Arsene Wenger says that his team’s inability to finish the chances they’ve created in recent games is the most frustrating aspect of our performances at the moment.
The Gunners had 21 attempts on goal last night in the 0-0 draw with Southampton, with Saints keeper Fraser Forster making 10 saves, and afterwards the Arsenal manager pulled no punches about his side’s inability to score.
“We cannot be happy with the way we finished our chances,” he said. “I think what’s most disappointing is some players missed some chances that usually they would take.
“Our finishing is very bad at the moment – we have played three [league] games now without scoring a goal. In all those three games we had chances that we didn’t take. At that level it’s important.
“You expect their keeper to have a good game but I believe as well we had very poor finishing. It’s difficult to find a player in our team basically who had no chances today.
“We came out with a 0-0, with the experience we have in our team, that’s disappointing. It’s frustrating because we put a lot of energy into a game like that. We created a lot of chances of top quality and couldn’t finish.
“I think we have to look at ourselves and start to finish with a bit more conviction. The way we have took our chances was not good enough and that’s why we dropped two points.”
Arsenal travel to Bournemouth on Sunday looking to get back on track in the Premier League, hoping for a draw between Leicester and Man City who face each other at Eastlands on Saturday.
Still in with a very good chance of the title? – thumb up.
Season over? – thumb down.
At the moment, my view lies somewhere between those two extremes. Still a chance and absolutely not season over as there’s a massive amount of work still to do, but a “very good chance” would be overstating it at this point.
I need more thumbs!
I just think over the last month this team has proven that they don’t really have the bottle for a league run in. We have now blown so many chances to either go top, stay top, or go clear at the top. I think Paul Merson said in an interview recently that these sorts of games are ‘pressure football,’ and he is right, that’s exactly what they are, and once again, we’ve dropped points when every other team who is chasing the tile has picked them up. We are just too soft, nobody has the bottle in our squad any… Read more »
We play around 25 home games per season. If we made £90m per match that would equate to a match day revenue of £2.25bn!!! That’s not including the revenue from all other activities (which is a greater portion of the club’s revenue, btw).
Do people actually think before typing spurious figures?
Have a read of that mate, it wasn’t just the Mirror that reported that either, it was basically every major publication that did it.
http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/news/arsenal-earn-more-real-madrid-7217377
I do agree with the main points of your post, so apologies for my pedantic post, but it’s the second since yesterday’s game that has used completely incorrect figures.
For anyone that looks at a £90m turnover per match it sounds ridiculous we’re not spending huge amounts on player transfers (although I’d argue that the amount spent is nothing to do with how much money we have, and more to do with our unwillingness to take a gamble on an unknown quantity at ‘high’ prices).
BTW – I didn’t mean per match, I just meant in a season that’s how much revenue we generate.
£90m per match would equate to around £1,500 per ticket + pies (assuming 60,000 attendees). I don’t think I spent anywhere near that amount the last time I came to the Emirates…
Fuck Paul Merson. He’s not had one positive thing to say about the team all season.
Surely that £100m match-day receipts are over the course of a season and not on any given day? Spirits are understandably low and, in truth, I tend to stay away from social media -blogs, pods and youtube- when arsenal lose because the vitriol, particularly amongst the gunner faithful is toxic – extremely unpleasant, really unhelpful! We are not out-of-it by any stretch, but we need to win at Bournemouth on Sunday and then kick-on from there in order to help bring some of the belief back. Call me delusional -and I probably am. But, if it’s still possible to win… Read more »
Big thumb…
I’ve seen Newcastle lose a 15 point lead to Man United. I’ve seen Liverpool screw a 9 point lead with 4 games to go. No point giving up until we mathematically can’t do it anymore. But we need to pull our fingers out and do the business now. Can’t afford anything less than 3 points from most of our games.
Unfortunately, we are neither Man U under Fergie nor are we Man City after a oil sheikh takeover with a League Title win under our belts.
We’re a club that has failed to win the league for 11 years because we constantly fail to have the mental strength to get the results no matter what, no matter who we play.
