is limited because we stick by the rules and play honest: much like a serious business should be runned like. I know it hurts to see him in an… Read more »
As long as Wenger plays Ozil on the left, the whole argument for not buying Cesc is dead as a doornail. As soon as Ozil is back in his nr. 10 role, the situation changes, but for now we could’ve used him. He’s way, way better than Cazorla and several years younger.
It’s about the qualities that a player brings to the team, rather than their nominal positions that matter imo. Ozil on the left still has as good an eye for a pass and controlling the flow as he does in the middle. I also wonder if it’s more due to having Sanchez in the middle that he plays on the left, the increased movement ahead of the midfield means positions matter even less than when we have the realtively static Giroud up top, hence a peripatetic playmaker rather than one dictating everything throught the middle.
Well, we always do something a few minutes before the close of the transfer window.
I’m going to use this space to have a moan about needing to buy more players.
About time we won the league. It’s been too long. Monsieur Wenger please act accordingly
Horrible performance by the Everton defense. And to think two of them are England’s first choice CB and LB
our defence looked almost the same in the first 20 minutes against everton as well, have a feeling costa will hit 4 goals against us just by turning his shoulder when Per marks him
Good to see MA coming back quickly. Always crucial to have the captain present.
Here’s to a good win tomorrow!
Good news on Diaby. Hopefully see him soon. Capital one cup likliest. That man makes me so happy when im watching replays of THAT tackle – carling cup final 07.LOVL
I am from India and I am just curious how much do you guys from London pay for the season ticket and how many matches does it cover?
Why thumbs down for this guy ?
If wenger doesn’t some how mange to sign a striker, dm and a cb, we might as well forget being considered as “title favorites” After watching what chelsea just dished out to an everton team we struggled to get a point from, i just don’t see how we can beat them with the players we have. Be optimistic all you want, but at the moment city, and chelsea have a stronger/better squad than we do with looserpool, manure and probably spuds a lil behind us or maybe equal(manure and maybe looserpool have better strikers). Its so frustrating when its obvious… Read more »
You say wenger is blinded by his loyalty to some certain players. In whom among the current squad has wenger misplaced his loyalty?
To much,,,,,not enough
If the rumours this evening are true,and Falcaos tweet is legit,can someone explain to me how in christs name are Madrid balancing their books???
Do wages play a part in financial fair play?
Yes.
Maybe it’s a loan deal.
It’s like Catch 22.
We can’t attract the players we need to win the CL until we’ve won the CL.
Seems like its a full transfer and not just a loan. Massive wages added either way. Maybe we will take Benzema off their hands on Monday! Just to help them out you understand…
For those of you that were hoping for Falcao, I’ve got disappointing news for you – he announced on his Twitter this afternoon that he was joining Real Madrid. He has since deleted the tweet because he probably got told off by agent / clubs.
Real won’t sell benzema or khedira I think. Alonso replaced by kroos. De maria replaced by rodriguez , morata replaced by falcao…
Not too shabby for a squad that just won the champions league
We need imo a str, dm and cb, no guarantee we will sign any of them before the deadline. My prediction this year, 3rd and a cup or two!
I don’t see us signing Falcao or any other big name striker….I would be happy if we get Loic Remy and William Carvalho.
Just in terms of Real Madrid balancing their books:
1. Their pumped full of money by unevenly weighted La Liga TV rights.
2. Di Maria to Mid Table United for £60mil helps
Also let’s all calm down about splodging money on Remy or Bony out of desperation.
Imagine for a second Podolski played for Swansea or Newcastle last season. If he played every minute like they did last season he’d have banged in 15/20 goals and everyone would would be screaming at Wenger to buy him too.
With all due respect to the smiling king of social media, average players don’t win premier league titles.
Sure, Podolski could score 20 goals for Swansea or Newcastle. No problem. However, Wenger doesn’t seem to fancy him, so what are we going to do? Put all our faith in Sanogo? I’m fairly certain he, unlike Podolski, would not score 20 goals for Swansea or Newcastle.
Our problem is that we’re running out of options. Bony is probably the best one left, followed by Remy. Well, Cavani is still around, but he’s way too expensive.
