Arsene Wenger has called on his team to be more efficient in the final third as he saw them draw a blank against Hull in the FA Cup today.
In a scenario not too disimilar from the 0-0 draw with Southampton a couple of weeks ago, Arsenal had plenty of chances, but found themselves denied by the opposition goalkeeper. Swap Fraser Forster for Eldin Jakupovic, and finishing that wasn’t as clinical as it should have been, and you end up not scoring again.
Speaking after the game, Wenger said, “The goalkeeper did well of course, but we had maybe 70 per cent possession and more than 20 shots on goal, and we didn’t score. We have to look at ourselves as well, even if you can give credit to their ‘keeper.
“We need to be more efficient in the final third, because today we had more than 70 per cent possession and we will not have that on Tuesday night. That means we’ll have to be more efficient with much less of the ball.”
Asked if a potential replay was a nightmare, he continued, “The nightmare would have been to go out. The frustration is that we didn’t score and it’s not what we wanted, to have a replay, but between that and going out, we choose the replay.”
It’s yet to be scheduled, but the early word is the week after the North London derby at White Hart Lane. And the Arsenal manager refused to countenance the idea that a ‘weakened’ team was to blame for the result.
“People want you to give a chance to young players. When you play them, they say ‘it’s a shame’. Up front we had Walcott, Welbeck and Campbell, all internationals. People always want you to buy more and more players. When you play them, they say ‘why did you play them?’
“I think the team was of quality and that’s not an excuse.”
Wow. Just got home from the game and watched the highlights on the BBC website. I make that three clear cut penalties not given! I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised with Mike Dean.
We should have scored out of the game though.
Hey, at least he didn’t send someone off this time…nope still having homicidal thoughts at the thought of his lumpy bald head.
Well to be frank our stick in regards to judging Mike Dean is absolutely very low. Two incidents today; the hull dive for a penalty and Koscielny tackle on Meyer when already on a yellow. They’re both correct decisions by Dean but the fact that we all hold our breath hoping he makes the right bloody call speaks all you need to know about him. On another day I wouldn’t be surprised he would make the wrong calls but I’m guessing a certain petition still lingers fresh in his mind.
Personaly, i am not that worked up about mike dean today. What used to get me was his consistent bias towards arsenal. today?…… yes, he was consistently poor……but for both teams! imo.
You mean ‘Bias against Arsenal’.
Either that or you’re a blind troll….
Judging by your very “intelligent” reply to my comment, you, my friend, is just pure “class”……and i envy your very obvious intellect…..all the best pal!
Bims lay, why people hate going to espy soccernet site is purely because of comments like your. There’s not a need for this
Wenger’s tactics wrong again! Two holding midfielders in Flamini and Elnenny…..no invention in midfield meant we couldn’t break them down. Ox has to start in centre midfield today surely. Hull posed no attacking threat whatsoever.
“we couldn’t break them down”? Seriously? With 20 shots on target? And their keeper MOTM?
Soon as I saw Mike Dean, I thought the best we can get from this game is a replay.
The replay shouldn’t be much of a problem now that most of our players our back from injuries (touches all the wood nearby).
My concern is regarding the bigger picture. We haven’t looked convincing in a long long time. Probably since cazorla’s injury. We have struggled to get past teams. I mean when was the last time we had a comfortable 3-0 or 4-0 victory.
Players like Alexis, Ramsey, ox, Theo etc need to start stepping up big time and be counted for if we want to achieve our title aspirations.
Welbeck was back in full power. Happy he’s back just in time for the Barcelona game. I will say I think the starting team line up should include Campbell on the right instead of Theo or Ox and Welbeck instead of Giroud up front as we’re gonna have defend like hell against MSN. So line up to start: Sanchez Welbeck Campbell Ozil Ramsey Coq Nacho Koscielny Mertesacker Bellerin Cech Then bring on Theo Giroud and Ox as subs when required. Press like if it’s good or dislike if not. Can’t wait for the game! Anything is possible in the lovely… Read more »
Ah, so that’s how like and dislike works! I always wondered.
Giroud has to play. simple as that. Also think Walcott looks sharper and may be our biggest threat. Them two and alexis up tops for me… just need the real alexis to please PLEASE stand up
I rather have Theo start up front then bring on Giroud and/or Welbz for the winner.
If Wenger wants ‘greater efficiency’ then he needs to get a Suarez or a Zlatan or a CR7 even if they cost the earth to buy.
We used to have one or two ourselves. Now we can only sigh.
This is a familiar story. Lots of chances but no goals. Wenger calls for his team to be more efficient, but surely the answer is having better players, especially at Centre Forward. It is not rocket science.