Until this club learns or obtains the ability to completely avoid collapses, they will never be capable of the comebacks you describe.
We ain’t winning F all till we sort out our midfield.
We won’t win F all until we sort out our finishing…….
At the end of the day we beat Man City with this exact team, minus Alexis. The goals will come.
You forgot to say we wont win F all till we change our manager.
{sarcasm font open}Hey Jimbo you absolute genius !!
Let’s change our manager right fuckin now and hey presto, bobs yer uncle, we’ve won the league at a canter. Seen it happen sooooo many times in the past. {Sarcasm font closed}
Right now I feel frustrated so I only want to rant against this team and its manager but thinking the season is over is a bit exaggerated. The situation is this: we are 2 points from City. City’s tricky matches left: Leicester, Tottenham, Liverpool, United, Chelsea, and a trip to Ukraine in the CL. Our tricky matches left: Leicester, United, Tottenham, and some trip to Barcelona in the CL (great place, great pitch). I won’t count Tottenham because they have the EL handicap, and Leicester because… well I don’t really have a valid reason. On paper we have a better… Read more »
Oops, I posted double below because somehow this comment didn’t appear right away.
Tell me about it!!
Southampton just proved to you, playing them is a tricky game. We lose to small teams too easily. Also, we are a big name in PL but are not tricky team to Chelsea at all. Just wanted to make the point that there is no easy point.
Here’s the situation. City’s tricky matches left: Leicester, Spurs, Liverpool, United, Chelsea, Arsenal and they go to Ukraine in the CL. Our tricky matches left: Leicester, United, Spurs, City, and we go to Barcelona in the CL (better than Ukraine in winter). I don’t care about Spurs since the only big team they played during the 2nd half of the season is Leicester who beat them. Leicester on the other hand remain a mystery. On paper the calendar gives me hope but this is Arsenal so we can win against United away, just to lose to Swansea at home the… Read more »
I’m sorry but we’ve all seen this movie play out enough times to know how it ends. All the same old familiar traits are firmly in place and now our annual capitulation appears to be in full swing it’s almost like clockwork. We can be a great team to watch when the pressure is off, but lack the necessary ingredients to win a league title. But hey nobody likes captain hindsight. It’s not like we could see this coming. It’s all a massive coincidence.
Arsene-al fan
You’re a true fan buddy.
Your comment gives a stastical evidence that majority of the Gunners are still hopeful about the season end.
Long may we keep believing.
I lament poor team selection in DM.
Yes definitely Flamini fault Ozil missed a sitter and so did Theo.
I blame Ramsey the same too. He is supposed to be a box-to-box midfielder. Not “Stay in the fuckin box and demand the ball always” midfielder.
Everytime either Sanchez/Monreal is on the ball, there is no one to pass the ball in the midfield forcing them to go back. Ramsey doesn’t come back and try to receive the ball and move it forward. Instead he is always storming towards the box taking someone’s space.
God.! We miss Cazorla so bad. Wish he is back soon.
Augero, Kane and vardy all score in teams wins last night, no goals for Arsenal in 3 games yes forester had a good game but those chances should of gave him no chance very poor, Afobe 3 goals in premier league since Jan Walcott 3 all season awful
wenger also state that no striked available in the the window but how come Jackson Martinez went to China would he not improve the team and convert at least 2 of them chances last night. Afobe is scoring for fun now in the PL. but then again same shit different year we will now have to fight for 4th
Martinez has been shit this season, that’s why nobody in Europe wanted him enough.
This POINT exactly. Vardy, Kane and Aguero. all title winning teams need a striker in scoring form through the run in. hopefully giroud becomes that for us.
Giroud is never going to be that. It’s as clear as fuck. They have, all 3 of then, got power, pace and decisiveness; attributes you see in the best strikers. Giroud has got his little flicks and power headers.
