Arsene Wenger’s has blamed today’s defeat in the North London derby on a lack of attacking product and defensive errors.
His team struggled from start to finish to find any fluency in their football but after going ahead through Mesut Ozil failed to properly defend situations you would expect them to.
Harry Kane was given too much space for both goals and that was the focus of Wenger’s complaints after the game.
“They were cheap goals,” he said. “I believe that we made too many technical mistakes compared to our usual level, because of Tottenham in the middle of the park.
“They put us under pressure and we lost some balls we are not used to losing. It leaves us with a big disappointment to swallow first and then to prepare for the next game.”
Asked if it was a good thing we’ve got another game on Tuesday, Wenger said, “Yes it’s good. If you respond well, it’s very good. We play at home against Leicester, a team who fight not to go down.
“We have to recover from the disappointment and be ready to respond very quickly.”
And touching on referee Martin Atkinson’s performance, the boss said, “We were not very good, and the referee was at our level.”
Deserves a solid heh on a most un-hen worthy day.
“a most un-hen worthy day”
Heh! 😉
I wish Wenger would stop with the excuses every time we lose. It does not suit him. They pretty much p*ssed all over us, and deservedly came away with the win. Real Madrid lost 4-0 in their derby and Ancelotti even with injuries to several first team players did not make any excuses. They were simply better than us in all aspects of the game and I applaud them on the win was his words. So refreshing with someone telling it like it was, and I think we need to do the same instead of fooling ourselves that we were… Read more »
Haven’t you learn, it is never his fault. Always something/someone else. He comment as a supporter or TV pundit, never as a manager and tell us why those faults happened. Don’t describe to me the game or what went wrong Mr Wenger, I have seen it. Tell me WHY we lost, you are the manager after all and should stand up and take the blame not just the 8 million a year.
I don’t see your point, didn’t he basically say that we weren’t good enough on the day? What do you want him to concede, that we are a worse team than fucking Tottenham? How are we ever gonna progress with that mentality?
“I believe that we made too many technical mistakes” Here it is, we made some technical mistakes, you saw the players make those “technical Mistakes”, Why wait until the 67/70 minute to make your sub when you have a player made for this game like Rosicky as a sub? As a manager you have three changes for a reason, not as proven by Mr Wenger it is pre planned subs no matter how bad he can see you play. A manager with his experience should change a game when it is not going our way not sit and come after… Read more »
Wenger thinks realism and truthfulness are negativity. Its a problem
Oh look, you guys are back. We missed you in January. What happened?
In what universe can that be defined as making an excuse? He quite clearly said we were basically shit but that the ref was also shit. He said the goals were sloppy and we lost the game in midfield.
All perfectly correct observations.
MSH, that is precisely what I was thinking by the time I scrolled to your comment.
Honestly all this negativity and whinging gets right up my nose. We lost to a team that has hammered the League leaders and although we weren’t up to par the ref played no small part. Get a life. I hate the spores getting the upper hand but i sure ain’t going to throw the toys out of the pram. 3 points on Tuesday please
He and 90 percent of the guys on here.
Being optimistic makes you the “best and most loyal” fan around.
I wish Everton won their derby.. They fucked my multi…
Melbourne victory > Tottenham > atleti > Everton
Cunts!
Look at the Real Madrid ream who took a hammering -Ronaldo, Bale, Kroos, Benzema and Khedira just to name a few all played. There injuries were insignificant compare with ours.
that game also showed us that you dont need all the money on the world to play toe to toe with the best team or to compete, which has been our excuse forever
My greatest pain is not the loss. It is our game plan. If we played like this against Bayern, Madrid, Barca, Chelsea or City away, it would fully understand but not that lot.
I strongly believe that if we came out to attack after the first goal, we would have got another.
It pains me to see my team camp in their half from the 15th minute at White Hart Lane.
Painful!
I think it was more down to the fact that we were unable to retain the ball well enough in the midfield to create enough chances. In this regard, I recall a video on Arsenal fan tv where a fan had said after the 2-0 victory against city that Wenger didn’t play any squares pegs in round holes; Coquelin at DM(not arteta) and Alexis(not ozil) on the left wing. -I’m not saying that Ozil was the cause for our loss, but I do feel that playing him wide means we don’t have width or retention. “Does Sanchez give us width?”… Read more »
We played like that last season and won 1-0… Blogs even called the City game “the blueprint” in the preview… Can you see why they might have thought it would be a good idea?
