Arsene Wenger was disappointed by his side’s attacking play as the Gunners lost 1-0 to a dominant Sp*rs at Wembley.
The Gunners were limp in the final third until the last ten minutes when substitute Alexandre Lacazette could have nicked a point with two chances. By that point the home side had squandered a number of chances to kill the game.
After the match, Wenger spoke to BT Sport and accepted that his players were below par.
On the performance and result…
I felt in the first half we missed three or four opportunities on the counter-attack. At that level it’s difficult to swallow, always the final ball.
We contained them to very little. Once they scored you could see that we were wobbling for a while and they could have scored one or two more.
In the last ten minutes we should have come back to 1-1. Overall, it was a game where the first goal played a big part, unfortunately, we conceded it on a header. Kane made the difference. That’s what he’s about.
On whether he was unhappy with Kane’s challenge on Koscielny when he scored…
I’ve seen it [the replay], it’s nothing. Just good centre-forward play, I’ve not complaints. We can only look at ourselves on that.
On the chances to equaliser…
In the first half we had plenty of opportunities where you’d expect better final balls from us.
On Arsenal top four chances…
It means just that it will be more difficult. We have to fight for it as long as we have a chance. But of course, this was a game that we couldn’t lose today.
Pochettino made the difference.
What, like he did in the last game ?
Feel Arsenal hv a really good att, need work on defencec and def. mid. With Wenger its clear the club will never go to the def. mid set up again, as he is heavily intent on aping Barca. So #WengerOut.
Get a new guy in who will know what is required to get this team to win.
New name? Or are you REALLY drunk today? 😉
-and btw, could you share your drinks with Lacazette soon?
Repeating your slogan will not persuade the club management and majority owner ….. only points won , trophies won and financial prospects of the club at the end of a manger’s contract will …. once this is understood by those minority of Arsenal supporters , the better it would be for the club and fans
Dembele did. If we had a player like him in CM rather than those we do we wouldn’t be losing so many matches.
He’s such a good player. Every time I see him I think how he’d improve us immeasurably.
Under Wenger we would still be losing I’m afraid, doesn’t matter who we bring in.
I was ready to write the same after reading the comments…
Yup, the full press with Dembele sitting in behind killed us. Our midfield was nonexistent and just chasing all match. They were all able to rely on the rest of their teammates to be doing their job marking and pressing leaving no air to breathe.
From there the cheating, diving ogre was able to trouble us. He’s effective but I really dislike the way he plays the game.
Seems to me that Wenger’s game management is about keeping everybody calm in order for them to make the right decisions and so they are creative and spontaneous in attack. That’s great but in the era of the high press, we get rattled too easily. Teams press up high up, and we lose the ball. I do wonder sometimes whether Wenger’s general approach is not at odds with the dominant footballing rationality of the day. There needs to be coaching to overcome the press. We tried knocking it over them. But their back line and Dembele took care of that.… Read more »
He totally bossed us
Yeah Dembele was good. As was Son. We could do with a Dembele, for sure.
Yeah, I think not attempting to score made a difference too. Kane actually missed a couple of sitters.
Don’t think Kane is good enough to get in to our team oh.
I mean his goal tally and performance this season definitely supports your claim.
It is a poor joke based on wengers decision to release him cos he wasn’t good enough for us…apologies for my humour
Ok Wenger needs to go but I highly doubt he personally decides the future of 8 year olds.
He may be a mouth-breather, he may play for THEM but we’ve got to admit, Kane is bloody good at what he does.
No fuck him and the chicken he rode in on.
Shame we didn’t pick him up when he was a kid…
All the drool made the pitch too slippy.
Hmm yeah what genius decided he was good enough to play for us???????
Gracefull of Wenger to accept there was no complaints on their goal.
At least to try something different, Xhaka should be on the bench. He is not the reason that we lost today but our midfield is not able to receive the ball from the defence and build the attack. We have tried any combinations, maybe we need to try without Xhaka.
Yes please. Ramsey, elneny, Wilshire could work. Worth a try.