Because of Giroud, we are at least where we are.
if giroud had 3 of those great chance he would 100% scored 2 goals , maybe all 3
They talk too much before games and do less on the pitch…..fucking worrisome
People losing their shit after the game yday, it’s incredible. At some point this season we’ve had Alexis, Coq, Rambo, Wilsh, Welbz, Ox, Theo, and a couple more injured. The fact we maintained a title challenge is amazing. City without Aguero alone look crap, so it’s a credit to the players that we are still in it. There’s 42 points up for grabs.. The TV money has made the league so competitive this year that there’s sure to be lots of upsets for all the big sides, including us. But the fact we have most of our injured players back… Read more »
City have been without Company for most of the season, Aguero has missed large parts of the season as has Silva and now De Bruyne. Yet do they moan every frigging time?
Leicester lost Vardy for several weeks, still maintained their challenge.
What is so shocking about people loosing their rag after yesterdays result? I think it was inevitable after the three previous games!!! Pick a year between 2006 and 2016 – it doesn’t matter which one, because the conversations and frustrations will be exactly the same e.g. why did Wenger not sign the two or three players we so glaringly required to make us real title contenders!!! Feel like I am stuck in some hideous time warp!!!
a) be cause those 2 or 3 maybe do not exist..
b) be cause those 2 or 3 players were unavailable…
c) be cause those 2 or 3 players were seriously overpriced..,.
d) because those 2 or 3 players did not want to come to London/ Arsenal…Etc
Please somebody, strap Walcott to a chair in a dimly lit room, slap him, and scream at him, “Get a hold of yourself Theo!!”
I mean, I don’t disagree with Arsene, but it’s hard to be composed in front of goal when every slight seeming of aggressiveness on our part is punished while they get to hand the ball push pull bumble us to the ground and shove us in the back like it was nothing.
How does us being punished for fouls have anything to do with the piss poor finishing on display last night? Walcott bangs on and on about how he wants to play centrally….1 goal in his last 16 and he wants to be our number 9?! It’s frustrating with him because seasons gone by his finishing has been incredible whilst his work rate/defensive duties were missing. Now he seems to have learnt his defensive duties and works much more than he used to but has lost all his finishing ability. When you’re earning the same as Alexis & Mesut you’ve got… Read more »
The point wasn’t that Cunt Mason whistled fouls against us, it’s that they were afforded a huge and unfair advantage over us, applying double-standards when calling fouls.
I officially despise Southampton as of yesterday, they play like cowardly cunts against us. Barging in from the back, shoving players when they’re slowing down near the touchline, basically Stoke and the refs for some reason allow it.
So he had double standards? What ref doesn’t these days, if we carry on blaming the ref for us dropping points we will sound like those cunts from the bridge with their ‘campaign against us’ talk.
Southampton know how to ruffle our feathers, get slightly physical and we don’t like it, to compare them to Stoke is unfair considering they played us off the park a matter of weeks ago.
Nobody to blame but our own team, they’re the ones who put the ball in the back of the net (or don’t in Tuesday’s case)
Lamest excuse i have ever heard…no team is good at making excuses than us.
Imagine blaming the ref for our poor finishing. I’ve heard it all.
Bornemouth away.
Just don’t start Theo he’s not in good form. And flam must be benched. Plus am i the only one who thinks we need Cazorla right now than ever. I really think he’s the missing peice right now our midfield is not at its best right now. Hope he recovers soon
Should of brought a bloody finisher then!!! Walcott is awful at the moment! 21 attempts on goal! 21!!!!!!!!!!
The problem we have is when Giroud and ozil have an off day, there’s no one else to pick up the pieces. Walcott..does anyone know what exactly he’s for? I’m at a loss. He’s not even the fastest at the club anymore…what else has he got? Sanchez will take a couple of games to warm up. With all the injuries we need more options, and if it’s the wage expenditure then why the fuck is Walcott on 100k+. We just gave up the title in my opinion.
Great chance to get back on track against Bournemouth but Wenger really needs to start shaking things up. The current 11 are clearly not producing the goods.
