Hector Bellerin says he’s not giving up hope of a top four finish claiming Arsenal’s rivals are still capable of ballsing things up in the coming months.
Manchester United and Chelsea have both lost two of their last five games in the Premier League as they, like Arsenal, have fallen further behind runaway leaders Manchester City.
Hoping that the trend might continue, and that the Gunners might stop being absolute twaddle as soon as they step outside the confines of the Emirates, the Spaniard struck an optimistic note after the North London derby defeat.
“There are still loads of games and big teams can lose against smaller teams,” Bellerin told the Evening Standard. “It happens every week.
“We have the faith to make the top four and the Champions League next year.
“Every single competition is important. We’ve still got the Carabao Cup here at Wembley, the game against Ostersunds in the Europa League is as important as the ones in the league.”
In a separate conversation with Arsenal.com, the right-back touched on the importance of bouncing back from yet another setback.
“There are loads of points still to play for, so we need to look forward. We can’t just be stuck looking back at this game.
“We need to analyse, need to make sure we don’t make the same mistakes and we’ve still got quite a few games to play. We still need to play some of the big teams in the top six as well, so we’ll see. You never know what can happen in the Premier League.”
Yes Hector, but the way we playing looks like we gonna keep dropping points until end of the season.
If only we didn’t have to play away matches.
“We need to analyse, need to make sure we don’t make the same mistakes and we’ve still got quite a few games to play.”
Yes Hector but we have heard this shit over and over for the past 10+ years, so why should we have faith in the team anymore?
It’s all fluff really…
I thought that Hector probably was our best player against Spurs. But his comments here in my eyes are just irrelevant and should be disregarded as nothing more then ‘filler.’ We shouldn’t expect anything different from the Arsenal players at this stage. They are more then well drilled in the arts of providing garbage content during their interviews after another no showing performance like Saturdays. The only difference being, those comments used to be ‘oh, we still think we can win the title…’ even though at that point we were 12-15 points off the top. Now due to our decline,… Read more »
Herein lies the problem
Exactly, I’m trying not to be pessimistic and I know the teams above us are all bound to drop points between now and the end of the season. I’ll go as far as to say, if we win all our games between now and the end of the season, we’d provably finish 2nd. But this team won’t learn from their mistakes, and will continue to have similar slip ups. I honestly don’t believe we’ll get past city in the league cup final (felt the same way about the fa cup last season so you never know), really don’t think this… Read more »
A little harsh in places but can’t say I disagree much, sadly!!
Fair comment and to the point Gooonnnaaa. I honestly believe we could sign the entire Barcelona team for Wenger and we would still struggle to get in the top 4 such is his drop in coaching standards/ideas these past 10 years. IMO at 68 I wonder about his ability to think on his feet in the heat of the battle and maybe it isn’t what it used to be. I also suspect he still believes the old mantra that Arsene Knows Best. He is stubborn, deluded, stale and is also addicted to the power he has at our club. A… Read more »
Really good read, in total agreement with everything you put until you brought up big Pat as our next manager.
They should stop and change the way they analyze if that’s the case. Because we’ve been absolutely shit building up our attack. Everyone’s passing backwards or inside, it’s slow porous and predicatable. Can any of our CMs and FBs skip pass a presser and pass forward at all? That’s the main issue when we’re attacking.
As bad as we were on Saturday, part of me wonders if it’s a little bit down to Auba and Mkhi still settling into the team.
I know we’ve ballsed up throughout the season, but I’m still trying to be optimistic over here.
While I admire your optimism our away record has been atrocious for the past 2 seasons so that likely has very little to do with it.
which is so weird because I remember not long ago that we were one of the better teams on the road and struggled at home. We were all on here talking about the Emirates atmosphere, etc at the time.
I think Tony Adams should do the next team talk away from home or get that pirate looking tough guy with the nose ring and long hair who is at every game to shout at the team for a bit.
You mean Bully? HAHAHA THAT WOULD BE GLORIOUS!! Arsenalfantv should look into that
That pirate bloke comes across as a complete tosser.
Love that pirate bit. That guy is so faithful and our guys keep letting him and us down. Shame
Optimism was dragged out of me ten years ago, it was replaced by pessimism …now pessimism has been replaced with realism…which isn’t much different from pessimism at this moment in time!