Elneny certainly isn’t my favourite, but if we have a lot of creative players like today, he might work well in this team. Gilberto didn’t look like much, but he was very important
Yes, that was my thinking as well, if we are 433. He is more defensive minded than Xhaka. Wilshire has found his mojo, Ramsey is a goal threat from midfield. Ozil, Mkhi and Auba in the front 3 or a 2+1 (it’s fluid anyway).
The thing is that we saw today that an Ozil, Mkhi and Auba front 3 might not work. I think we can maybe get away with having one no.10 playing wide, but not two. Both were very poor today and I don’t think replacing Xhaka for Ramsey would have solved that.
I fear that says more about the poor quality of Xhaka. Ramsey or Elneny to be honest.
I’m sorry but I still think none of those 3 belong in a title challenging team. At a push I’d have Ramsey as a squad player, but that’s about it
I think Ramsey could be excellent in a 3 in midfield alongside Wilshere but we’ve very rarely tried it. Elneny at DM is more questionable, I think the potential is there but it’s not really a natural fit. He’s got the engine and composure on the ball but he’s not a huge tackler or presser
Ramsey was born to play box to box in a three man midfield, that would bring out his strengths and hide his weaknesses
As we dont have a proper DM maybe we should split the job between Elneny and Jack. Let Ramsey play further forward
We have no DM. Elneny is the best we have and that is saying something. Xhaka is a big problem. He switches off too often. I want to see Aubameyang, Lacazette and Mkhitaryan with Özil giving the assists. The rests can all be defenders
Elneny is indeed the best we have…and yet he would be only 4th choice for the position at the Totts. How Arsene ignores the position year after year after year is fucking depressing.
Agree. Xhaka is where our gameplay goes to die. It just comes to a full stop. No flow at all. Three slow touches, a turnover, followed by a foul. I wanted him to work out but right now it’s just not.
No natural wide players and no defensive midfield players. With no wide threat, and playing through the middle, we struggled, especially with the way sp*rs pressed. Same old against pressing teams. I feel defensive mid is only part of the problem. We need some wide threat. The way we played and having only one shot on target, was fucking poor. The most gutting thing is that we made them look like world beaters. Their players were getting away from two/three players in midfield, nutmeggong players and generally taking the piss. The fact that we should have lost by three or… Read more »
I would love for Madrid to come in and take Kane in the summer. That would make me immensely happy. I know they would seriously cash in, but if we have learnt anything from Spurs, it’s that you can’t repace one great player with 5 average ones and that’s probably what they will try and do.
I would love for Madrid to take both Kane and Poch
and Wenger
Poch is overrated. Spuds bottled it when leicester won the league. They where 2nd last season and now are only ahead of us. They are going backwards faster than us, the difference is everyone knows spuds are shit
And we didn’t?
But still good enough to beat us.
I really don’t understand comments like this. Who gives a flying fuck about spurs!? WE, as in Arsenal FC, are going backwards! We ARE behind spurs (an every other big team in this league) and we need to sort that! Slagging spurs off won’t change that! It’s just ignoring the issue that we are a poor side this year.
Yesss, thats the thing keeping us take over the football world…
I would love Real Madrid to come in for Danny Welbeck. £2.01 should do it
Playing so deep we were almost behind our own goal,
not understanding what attacking is for 80 minutes,
not actually taking the ball forward,
looking like a group of random strangers who only discovered football yesterday.
I suspect these are also to blame……
Wrong. Dembele was the main differential.
Really thought we were nickin a point at the end. Goals like that would allow me to forget the performance. We were outplayed for the whole game and completely dominated. Why are we unable to tweak formations during games?
was honestly expecting the team to be up for this one.
It was men vs boys in that second half. We got slaughtered. Spurts should have won by 3 or 4 goals. Our playing and movement had to be crisp and precise, but we kept misplacing passes. Their team is all power and strength, we look like tiny weaklings. We desperately need a new spine – two big dirty CBs, two big dirty DMs and a goalie. The transfer budget needs to be given to Allegri
Cunt. That is all.
He is a class act. Not so sure about his ability as a manager of a club that should be fighting for the league and champions league.
“If you eat caviar every day it’s difficult to return to sausages”
At least he admits that there was no foul on the goal. He’d be embarrassing himself to claim otherwise.