Look at Ozil, ppl were so against him in the beginning and now he shows why he’s world class. Come on Theo by now you should be doing much better! I’m not saying Theo is anywhere near as talented as Ozil, but I am of those who believe it’s not just talent that matters, an average player can rip teams apart if he shows the desire and will and is always alert on his feet. Look at how Sanchez plays, even in his off game, that desire the passion the look in his beautiful eyes, it pushes him so far… Read more »
Exactly right.. Some of the average shit cunts that have played so well against us so many times – it is desire to win and battle. Theo, unfortunately has only ever shown it in one game for us, against Man U. So frustrating, especially seeing that game then he went straight back to his timid and gutless ways, every week.
Feo has no passion and despite his speed, no urgency. Nor is he a team player… IMO he is far too limited in his skill set, goes missing far too often, on the pitch and contributes diddly squat. He’s had plenty of chances, time to get a versatile and deadly striker. Enough already…..
Oh Rosicky I miss you! Honestly, its sad that a player of such immense talent and determination even at such an age keeps getting injured. Oh Walcott, if Rosicky was able to play as many games as you have for the club…
The team are stuck in a rut at the moment. They need to believe they can win the league, at times I feel we are too modest and pay teams too much respect. There was a reason people hated the invincibles, it was because they were winners and they believed it.
We’ve only been lamenting about our finishing for 4 years now, no worries.
Don’t see why people are picking on Walcott. He came on as a sub but before then chances were missed. Flamini/Ramsey pairing have resulted in good results before this run. The point is, for a title winning team Ramsey, Walcott, Chamberlain, Flamini are bench warmers who come on as they did yesterday due to injuries or need to rest players. We don’t know about Elneny yet but I’m sure he can easily push Ramsey down the pecking order. All this he works hard, doesn’t hide, runs a lot is not stuff of a quality player. More is needed to win… Read more »
Thank you
Seriously, other than history, based on current form and objective ability, can someone clearly make the case for why Theo is a better choice than Afobe?
walcott should no more be on the field… iwobi much better than him..
We all said beginning of season that Santi or Coqulain get injured we would struggle quest what !!Season before only 2 fit centre half’s what would happen if one got injured quest what !!
The inability of Wenger to forsee these problems is criminal and inept..
This has cost us chances of winning league..
You have either a quest-ionable autocorrect or a quest-ionable knowledge of spelling.
Would like to have seen the option of bringing Elneny in yesterday for say Ramsey as he at least showed the willingness and ability to take some good shots on goal from outside of the 18, don’t remember any shots on or near target from outside of the 18 yesterday. They may not go in, but as in hockey the key is getting shots to the goal from wherever and getting deflections, rebounds and redirects to beat a hot keeper as we faced last night. I know there are many that love Giroud and don’t want to get into Giroud… Read more »
Is a strange season this. We have got 3 points from a possible 12 and we are still in the title race. In any other recent season, we would be a minimum of 8 points off. This gives me hope. Nobody is really running away with the league as it is. This is not an excuse as we should have done better last night, but it shows that the tables can turn anytime soon. The next two games are pivotal. City play Leceister and Sp*rs; we play Bourn and Leceister. If we win both, we are right back in a… Read more »
I do wonder the rationale behind the sale of some young promising good players over some average that Wenger keeps?!
But we’ve gat our hands tied over all those things. We can only hope and believe in the team to do well and win us some important trophies, with our support ofcourse.
COYG we can do this!
What a disappointing game! Southampton started well but we were on top for the vast majority of the match. Don’t remember Cech having to do anything spectacular whereas Forster was probably MOTM. To Wenger’s point about poor finishing, apart from all the transfer rumours, gossip and speculation, we all know for sure that over the past few summer windows, he has tried to bring in Suarez, Higuain and Benzema. That says to me that he realises what we are missing and if you look at what all those players are doing this season, it’s such a shame that we couldn’t… Read more »
Rooney, Kane ? Brrrrrr, I am not convinced. Rooney may have scored some goals lately but he is not world class anymore. Kane ? I gave him two years to fade but he is still there so I am giving him another two years to fade to championship level. Remember Michu who hurt us in a couple of games and lot of fans wanted Wenger to buy him ? Where is he now ? I prefer Giroud to Falcao or Pato.