There were many causes for this one, but mostly we lost it in the midfield and defense. We couldn’t come close to controlling the ball in midfield to build an attack until the closing stages and they pressed the life out of our creative midfield. After Elneny was pulled our defensive work, which was already a bit challenged, was fully unstuck. They made a clear point of pressing and overloading our right flank with Alli and Trippier running into the space opening on the opposite side when they pulled us out of shape. So Mkhi not being fully adjusted sure… Read more »
I admire your optimism Hector.
13 points from 14 away matches. Analyse and sort that out please.
Can anyone see us in other than 6th place at the end of the season?
Yes. 7th.
“I’ve not given up on the league yet”
We’ve played more away games than the actual total points we’ve accumulated from away games this season. That’s not good enough by a long shot
“We need to analyse, need to make sure we don’t make the same mistakes and we’ve still got quite a few games to play.
funny guy, this young spaniard
we have been analysing for the last eight years and nothing has changed , so how much longer do you want to carry on analysing
It happens every week or almost every week but to us!!!
The truth is that only city have played well this season. All the other teams have been piss poor at times.
Piss poor away against the big teams was our story of many seasons. This season it was just piss poor away. If they are planning to wipe out the problem by getting rid of the words in piss poor away against the big teams then good progress. We are just three words away from being league winners. Hopefully that ll happen next season.
But hope we aren’t stuck at piss poor ??
“Rivals will drop points” and so will we…
(sad truth)
Shut up man
Bellerin the bellend, what planet does he live on, oh yeah the planet deluded Wenger, we will not finish in the top four, the only reason no one else can catch us is we are too far ahead, really poor play away from home seven losses is a joke, we have no defence spine, no leadership, and destroying Lacezette’s confidence, well done Wenger, the sooner Wenger goes and I hope it’s in the Summer, the sooner we can establish ourselves again, even the tickets for the final at Wembley haven’t sold out. The penny has dropped with le fraud
No one is destroying Lacazette’s confidence. Fact is most people are not too bright. They tend to believe statistics thrown at them by stats merchants. We’ve seen it before, players who are impressive in other leagues “world class” that come over and do not do the business. Radamel Falcao. It doesn’t co-relate. What’s critical is the balance of the team and the types of capabilities we need. I mentioned before there was a reason why Deschamp started Giroud ahead of Lacazette. ironically Giroud going to Chelsea (and CL) will likely have a better look into the national team now than… Read more »
You can’t compare international football to the PL. International is a much slower pace of game with more time on the ball than top level CL or PL football. Add in that France has Greizman and a lot of their system is designed around him – Giroud flicking it onto a world class forward. Playing a very slow forward like Giroud as the focal point of our offense limits us to our U shape and knocking crosses into the box. Giroud is a terrific header / finisher for that style of game. That said I’m not sure that’s the key… Read more »
Well said Mate
what many seem to delude themselves in to thinking is that Wenger or certain players are some how the only issues. The favorite beating horse….when its going well, the players are great, no mention of Wenger’s involvement in their evolution. When it goes to pots, its all Wenger’s fault…or Mustafi never mind he has come up with some massive blocks for us in recent 6 odd games, or Cech, never mind he has also saved us from calamity myriad times. Then there are the favorites. Play AMN in midfield never mind he has been equally careless at Rback in tracking… Read more »
Wow. Long post. So I read the last 2 sentences…. Hard to agree with them. Mhkty is an upgrade – since we didn’t have a player like that (Cazorla, as much as we all love him) will probably not be back at his old level and Mktxyr. is as close as we’ve got. He’s top quality – and deserves more than <2 games to settle in. Same for Auba. FFS give the new boys a chance. Fact is that Arsenal under Wenger are atrocious at the back. Mustafi is uneven (at best). Kos is getting older and slower. Only Monreal… Read more »
You’ve gone over the word limit on your essay, mate
I do hope Bellerin isn’t becoming the new Theo “post-match platitudes” Walcott. I mean frankly “we need to make sure we don’t make the same mistakes “ could come straight out of Walcotts book of stupid quotes.
With players like Bellerin,Xhaka,Elneny,Mustafi and Kos in recent months, it doesn’t matter.
Its not the defense alone.
Its the midfield.