One keeping mistake and one good header decided the game.
Keeping mistake?
You can say that again. Personally I blame Wenger for this defeat. Tactically he got it so wrong today. We had 5 offensive players trying to defend. Why oh why did we play so deep? We spent most of the game with 11 players behind the half way line. Against City, I can understand, but against a team that we have better players? comon! Rosisky should have played. He loves a game against them. He instantly had an impact. Sorry Santi, Aaron but you today was not your day. Please guys watch the tapes, and see how those misplaced passes… Read more »
Thought the ball boy had a good game today
Yeah that pass to hector bellerin was phenomenal
We were a bunch of softies, no players who turned the flow of the tide and no killer instinct. No way we will win the league again under Wenger.
We missed Sanchez big time! Spurs were in full strenghth and at home, it was never going to be easy but a draw should have been a fairer result!
Fairer in what way? 1 point would have been valuable, but honestly Tottenham outplayed us and deserved all 3.
That’s the sad thing. They did outplay and specifically they ‘wanted it’ more and it showed. That shouldn’t happen in a derby game and smacks of poor preparation and tactics – yet again. I though the City win was too good to be true !! we’re now in a real scrap for fourth. We should do it as our run in is easier. But there’s five teams battling for two places – third and fourth. Wenger has rode some incredible luck in the last 6 years to keep nicking that last place. Often relying on other to screw up. It’s… Read more »
It’s not lucky we keep finishing in the top four. That’s a fairly accurate reflection of where we are the last few years. Lots of doom & gloom on here. I’m gutted like everybody else, but we just didn’t play today. Too many off their game. Rambo & Santi in particular. Apart from the goal thought Wellbeck & Ozil were poor as well. And I have to say, not sure the current keeper is better than Sczc. I prefer to be positive. We are 7 pts off second. We are slowly getting players fit again. I think this team can… Read more »
As with all weak performances this season, the mental preparation was (again) woefully off. This mirrored the Southampton game when they were tightly focused and we were nothing but skittish. Instead of confidence the team takes the field as though they have just had their heads filled with nerves and a mass of confusing messages. I’ve noted this in prior games. Invariably the losses border on a total collective fail. It is seldom some players have a bad game but half the team played well. It is a discernable pattern. There is something (with some regularity) very off with the… Read more »
h
The city win was not too good to be true, if you look into the game play deeper, the big difference i feel between trying to emulate the city game was the fact that we never had alexis sanchez and the ox. my reason is because these two players share the same qualities in terms of covering distances, battling mentality, relieving pressure, high pressing and tracking back for defending. but i think the tactics showed for this game was just wrong with the players which wenger put out on the pitch so i largley do blame him as tho many… Read more »
i really cant get my head around ” Sanchez will be short for the spanks game but will be ok for the Leicester game ” 3 days later !
3 days, believe it or not, can make a big difference in how a injury recover
Will the “Wenger out” brigade please insert their preferred manager’s name below this comment ffs!
COYG.
koeman
Ancellotti
guardiola
maureen lol
Yeah, he is available
Fat Dutch cunt.
I see ‘Arry is avaible. COINCIDENCE???!?!?!?! I THINK NOT!!!!
Thank you
Ian Holloway.
again with this? so we will never get out of wenger even if he is 100 yrs old cuz “no one is good enough”? thats some high grade bs.
Ospina got injured. Couldn’t jump. Defensive unit a joke. They ran back but did nothing. Your subsitutions were wrong. Ospina first. Then see..
Arsenal were second best in every challenge, so many times they were persistent, and even if they lost the ball, got it back right away. Arsenal were mostly too casual, just because you are set up defensively does not mean you have to give the other team space to put in crosses and passes. What bothered me the most, and was said a lot earlier in the season, was how familiar it all was. watch Arsenal get dominated and they have no answer, like headless chickens times like this I do wonder about Wenger, this stuff just happens again, and… Read more »
Ultimate gobshite more like.
Atkinson would rather we brush off the red carpet and flash the green light for the scum than make any contact on their lily whites. Giroud’s fair game though, feck me, what does he have to do to get a foul.