Who would you have as a better back up striker to play in the FA Cup than Walcott, Welbeck and Campbell?
All three are not specialist CFs and have spent most of their careers on the wing. All the other top sides have lethal players in that position. Why not Arsenal?
Those three are all wingers mainly and not out and out CFs. There must be better options Arsenal could afford.
But surely none of those players are standing out front of the Emirates with a large ‘For Sale’ sign around their neck or knocking on Wengers door, like Cech was this summer, so how could we possibly find a player?
Scouts jump to mind.
We don’t have scouts. At least none that are worth their salt.
We have a hell of alot of cash. Time to start flexing our muscle ? and acting like the big boys we know we are. No more niceties or polite enquiries.
So do I!
Our lack of efficiency in front of goal is going to cost us a big game or two if we are not careful. We can’t have 20 odd attempts in front of goal and score none.
I have been trying to get a ticket for the Barcelona game by Ticket Exchange for days and absolutely nothing comes up, so there better not be any empty seats on Tuesday. I just hope we’re not humiliated. As a friend said last week ” We just lack a Pires….and an Henry…and a Bergkamp……”
If I’m being brutally honest I just don’t think we have enough goals in our team. Don’t think any of our forward players are clinical enough in front of goal. Last season we relied heavily on Sanchez who was truly outstanding,but now he’s struggling, you look around and you can’t see who’s going to step up to the plate. With Walcott it is what it is, can’t see him improving, Giroud is a very good option but he is not prolific or as clinical as most would like. Welbeck, Ox and Campbell all have potential but don’t look like scoring… Read more »
Nothing like over complicating a sentence eh ?
How about saying he wants the team to score a goal or five.
The team clearly lacks “something” at the moment, and i, for one, don’t know what it is……so, i will appreciate if some of the analysts here can tell me what it is. I never thought its possible for an arsenal team to struggle to score goals, but this squad clearly is, question is why?….in theory, we should be scoring by the bucketloads! The squad (like all arsenal squad) are built to score goals – pace through out the team for quick transitions – extreme pace though the wings and forward lines – false “wingers” that are really “strikers”….ffs, we at… Read more »
Must be the grass…
It rained…
Sanchez is off form, giroud is looking tired and over used, welbeck only just back from injury, Walcott blows hot and cold, ox is having a season to forget!!! I think that sums up the problem!!!
Yeah, no shit.
Luakaku would be a useful addition. Seriously strong and fast. I reckon he would score a few at the arsenal.
Yeah Wenger, you’ve been saying this for a while now.
I’ve said it countless times, the difference between us and the likes of Chelsea, city, and manure at their best is killer instinct. Take the game against Bayern at Allianz arena, if we were more clinical, the scores would’ve been 5-3 instead of 5-1.
We’ll always create chances, but there’s no point In having the best mid in the league if you’re going to be as wasteful as we are in front of goal.
Yep cos they are all above us… Oh no hold on they ain’t. When we were at our best no one could touch us. Currently we are better than city Chelsea and United. The internet has a lot to answer for. Cheese and bread!!!
Wenger has come to the conclusion that we need to be more efficient in front of goal? Goodness, with those powers of observation you can see why he’s one of the most highly paid managers in the world. We haven’t been converting our chances for years. Van Persie was the last top-class striker we had. Giroud has his good days and he’s a big, strong and useful player, but he isn’t reliably clinical or of the class that a club with aspirations to win something significant needs. As for the others, Walcott hasn’t improved as much as we might once… Read more »
You’re off your tits Miranda .. hope they’ll be juggling up and down when Wenger lifts the double.
It is okay if it is after the match against Spu*s. We should probably still play the subs plus Cazorla if he is back.
So the world and his dog keep telling wenger he needs to sign a top quality striker and he does nothing about it. Then he wonders why we are so wasteful in front of goal.
He tried to buy suarez so he must realise we need a better striker.
He didn’t try that hard. Or so it would appear.
Yeah I think in addition to that, all the legit world class strikers are tied up with big clubs and thus are extremely expensive. We should be looking at 1 level below the top tier and that’s where it’s quite hard to pin point who would make the grade at Arsenal.
At the top of my mind, maybe lukaku or Aubameyang which still prolly cost 30-40 Mil+
As mentioned, Flamini is far from the problem. Another clean sheet with him anchoring as DM like against Stoke, Soton and Bournemouth. Plus we created plenty of chances like we did against Soton too. So no issue with link play. Naturally some lack of fluidity would be expected with the number of changes and less experienced players in some areas. What has been an issue which I had mentioned recently is we are not clinical enough. We are one of the top shots per game in the PL which may surprise some use to more spurious numbers selectively published. But… Read more »
remember the transfer window…? *cough*