Mustafi has come up with some key blocks for us in last 6 matches.
BUT you won’t see that figure published by 7amkick off as he has his own narrative.
Stats. Its what you want others to see.
Good cross Bellerin to your world class Lacazette but he couldn’t finish.
Insufficient out pout up front equals undue duress at the back which will eventually lead to problems.
Going forward, we were not sharp enough and failed to capitalise on a number of breakaways.
The one great chance was Aubameyang fed by Jack but linesman was as usual perplexing in decision.
Still we could have done way more and Mhkitrayn (not much criticism of him I see) was woeful.
Rivals don’t drop as many as us unfortunately
Sadly yes. They drop points for us and we oblige by doing the same.
We’re far too nice.
Isn’t this a quote from 2013? Or was it 2014? 2015…? Same shit, different year!
What makes these players come out and say things like this?
Do they think it will motivate the fans to get behind them?
Its not working.
Wenger should leave and take his team with him…
errr…not realistic much.
He needs to do more talking on the pitch….Probably the most overrrated player in the league atm…baffles me how he keeps getting games for the club with no real competition.
For sure. They need to watch their own premium. They are really underachieving. Problem against Spurs was a lack of stamina. It was already forewarned in the previous game against Everton. We had two halves. Second halve was a draw at best. Players like Mhkitaryan look out of shape (and he is older which likely means he won’t have the Stamina of 2016)…yet again we have rebuilt ourselves on the cheap. BUT our midfield is a problem just ignored by the buying team. Its been a problem for 5 wasteful seasons with out Santi. Without Santi we need two man… Read more »
Mahrez … instead of Mhktyr… you’ve got to be joking.
As I wrote above, give the new boys a chance. Its just been a couple matches.
Whose idea was it to release this guys words..One of the worst performers this season..Even the Arsenal PR team is shit at the back.
The worse PR team.
I bet they’re paid a lot though…
Our best player vs Spurs.
I get really angry when footballers fulfil their (marketing / PR) contractual obligations and give interviews to the press.
Ha ha, yeah. What do the critics here want, for him to say “Yeah, we’re out of it this season, so we’re just going through the motions”? It may be unrealistic to expect us to overhaul two of the teams above us, and I sure wouldn’t put any money on it, but it could happen and I’m happy Bellerin is talking as though it could happen.
Midfield engine is as mucha problem as defense. Because the less we are attacking, the more the defense comes under pressure, and our attacking output was worrying against Spurs. The Jack provided Aubameyang chance aside and the Lacazette chances later, we produced too little. All those who criticise the defenders must realise the issue is systemic and requires the entire team defending but also providing criticial outlet and threat on the other side. If you keep your defense under duress for prolong periods, of course mistakes will happen. Midfield drop in energy levels second half and we became more open… Read more »
Haha this guy! Rivals dropping points is beneficial and would make more sense to say after a win, not after we just lost a bloody game…to Sp*rs! On a different note, I have never seen a guy with so much pace refuse to take his man on. Rarely opens up his body forward when receiving the ball in attack to whip a cross in but plays back to middle or backward. Wasn’t he suppose to be a winger at Barça? Take the ball to backline for change ffs I know he has no competition but I’m starting to see real… Read more »
Yes, Man City needs to drop points to make Arsenal look as if they can compete.
Thats called a slow news day people.
I honestly wonder if they actually watch a replay of the game? I used to do that shit when I was 8 years old with my local Sunday league team and it bloody helped. Nothing gave you a kick up the arse like having to watch your mistakes over and over again in front of the rest of the squad. It is a shame Wenger seems to arrogant and proud to try and bring in a top defensive coach to try and iron out our problems at the back. Like he wouldn’t be able to claim all the glory for… Read more »
Wake up and smell the cofee man. No one is dropping shit. Chelsea just obliterated West brom with Giroud having a nice game, we 7 points off 4th. Top 4 a pipe dream at this point. And we aint winning Europa either, anyone thinking otherwise (cup half full Blogs), grade A delusion. We finish in 6th position, you heard it here first. Arsene really should have quit when he still had some semblance of reputation. Fire old man, hire Marco Silva and watch the Rebirth.
Dream on Hector!
Pissing in the wind
hector meant our mid table rivals eg everton, burnley, leicester etc, hehehhee