Oh, and Beglin and Mills can do one. My ears, my brain.
Honestly not looking to make an excuse, because it seems we simply did not show up with the proper intensity today. But for fuck’s sake, as soon as an Arsenal player tried to show the same intensity as the pasties it was a rash of yellow cards immediately shutting down any possibility of it being an equally committed match. Flying scissor tackle on Ozil, and kicked every time he touched the ball, mostly from behind. Numerous 2 man tackles from behind on Ramsey. Knees, elbows, over the top knees in the back, studs up, and everything else on Giroud. All… Read more »
Hadn’t thought of it like that, but that’s a good point. It might not have made a difference but it didn’t help.
It also didn’t help that Giroud seemed to be feeling the Rose tackle (which could have been a red card with a different ref) for the rest of the game.
Everyboday Had A Poor Game Today Except Ospina…And I Think It Is Clear That Whenever Wenger Reaches Some Milestone(Today It Was His 700th PL Game)We Have Lost On Many Of Such Occasions Recently..Anyways Let’s Bounce Back Quickly Against Leicester And Get Back To Our Business..COYG..!!!
I think Ospina’s contribution is being overplayed here – the saves he made were ones you’d expect him to save. On the other hand, there were a few saves that should have been palmed round the post (or held) and a dodgy charge off the line when he flattened Kane in the first half (I don’t see that as a penalty, but with the performance the reference was giving I was slightly nervous when it happened). I’m not saying he’s awful, but at the same time, neither is Wojciech Szczesny. People probably wouldn’t have had the same love for him… Read more »
I agree about Ospina. Well he made some exceptional saves, but I also believe he could have done better in some occasions and he would not have to make that saves if the ball weren’t bounced back to opponents after he made those saves. Szczesny would have palm the ball out of the game for corner, but with his current form, I am not sure either.
However, we were outplayed today and deserved the lost. Sad truth
he looks a far better prospect than szcesny ! he actually catches the ball . when was the last time u saw szces do that ?
This Is Not How Capitalization Works
I Concur!
mE t0o
I Also Know How Capitalization Works But It’s My Style So I Love To Write In This Way And I Am Not Here To Appear Examination Though…!!!
Yeah, well, your style stinks.
It’s really important, stylistic issues relating to comments. Far more important than thinking what you wrote or anything to do with the match.
So thanks for helping us take our mind off the loss.
Your consistent use of capital letters at the beginning of words, does my head in. 🙁
Sorry…!!!
No prob mate
I Just Don’t Get Why Is This Capitalization Becoming An Issue…???Let’s Just Focus On The Content Rather Than Pointing Out Gramatical Errors…I Am Also A Gooner,And I Am Just Trying To Write My Views About The Subject..Sorry..!!!
Complacency, we are better than that.
Someone should beat it out of these players. There is no way someone can convince me that this lot can’t execute a more accurate passing game when under pressure. It’s down to the manager and whatever team he has working with the players. Maybe some more rigorous training sessions are in order?!
‘Lack of attacking product’ from a man who loaned out 3 Strikers.
Not sure you understood what he was trying to say
Yeah, the absence of Joel Campbell and Yaya Sanogo is what made the difference today. You make a great point.
Yaya would’ve scored a hat-trick I tells ya!
They wanted it more. Technical mistakes or not. The team played with no heart whatsoever.
Disagree – our team wanted it for sure! We just had a bad game due to technical mistakes and probably the pressure.
What do you mean by pressure? What brought about the pressure? One word: desire. Our boys were half-hearted in their approach. Compare this performance to the one at City and you will see what I mean.
Really disappointed we can’t change our tactics according to who we are playing. The defensive take them on the break worked against City but should not be deployed as a first choice tactic every time we play someone in the top 6. We should have had a more high tempo offensive game against Spurs in line with their capabilities. Saying that the offensive players were not at their best today. We need more consistency. Really disappointed with the display today from the team. No point beating City and losing to Spurs,
Fuckwits
Ospina aside it was mediocre and bad performances that were the major factors in the defeat today not the defend then counter attack game plan. If players aren’t performing then any game plan will struggle. As you’ve said it’s the lack of consistency that is frustrating more than anything.