And Kane didn’t make the difference. Arsene did.
Because whatever the heck he did to “prepare” the team for this match, or whatever strategy he had, it did the square root of f***-all. And that is not acceptable.
It wasn’t just Kane Arsène, we were woeful and have two midfielders out there today who can’t carry the ball, are slow and neither can tackle. The midfield is screaming out for better players and all we have is jack.
We need two mids to do the work of one (barely)
This is the problem.
Not resolved in transfer window, instead the much celebrated buying team ‘distracted’ themselves in re-inventing our attack unnecessarily.
Spot on about xhaka and elneny, the first is an abysmal player and the second gives his all but is bang average. That central midfield is so pivotal and ours is just not good enough like you say we lack pace and real strength and drive in there. Agree about Jack, I think he has been one of the only bright sparks for us this season.
Yeah it was a midfielder’s game today and we were second best in that dept.
And the fact that their left-back provided their winner underlines how un-dangerous we are from wide positions – we had no left footed crosser on the left and we really need to talk about Bellerin’s delivery.
He had a magnificent defensive first half but the guy cannot cross or assist to save his life and whenever we attack on his side he’s the right-winger. Aubameyang will go the way of Lacazette unless we solve this problem.
Bellerin put it on a penny for lacazette near the end. To be fair.
Let’s kiss our chance of finishing in the top four a goodbye and concentrate on the Europa League because that will be our only hope of securing a spot in the Champions League for next season! Time to stop acting like we still care about our long lost pride and be more rational.
That midfield simply requires more. Xhaka and Elneny at best should be used as squad players and should be nowhere near our starting 11.
Granit at best is a squad player.
Elneny should be sold…just nobody wants him.
What had he done to you Mate?
Sell Giroud so we can rely on Lacazette and his impressive Ligue one stats for the europa.
And if he gets injured, don’t worry we have plan C Danny Welbeck.
im not blaming Laca for today. No striker can score every chance – they missed a ton of sitters. Could’ve had 4 or more. Giroud wouldn’t have been through on that one and our crosses were pretty shit today.
We lost it in the midfield and defense.
With plenty of PL experience under his belt you’d expect Koscielny to lead us to a league title. He can’t even lead us to a top 4 finish now.
We need 2 new CB’s to partner Mustafi. I’d be happy to sell Koscielny to Madrid or Barca in exchange for cash+their player because Kos can do it in La liga. He’s just not good enough for PL anymore.
Yes Mustafi has been making critical blocks for many games now but you won’t see the likes of 7amkickoff publishing them bc he only shows stats that suit his narrative. Instead, some people want Mustafi sold. Sure, sell our better Cback bc Koscielny isn’t aging and we don’t carry 3 young CBacks who have yet to deliver on promise. Agree with you but I think we can only afford one and I’d rather spend it on one that is top quality than the sort of half baked over the hill mediocrity in Evans some seem all too keen to settle… Read more »
That is a bit of a statement to make but TBH I thought Mustafi did pretty well compared to Kos today. The problem with Mustafi is he either very good or he is just shit. There is no in between for him.
Agreed @Sydneysider and @Santori. I really like Mustafi. He looks like he wants to be a leader and he plays like that too. He needs a new partner. The drawback with Kos is he is not vocal. He doesn’t inspire me anymore. It’s supposed to be a CB’s job to hold the dressing room together. CB’s should command respect in the dressing room and Kos looks weak on that front. Don’t get me wrong, Kos is a great player and i’d keep him around as a backup CB but if we can do a good deal with Barca or Madrid… Read more »
he is easily good enough, hes just not fit enough. The most demanding league in the world physically and he has an ongoing achilles issue.
We desperately need a goal in the last 20. Yet only Wenger would shift our brand new in-form striker to the wing for one who is completely off, having scored 1 in 13. How does that make Aubameyang feel now? Having hauled Lacazette off all season long when he’s actually played well you now rely on him for a goal, when you already have the fast, deadly CF on the pitch you put him on the wing to cross for the guy who is 5 foot 8. Fucking madness, he really knows how to wreck a players confidence.
Because we have two of the same thing.
