Arsene Wenger refused to question the fighting spirit of his team but did admit that Everton’s intensity proved too much on a night when headers by two defenders sealed a 2-1 win for the Toffees.
Here’s what the boss had to say when he faced the BT Sport cameras.
On losing for the first time in the league since August…
It was a very physical game and we faced many challenges and we lost as well some balls we not used to. It disturbed our game. At the end of the day I must say that we were unlucky to lose.
I think we had chances; we had the first chances of the second half, especially from Mesut. After that they defended very well, you have to give them credit today. They played a cup game and for us it was [important] not to give them anything on set pieces and crosses. At the end of the day, two defenders in their team scored.
On Everton’s physical approach…
They were in a position where they had nothing to lose anymore. They played a little bit scared at the start, after that they had nothing to lose and made the game very physical and we lost our flow. In the second half we came back in it without creating as much as we are used to. We did fight. I cannot fault our fighting spirit tonight. We know we lost some balls we should not lose but maybe that is down to the intensity of the game.
On whether he’s happy with the way the team fought…
Yes, we fought very hard. We have every three or four days games like that. I cannot fault the attitude.
Well at least we didn’t roll over! we put up a fight just unfortunate we didn’t take our chance to kill the game (Ozil this is on you) let’s shake this off and respond at city!
Mustafi effect?
Agreed, let’s be honest if Mustafi OR Mertesacker were in the game then we win. This is not an insult to Gabriel who’s proving to be a decent utility player, but KOS is just so much more in sync with the other two.
Everton played well, too many fans ignoring that point.
Hopefully some rivals drop points tomorrow!
I will have to admit that Gabriel was poor always chasing shadows. Maybe Holding would have been a better option ?
ironic that crucial points dropped in a title race that could cost us in the end are being put to blame on a player we bought (and want to keep) in order to win the league 😀
We played effortlessly for a few minutes, but I would like to see us play ruthlessly at the same time. When you have a chance, just ducking score.
Fickle fans can attack one player, but Arsène pointing out Mesut, this is not class.
To be fair it was a glorious chance. Arsene gets more criticism than anybody so it’s fair game for him to point out the obvious. I’m a big fan of Mesut but with his new found scoring touch deserting him tonight.
Still it’s a long season bring on the Sheiks. A positive there then happy days
How the hell was he attacking Mesut? He said, we had chances to score and mentioned Ozils’ but didn’t pull a Mourinho style blame game on Mesut, Jesus Christ has it ever been Wenger MO to call out players in public? Have you even followed this man’s time at Arsenal at all for the last 20 years?
I am French and have been following Arsène since Monaco. He pointed out a player who perfectly knows he did wrong so what is the use?
You used the word attack, insinuating that he was not just calling Mesut out in public but also blaming him for the loss, like how Mourinho operates practically every time his team loses. This was not even close to being the case. He said Mesut missed a chance, thats it. Didn’t attack him, didnt blame him for the loss, didn’t seek to publicly humiliate and criticize him.
If you want £300k a week, you better start converting those chances. Not one but 2 good chances missed. Can only blame ourselves for defeat.
Exactly my point.Ozil thinks he is world class and deserves a fat salary but fails to make a mark in such marches where we need him and Sanchez to bail us out but instead they bottle up like the other players ?
Are you honestly saying ozil isnt world class? Form is temporary but class is permanent.
It’s not the end of the world Ffs!! Some people need to get a hold of themselves!! Who said the Premiership was easy. They need to get themselves back up and back in the fight. Lesson learned hopefully
Agreed. The fact is that when a team like Everton actually wake up and start giving a shit and playing their asses off, they’re not easy to beat at their place. It’s just that they’ve not played like that over the past couple months, so I think it was a bit of an understandable surprise that they finally turned the switch about 25 minutes in–and actually kept it up the rest of the way. And with the way we’ve been converting chances this season, it’s not a surprise that eventually some of the luck was going to go the other… Read more »
Yes, accept
1. The way we let them back into the contest when they were down is what’s so disappointing. We were nowhere in that first half after our goal. We barely strung 3 passes together in the last half hour of that first half, and that’s inexcusable.