The buck stops with Wenger.This was agame Arsenal had to win to show their credentials and they failed.I still believe the defence is still poor compared to he top sides.
The gunners have yet let slip a goal lead.This shows they are vulnerable to incessant pressure.
Until Wenger can solve this the gunners can’t challenge for the top.
Not saying I disagree but we weren’t in the title race before the game, so what ‘credentials’ were being tested?
We’ll probably get 4th (just) and it’ll be Groundhog day come the end of the season.
The ‘credentials’ that we had learnt our lessons and could finally compete against the bigger sides.
Once again, it was yet another atrocious performance against a rival away…. the Man City win looks more like it was a fluke rather than us turning the mythical corner.
Fair enough, but it has to be said that Sp*rs put 5 (five) past Chelsea and they’re pretty good, so I’m not sure that it’s that terrible a loss. Also, why does the Man City result have to be a fluke or evidence that we’re now awesome against good teams away from home? Can’t it have been a good performance by us, helped by less than good performance by City? You could argue the opposite was the case today. I think that if we approach enough games in the same way we’ll do better than completely opening up every time,… Read more »
I get your point and commend you for your level headedness and tomorrow after calming down will agree. However…. A defeat today would be much easier to accept if we had competed. Go toe to toe with them and we get beat, fair enough. The significance of the Man City win was the hope that we had turned a corner both tactically and mentally…. the hope that we could go away from home against a big team and compete. The issue is we don’t go and compete…. we either commit tactical harikari, the players go missing or mysteriously fall out… Read more »
To give the team a little credit (I really mean a little), and not make excuses, its hard to give as good as you are getting when the ref is calling foul every time you go in hard, but lets the opposition do what they like.
I’m sorry but you couldn’t be more wrong – if there’s one person I cannot blame for the loss its Wenger – he had the right tactics in mind, it got us an early goal and made life very difficult for Spurs in the first half as they just couldn’t break through – Cazorla and Ramsey made TERRIBLE decisions in midfield today when there were half chances to counter – had they been their usual selves we would probably have gone into half time with a 2-0 lead if not 3. As we got to the 2nd half you could… Read more »
Disagree, it wasn’t an’atrocious’ performance, but we made too many mistakes and the substitutions were too late.
Didn’t Spurs beat Chelsea 5-3? The leaders defence shipped 5 goals where we shipped 2.
Mate .. this is the best post Ive seen for ages . ignore the fuckwits who thumbs down . I totally agree with u
Of course it’s never the managers fault. Shame for him that he lost his last ever derby.
Because of spurs mid pressing… This is not new isnt it? We always struggle against this kind of pressing and Wenger simply rely on his player to turn up rather than find a tactical work around against this kind of pressing. Pochettino got this since his Soton time really.
Yep it’s painful to watch when teams just constantly hustle us in midfield, groups of 2 or 3 spuds players immediately closing down any Arsenal player who dares take possession in midfield. Whilst on the other hand, we sit off them even on the edge of our box. WTF? Where were the little triangles of support helping us work the ball upfield like in the City game? We just looked isolated and no leader on the pitch to notice and react and organise a response to this high energy press that Spuds were applying. Most disappointing for me was the… Read more »
Entirely this. But most have neglected one point in the game which underlined how confused the team was today. On 9 minutes Harry Kane was called offside just inside (I repeat just inside) our half as every bloody player including Per and Kos had bombed into Spurs half. I was aghast at the lack of discipline. We then dropped back a la Man City but as you said, we were not pressing or tackling from deep but allowing them time on the ball to surge and play around our penalty area. We were a total confused mess from the off… Read more »
When players are already frustrated because of going down a goal, bad refereeing decisions only make it worse. Still not an excuse though. We never looked like we wanted to score. Needed Theo to start today.
Just seen Madrid decimated by Atletico 4-0. Bad derby day for the bigger boys.
Good on Atletico, not so good on our lads 🙁
I would love to see us be the team pressing high up the pitch and putting the opposition under pressure as the top teams often do to us and it gives us so much trouble. Would love to have seen Rosicky in there today as he is great in matches like this and of course Chamberlin and Sanchez were missed who can really dribble out of pressure. Just like against Liverpool and Chelsea away last year we gave the ball away far too often with our defenders up in front of the ball giving them countless counter opportunities. We had… Read more »
I’ve copped some flak for being too negative on here, but we were undeniably pathetic today. We won’t get top four this season, and Alexis will be out the door. I’ve been saying it all along, and soon I will be proved correct.