Quit deluding yourself. Watch Kane on Match of the day then you would know what a solid striker plays like. Pace, power, hunger and decisiveness.. its all there. He might not be a ronaldo or messi but he is solid; head and shoulders above Giroud or walcott. Rid yourself of the sentiments.
Quit deluding yourself. Watch Kane on Match of the day then you would know what a solid striker plays like. Pace, power, hunger and decisiveness.. its all there. He might not be a ronaldo or messi but he is solid; head and shoulders above Giroud or walcott. I can assure you if he was on our tean we would be leading the pack right now. Rid yourself of the sentiments.
So we’ve all been laughing at Man Utd and how shit they are, how Van Gaal hasn’t got a Danny La Rue what’s going on. Yet here we sit only 5 points and a place better off. This season more than ever feels like last chance saloon for the boss. With all his experience in this league, with the squad that he has assembled from the very bottom up (not for the first time), his actions in the last 2 transfer Windows have basically said that this squad is as good as he can/will make it. Aided by the fact… Read more »
What I struggle to comprehend is why Wenger was so keen to offload Afobe to let him develop after his injuries and keeps faith with players like Diaby who’s injuries were effectively career ending. Afobe is young looks the most promising out of the many strikers we have had in our academy for many a year.
He wasn’t keen to offload him. He had two bad injuries, and went out on loan to play. He was sold then and developed by playing regularly.
There’s no way that he would have a) been given enough playing time at Arsenal or b) allowed the time by fans to develop as a player, even if he was. The lower leagues were like a finishing school, literally, and it’s great that he’s doing well, but he wouldn’t be a Premier League player if he’d stayed at Arsenal.
“WENGER LAMENTS POOR FINISHING” Er, yeah, Arsene: poor finishing is what happens when you don’t sign world-class strikers. It’s fantastic the way that Le Prof manages to deflect the attention away from himself and at some abstract concept. In his mind “poor finishing” can just happen to any side. Our wonderful manager’s failure to grasp the simple principle that a title-winning team must have a world-class striker is almost comical. As much as I like Giroud he isn’t and never will be a top striker; and Walcott (apart from giving really good media-friendly interviews) is a complete waste of space.… Read more »
Of course we ve all been deluded with title ambitions; forget it, another slip and even Spurs have overtaken us. Hope at least Leicester keeps top and wins the league. Wenger Out.
Gone are the days, years really, when Arsene threw on an extra striker or two to get a goal. Gone are the days we used to own the golden boot Gone are the days we used to be the highest scoring team in the league. “Best squad we’ve had for years now ” I hear you. But not the best attack or goals return for some years too. Gone are the years we scored 3 or 4 league goals in a match at home. Damn we even occasionally put 6 or 7 past some unlucky teams in the league and… Read more »
who would have thought that going into this season with 2 inconsistent strikers and 1 injured striker would come back to bite us on the arse?! Wenger certainly didn’t!
To be honest with you guys, our boys tried yesterday. However, this is not the time for near misses and marginal errors. Some players staked their lives yesterday while others were passengers. People like Walcott. apart from the two shots that the Foster saved, what else? Instead of Walcott doing the talking in the field, he is constantly running his mouth in any opportunity he gets on the pages of news prints. Wenger has to know that if he doesn’t win this league this year, he should step aside for some other person. Wenger deserves every accolade and respect, for… Read more »
Is he serious? Does he want the proud Arsenal name to continue being laughed at by the dumbasses in the media?
WE ALL TOLD YOU TO BUY A STRIKER… and we were met with “There’s no one better than we have out there”.
Really? I mean really?!
A lot of last months problems comes down to not signing that backup for Coquelin in the summer. With Flamini in the midfield there is no chance of winning the league. Luckily the Coq is back now and you can expect the results to improve. It doesn’t really matter if it’s Ramsey or Elneny who plays with him, it’s Coq’s physical presence that has been lacking, teams have just run through the midfield. But you can ask the question why didn’t Wenger make that obvious signing in the summer?