2. If Chelsea win their two, extremely winnable, games, and we lose to City at their place (all very possible; arguably the most probable outcome, even), we will be 9 (NINE!) points behind them. Let that sink in. We could really do with having this one back…
Wait till Chelski play some more teams in the top half of the table … we whipped Chelsea 3-0, Manure were dire when losing there and Spurz spurred it. They will falter badly when he heat goes on in April-May with us just tucked in behind them ready to pounce/or slightly in front easing away with relentless wins. Everton were fucking good today, hopefully they can bring down our main rivals to2o. COYG
If Everton get onto a run it will potentially balance things out in the title race. Main thing is to concentrate on bouncing back and with the attitude shown it shouldn’t be too long.
Two soft headed goals. Marking was appalling. Need taller centre half? Players not taking responsibility to win those headers. Ozil didn’t even bother to challenge his man for second goal. Arsene criticised him but we don’t know what’s going on in the contract talks behind the scenes. If you want big big money he’s got to do better than that.
It’s not about taller centerbacks.
It’s about having commitment, reading the play, getting a body on players (shoulder to shoulder), and none of this %#&@ing zonal marking stuff that repeatedly lets us down.
Same stupid line up, maybe he’ll change the starting 11 now, walcott is useless in first team.
That’s 11 games in a row without a clean sheet which is more of a worry than our missed chances.
how the was no penalty given for that foul late in the game on alexis
I’d have thought this kind of battling game was one for Elneny. Shame we couldn’t put pressure on Chelsea. We didn’t turn up today, that we had more chances and shots on in added time than in the whole game. the bright side is it took us four months to lose, more of that and our next loss is in April
We controlled the contest for the first 20, 25 minutes, but then let them back in the game and did not fight to regain that control. Kudos to Everton but we’re a better team and should have won.
Theo should be gagged.
He’s done that before; talked things up before the team and him put in a below par performance.
Lesson for Theo tonight is zip it and play.
We didn’t lose it in the middle, we lost it in the wide areas. Baines and Coleman went up and down those flanks like empty highways. We should have done better on the counters. Baines and Coleman left acres of space behind them.
Theo and the Ox were both poor, and Bellerin looked rusty.
“…it was [important] not to give them anything on set pieces and crosses…”
Well…
As far of the aerial duels concern: One of the best player in the league were sitting on our bench for 70 minutes
Lose opening game.
Buy Mustafi.
Don’t lose another game.
Mustafi injured.
Lose game.
We lost, I’m not a happy lad 🙁
Still eagerly anticipating the bonus rating for this one. Anytime you have to face the tag-team combination of Clattenberg and Dean (as 4th official), you know it’s going to be a stiff challenge. Arsene looked like he could have crushed Dean’s little head in his hands after the stoppage time was announced.
Sorry, but I really cannot lay blame at Ref’s door and certainly not the 4th official’s – we lost the game because Everton got stuck in and we panicked on crosses yet again. I’m afraid our defenders just do not get off the ground to prevent headers or prevent opponents from getting into position; remember Saturday when Crouch could have scored with first touch.
City game will be different and we should get back on track if we keep fast forwards quiet.
I think Everton were a bit lucky. The crowd really helped them tonight. When the tackles started to fly in, their crowd really seemed to lap it up. I am always worried when the opposition fans are in good voice. I like it when we score a couple and shut them up. We need that sort of atmosphere at the Emirates.
We need to smash City on Sunday.
Ultimately AW’s teams post 2004 always buckle under physically pressure. Hope we come back and smash Manoilutdcitytwatbuckets but fear this is the game when other teams realise they can kick fuck out of us and win.
Physical even
Does anyone else think, we should start ospina instead.
Perez on left, Ox on right and Alexis up front.
What Cech did wrong?
WENGER OUT!
He is completely clueless.
Clearly he needs to have bought better players. Ozil is ncking a living, Alexis is overrated (NOT world class) and Walcott is too busy drinking h the miss
Maybe he’s getting the jitters about Bayern.
Back to square one. Soft old Arsenal.
😀
Cech is really good. But ospina is awesome and is in his prime.
I think Everton only realised how to deal with arsenal after going down one nil. the coach must have signalled to them: be excessively physical, kick them hard and don’t allow them space, arsenal don’t like it hard. and it worked because once they brought in physicality into the game arsenal lost their composure and Ozil, our play maker showed his weakness at challenges.
to me, Ozil’s poor performance characterised by numerous misplaced cross-field passes, avoiding 50:50 challenges and missing two glorious chances, contributed to our loss in no small measure.
Ozil was poor from the beginning. He made all wrong passes. May be he was tired.Wenger never substites him, even though his day is bad.
But I do agree Ozil is world class.