Yeah yeah… Christ, you sound like them! They never finish above us. Come May, we’ll be above them, like we always do.
Did you ever happen to notice an unusually high suicide rate amongst your congregation? Just curious.
Like I have said before EX-PRIEST…you should have never, given up your day job! 🙂
Yeah, you copy-pasted it on the other post-match news article too, so of course you’ve said it before.
I still think we can and will get third, win the FA cup and champions league
So do I! Great innit! COYG!
We need better attacking options. They need to be of Alexis’s standard IMO
Alexis standard? There are no player like alexis out there. Every footballer is unique. I’ve never seen such a skilled player with that working rate. He is the most complete footballer I’ve ever seen.
I think you’re forgetting the King there mate, but Alexis is an exceptional footballer, no doubt about it.
I had no problem with us starting out defensively. But at least after half time we should have put on more of an offensive display. We stayed in a defensive mode way too long. We let them get way too deep in our zone before we put any pressure on them. Add to the fact that our midfield was extremely weak today and it was a recipe for disaster. Santi and Ramsey looked terrible.
Spurs were simply too good, they didn’t give any one half a yard. Montreal was our only good player to be honest. Ospina seems a bit too Hollywood, dives for everything even though its straight at him and then slaps the ball right back into the heart of the action. Theo… What the fuck!??! Also, are all football fans as fickle as gunners? Sooooo melodramatic, one good result and we’re going to win the premier league, one bad result and everyone is shit and should be sold. Also moaning about the ref every game whether we win or lose gets… Read more »
One bad game and the WengerOut posse pops out again..
we’ve had too many bad games
Give us a break… 5-0 against Villa.. 2-0 away against Man City. We’ve had some very good performances lately, sure losing the North London Derby is probably the worst match to lose in the entire season. But lately the team have been performing great. Today I thought the tactic was to hit them on the counter. I personally think that you should not go defensive against a team like Tottenham because all they do is – longballs > Shots at given opportunity. If you invite them to play that football they’ll sooner or later end up scoring. But yeah, I… Read more »
Where?
Oops, was a reply to the post about the apparent Wenger out posts
of course they were cheap goals. Although what do you expect when their best player has a porn star name.
Here in the US, after the 2nd goal the announcer says Look at the emotion on Kane’s face. I said, “No, that’s Atkinson jizz.” The missus believes I shouldn’t have said that in front of the kids.
Watchootalkingbout willis
When you allow the defense to come under duress, this happens.
Coupled with a timidity going forward bc we took an early lead and were too cautious, we .
surrendered the initiative too cheaply.
Safe to say we can forget about a title charge now.
Grab Top 4 or better. Go for the FA cup and try our best in the CL.
Deflating to say the least given yet another false dawn.
No consistency.
This team just hasn’t found it.
Its not that the quality isn’t there but they don’t seem to replicate the same level when required.
All good work beating City and Villa wasted.
We are back in queue for fourth and chasing a number of teams above us including Spuds.
Lets hope results are favourable mid week and we can claw back up.
in our 11th year without a league title we are now 6th after 24 games and are a point behind Spurs without beating them in the league. I still think we should stick by Wenger but I would love to ask the board what direction is this club going in???
Why didn’t Rosicky start?
If Arsene cannot see that Rosicky should have been on for Rambo from the start then I give up, much as arsene is a fine judge of players. But arsene probably didn’t care to think about how Spurs might set up and deffo didn’t seem to provoke a different 2nd half approach. My take on Rambo is that I am not sure if this was even one of his worst games this season. He has been so poor in some of the recent games we won because the team played well around him. My honest view is that he has… Read more »
We played bad and we should feel bad
Gd goal ozil so arsenal fc lost today o.k not alot of attacking options not an easy match north
london derbies, just look up and realise we dropped pts, table positions and must gain again
Cheap goals….the only thing that IS cheap at Arsenal.
The insults by some of the ‘support’ are far cheaper than the goals.
Gutted about today , but hasnt this been the story of the season ,we go on a mini-run and then screw up , rinse repeat .