Does anyone think we could do well with a 3-5-2
Maybe Gabriel Mert Kos
Bellerin coq Elneney Monreal
Ozil
Girould Sanchez
Just think if Sanchez was playing of someone he would terrify defences.
Just a thought
Ridiculous.
We have blown the league title again. I feel the team will struggle to keep Tottenham at bay. This year has begun very poorly. Hope we pull out our fingers and start scoring goals soon. Very frustrated by what I have seen in the past 4 league games
If arsene doesn’t think we can attract a better striker than giroud, walcott or welbeck he needs new scouts. Kane, vardy & lukaku are all better strikers than what we have and they’re not at top clubs. Mahrez is better than any right sided attacking midfielder we have & payet would have been an excellent back up to santi. None of them at top clubs, none of them out of our price range & none of them spotted by our scouts. Wenger wasted the summer buying no outfield players & has wasted the January window on a bargain basement player… Read more »
I obviously don’t know, but my semi-educated guess is that if Elneny struggled a few times in the last match with the physicality, perhaps Wanyama and their other Alexis-kicking-ogre would have been a bit of a bad match right now. I’m only guessing it’s not a matter of ‘can’t get in the team ahead of him’ as much as ‘not quite ready for that match’. My big question is will we ever see him and Aaron on both in the middle? Not so sure unless its a less physical team we expect to dominate possession against. Flamini is used to… Read more »
Wenger’s blind loyalty to his players & unwillingness to spend big on top players is hurting the club. People say we need a better CD than mert, a better striker than Giroud/Walcott & another DM so he goes to the bargain basement & buys Gabriel, Welbeck, chambers & Elneny & offers theo a new bumper contract. If we want to progress we still need a top striker, a top central defender & a top right sided attacking midfielder. theo, ramsay, mert, flamini, wellbeck, campbell, gibbs, gabriel, debuchy & arteta are not good enough to win the league or challenge for… Read more »
I agree on most points. We certainly need 5 world class players in key positions, with the striker being the most important. The three Centre halves all have their faults and could be improved on, the right wing is iffy, and we need back up Cazorla to help recycle and control the ball from central midfield. if you have this spine alongside Cech, Ozil and Sanchez, then we would have a great team, but the danger is we could lose these players if they feel the club is not ambitious enough, which clearly it isn’t at the moment.
We have for a long time listened to the excuses that we have less resources than like Manu, City and Chelsea, and this has largely been accepted by the fanbase for our modest spending and annual 4th place finish. However, we are now in danger of being overhauled by smaller clubs like Leicester and Spurs. Where does that leave Wenger’s excuses now? Surely there is no hiding place for the Manger if we finish behind these two, especially after his summer of inactivity. Thanks Arsene for the good times, but we will not win another title while you remain in… Read more »
Damn straight.
A day later to think about and I’m still monumentally fucked off. Lament all you fucking well like. £200 million in the bank, Ozil creating 10 chances and piles of shit like Walcott and Giroud embarrassing themselves. If Leicester wins it, I’ll be happy for them. Amazing what you can do with decent coaching these days.
Leicester deserve to win this league
I agree with a lot of the above but Bellerin and Monreal back up players ??? NFW
Bellerin is a good player with great potential but he is still young & needs real competition. He is better going forward than defending. Monreal is a solid reliable defender but he doesn’t offer much going forward.
I think we need a left sided bellerin & a right sided monreal.
More like poor finish to season. I think we’re blowing it (have been). It isn’t Flamini’s fault either. We have just been naive or not sharp enough. Lack of belief to carry through even if its not for want of trying. And I’m not sure if adding Elneny has made a difference because the difference we would prefer is immediate. Even so, what’s our excuse? Leicester are a team devoid of w’rold class’ names put together for under 17m and look at them. We are now behind Spurs City and Leicester. Unless we can turn it round next game and… Read more »
…and so castles made of sand fall into the sea, eventually.
Wenger is always harping on about consistency but fails to see the only thing consistent about his teams are injuries and shiiting the bed when the pressure is on. .