Your in form world class Aubameyang and Mhkitaryan were equally useless throughout the match.
Giroud provides for what Kane does. But we sold him.
Remember, Giroud is not cup tied for europa.
Sensible moves in the transfer window, I don’t think so.
ALong with the fact that Giroud can’t really play on the counter or press. What would have been the point of him today?
So could Giroud. But we have two similar weapons now, one of whom even WITH service (from Iwobi) is unable to hit the target. AND we are now reliant on this player to carry us in the europa. BC Aubameyang (as I’d remind some) is cup tied. BUt don’t let that be much of a factor so long as its convenient for Mslintat to buy ex-Dortumnd players only and an unknown Greek defender to add to the other two young defenders long on promise short on delivery. …great transfer window you say bc Wenger isn’t calling the shots anymore? What’s… Read more »
and Mahrez you would remind us all that could have been had for a measly 40M? lol
Wenger made the difference
Harry Kane? Never heard of him. Flash in the pan no doubt, though just to be sure, could probably think about getting one of those chaps at the back to keep half an eye on him in the future. If they’re not too busy doing something else. Wouldn’t want him doing something silly like scoring 7 FUCKING GOALS IN 7 FUCKING GAMES against us or something.
Oddly gloves off comments from Wenger there.
I think we were wrongly called offside thrice,all of them goalscoring opportunities
I can recall 2 suspicious calls. I wasn’t convinced with the replays. Why don’t they show that huge line across the pitch anymore on TV. When it’s Arsenal they show weird angles.
If it was man u commentators would’ve lamented and analysed 360 degrees,ours wasn’t even shown or mentioned ,damn
Same old Arsenal. Careless in possession, slow in transition, and no incisiveness. Compare with Sp*rs.
Our midfielders are too soft, that’s the difference.
Wenger’s faith in championship level players made the difference.
Wenger’s inability to motivate his players made the difference.
Wenger’s complete lack of tactical skill made the difference.
Wenger’s inability to grasp the concept of defending made the difference.
Wenger’s continued failure to strengthen the team where it is needed made the difference.
Lets be honest – where ever there is the opportunity for success Wenger is there to take it from us.
So lets say.
Wenger made the difference…
just not good enough, and is this what we pay ozil £350.000 a week for, another shocking performance
Kane made the difference. Clever.
When a team creates 18 chances, and the other only 6, someone ought to score from the statistically higher shooting team. Just happened to be Kane.
The fact Arsenal were dominated and the fact Arsenal just couldn’t deal with all those crosses is lost on him.
What drugs is Wenger on?
“We should have won it in the first half”
Considering we only had two shots, both off target I seriously believe this man to be truly off his rocker.
Every game we lose just shows how much we need to be rid of him.
God I fucking hate that cunt….
Surely the carnival is over for Wenger. Xhaka and El-nonentity aren’t the sort of players you need if you have title ambitions; as for Cech and Koscielny, not exactly getting any younger. Sure it might have been a different score if Auba wasn’t called offside, but again, this Arsenal team don’t help themselves.
“El-nonentity” is fucking brilliant.
Just blaming the manager kinda plays into the boards hands, allowing them to escape responsibility.
If we had just signed a defender this January and nobody else this game may have ended 0-0 instead.
This was worst than with the handbrake on. Seems like today we couldn’t even hit first gear. Pathetic all round passing, although we defended well in the first half. Midfield was shambolic, except Jack.
I think xhaka hasnt turned out to be as good as we all expected. I dont think its anyones fault, not wengers either. I cant recall anyone being too downhearted when we signed him, although I do recall xhaka himself hailing his own leadership qualities when he signed and he hasnt actually shown any. He hasnt adapted to the premier league In my opinion. I dont think wenger can be blamed for that, it doesnt always work out. But he can stop playing him. I dont think its really possible to successfully hit lofty 30 yarders over the backline on… Read more »
Aw!! with having 2 50m strikers this Kane explain is a shame
Really? Seemed to me that we got battered and we were lucky not to lose by 5. We should be better than this.
Giroud could have.
If we did not have to sell him and re-invent the wheel…neglect midfield.
Over to you Mslintat…oh wait.