I was confident today as we have been playing well lately and not letting in goals , but Spurs wanted it more than us , they were the better team today.
Several of our players struggled today.
I still think we will get 4th. Above Tottenham .
This result sucks but we will bounce back on Tuesday .
*Our team. Not his…
You can say that again. Personally I blame Wenger for this defeat. Tactically he got it so wrong today. We had 5 offensive players trying to defend. Why oh why did we play so deep? We spent most of the game with 11 players behind the half way line. Against City, I can understand, but against a team that we have better players? comon! Rosisky should have played. He loves a game against them. He instantly had an impact. Sorry Santi, Aaron but you today was not your day. Please guys watch the tapes, and see how those misplaced passes… Read more »
A painfully poor performance from our boys today, but we still had the potential to gain points. My biggest issue is that Harry Kane managed to score twice, purely because he is as over-hyped as Januzaj was last season, and will go the same way next season.
Something was missing from The Arsenal and it looks most ikey down to players returning from injury physically, but not mentally.
We will move on from today, and finish above Spurs again, just as we always do under Arsène.
Wenger seems to think he has found this winning formula, let the opposition have possession then score on the break, worked against Man City and Villa only problem is even if you go ahead if/once the other team score they are still on the front foot and its very hard to start chasing the game again. Once they scored was only ever going to be one winner after the equaliser.
Get in their faces,according to one manager on how to beat Arsenal.The gunners were denied time and space.Ozil was harassed by 2 Spurs in the 2nd half and became less potent.Ramsey had apoor game.
Hull attacked MC and almost won. Arsenal are like the Blues trying to thread the ball through a crowded defence.This a recipe for a team on the counter like MU.
I know we still have 3 months left but Arsenal could finally be unable to secure 4th.The MC win was like a fluke.Unless Wenger can string a run of 5/6 consecutive wins,I aint that optimistic .
Errr, they just did.
Last goal was Kos fault. Couldnt even jump to defend. Cant wait fir our new guy to replace him in that central defending position . Get rid of bfg as well while were cleaning house on our defence. Arsenals biggest problem!
So I must have imagined those 4 recent clean sheets….
And one other thing stop the stupid Ospina call before he kicks the ball. Sounds like a bunch of dumb north american soccer fans at a redbull game. Oooospinnnaaaaa.
i am gona stop reading comments after loses.
This Tottenham side beat Chelsea 5-3. The problems we’ve had this season were earlier on when we dropped stupid points to teams like Leicester, Swansea, Manchester United, Stoke, Hull and yes, even away to Liverpool. We should have gained more points from these games and had we done so, we could easily be challenging Man City for second place and even giving Chelsea a sniff.
It’s always hindsight by January, and that is the most frustrating thing. We’ve already lost around 6 games this season. Terrible.
This Tottenham side has already beaten Chelsea 5-3. Harry Kane is on fire and we were unable to hold him back. My issue is not losing this game, but dropping stupid points to teams like Hull, Stoke, Swansea, Southampton, Leicester and yes, even Liverpool. If we hadn’t made these slip-ups we could easily be challenging Man City for 2nd place and probably, even giving Chelsea a run for their money. We’ve already lost 6 games this season, that is appalling. We need to improve on the smaller games so that these losses against bigger teams don’t look as bad as… Read more »
Something I am well beyond sick of is how when we lose badly we blame the ref. We point fingers and call names and deflect blame from the players and manager, make ourselves feel better wait for the next drubbing. We sound so amateur. We sound like a bunch of guys who coach ten year old kids because we think we are the greatest soccer genius’s in the world and when we lose we have to blame someone because there is NO way it was our fault. Get a grip. We create our own luck through hard work and determination,… Read more »
Bad decisions by referees ia a norm in the premiership. Its adds to the intrigue and excitement of the league, and basically all coaches in the top six will point to their teams suffering at the hands of the referees in crucial matches, and Arsenal is no exception. That aside, Arsenal attackers played poorly, to win certain games, you need to be disciplined in defense, and decisive in attack. Attacking players went missing, santi,ozil, ramsay,girould, welbeck were not decisive in their roles, too many wayward passing, no creativity, no vision. We lost because the attacking players failed to spark, the… Read more »
he. certainly spoke well