I agree. Podolski is not the man to cover for Giroud and Wenger has said as much. My point was just to illustrate that buying players of their stature won’t necessarily solve all our problems and all of sudden their shortcomings will perhaps start to be revealed. I would be chuffed if we get Remy and DMC and CB cover, genuinely, but if we do it doesn’t guarantee us the title and if we don’t that doesn’t count us out either. Sometimes the way people clamour for the new shiny thing makes it seem so much more black and white… Read more »
Loads of reports coming out that we’ve also activated Remy’s release clause.
Would be amusing if we are doing it just to wind up Maureen. I know I would, especially when they’ve just chucked their £50 million failure down the toilet!
At this point it’s really hard to know what to believe with all the reports that come out. Not long left to find out what we’re doing, if anything. I’m expecting one in myself. Probably a midfielder or centre back. Roll on 00:00 monday.
Yes, I saw that. It seems like we’re selling Campbell for £10M and then trying to buy Remy for the same amount. I haven’t seen Campbell play very often, but the whole thing strikes me as a bit odd, especially after Remy failed the medical at Liverpool.
23:00 monday, sorry
I would take Remy just to spite Maureen. He’s shown he can score goals in the Premier League. Of the realistic centre forward targets, he’s a good option.
For those of you that are talking about Cavani, Benzema, Reus etc, stop dreaming. We can afford one marquee signing per season and Alexis was our man this year.
El Hadji Diouf on a free. Six year contract.
You heard it here first.
I heard seven.
The half wit musings from cretinous panelists/presenters on MOTD is getting totally out of hand. I almost miss Alan Hansen. Mute button from here on in methinks..
I am confident, by the end of the transfer window tomorrow, there will be 2 new signings. C’mon Wenger show us the hard work that you do on transfers….
Still need a Cback. Unless Wenger is keen on converting Carvalho to Cback and the Portugese take their heads out of their arse and lower their price considerably, we will have to expand our search and stay focus. DM, Chambers will push for a place behind Arteta and Flamini. Where’s the space for another? Arteta and Flamini are not going to be sold this season. Maybe a Rabiot if he is cheap enough for the future (near future) but if teams like Roma come in to jack up the price, Wenger will likely not take on a DM till next… Read more »
Alex Song — Nowhere >>Arsenal >> Barcelona >> Nowhere — familiar route
http://lolpundit.wordpress.com/?p=11?preview=true&preview_id=11&preview_nonce=
Seems as if every person thinks that signings are the be all and end all of football. FFS wait till the the window is over, actually wait till the team has played more than 10 games to cast judgment on what the players and the team can manage before running your yap about how were doomed.
We have seen the same old story, Arteta outmuscled in midfield, lose the ball, defence exposed, Per outpaced and goal conceded. Pass the ball right to left, left to right, back to Woj, 80% possesion. Yes, sometimes we play scintillating football, I agree.
Anybody who think that Fabregas would not have improved our team needs their head examining.
Only midfielder we have possibly on a par with him at the moment is Rambo, both game winners for us.
Ozil may be as good as him but not shown it yet whilst playing for us. Our midfield is good but he would have made it better!
And if him coming back had encouraged one or two of the team to step it up for fear of losing their first team place so much the better!
I just explained to a spuds fan that most Arsenal fans will be happy if they win as liverpoo are perceived as bigger threat. Spuds will suffer usual mid season dip in form probably due to their cursed thursday night football. Agree or disagree
Agree but would love to go above Spuds in response to their one week of fame!
Also I 8 Spuds and never enjoy seeing them win!
Dear Bloggs,
could we possibly have a page where we chat about the up and coming game a few hours before it?
Would be great for excitement, negativity and positivity and crapping our pants online etc etc
Why would you thumbs down a suggestion??????
Diego Costa seems a total cunt. He’ll fit in perfectly down there then!
It’s nice to read comments like this from Kos because it shows that our players are now psychologically so much more aware of what it will take to challenge for/win the league than in previous years. Kos has also become the complete defender. Quick, aggressive, committed, reads the game well and so much stronger and composed than the player that joined us a few years ago. I also think that we have the one manager in the world who can really get the best of the resources that he has at his disposal. So I’m not too concerned about a… Read more »