Laurent Koscielny believes Arsenal need to think positively if they’re to extricate themselves from a run of form that has seen them win just four of their last fifteen games.
The Gunners face AC Milan in the Europa League tomorrow night with the experienced French international admitting the team are in a negative spiral.
However, he’s urged his teammates to focus on their qualities rather than get weighed down by doubts.
“We are in a negative spiral,” he said. “It’s a little hard to get out of it but I think we need to focus on the positive vibes.
“When you think about negative things you will say, ‘OK, it’s true, we’re not good’. Positive vibes can give us more and more confidence, and we have to believe in our quality.
“I think we have quality, it’s just about being able to play with freedom. We have a top team with great guys and we need to show this on the pitch. We can build confidence by coming back with a win.
“Step by step we will come back stronger, but we need to work together, focus on our game and get the result we need to be at the top.”
The last time the two sides met in Europe was in the Champions League, with Milan running out 4-0 winners at home, but the 32 year old says it’s a different game this time around and outlined what Arsenal need to do.
“In this competition we play two games,” he said. “The first one is always very important to play well – but last time we didn’t.
“Now it’s a different competition with a good team and new players. It will be important to be focused on this game and also the second.
We know we have two games to qualify for the next round, so we need to be together and defend very well because they have a lot of quality up front.”
Maybe run around a bit more too, for some players. Concentrate and be tough too.
Let’s hope the positive thinking works (and someone doesn’t make a mistake early on).
Positive thinking is better than -ve thinking, but it does fk all when the whole team is shite and the manager is the biggest of nincompoops. I know this is going to tick off all the Wenger lovers, but frankly that guy should have been sacked long ago. I don’t understand the sentiment of oh Wenger has done so much for the club. What if you were lying injured on the road and a guy came along, took you to the hospital and had you treated then took you to his own house took very good care of you, you… Read more »
Ah yes, the little known sequel to the Good Samaritan story.
Could we possibly have a discussion about the upcoming match, the team, the horrible run of form, without your rather tired tirades against the manager. They’re not going to fire him no matter how many times you keep saying the same thing, and prefacing it with that “you’re probably going to offend the Wenger-lovers”, isn’t helping anyone. Least of all you. You’re entitled to your opinion, but consider leaving some grey in that black-and-white world you live in, where everyone that doesn’t agree with you completely, must be sexually attracted to the current manager. It shouldn’t come as a surprise… Read more »
Sexually attracted? Hahahaha yeah that was good for a laugh. Why don’t you go look up what an analogy means whenever you are free. As for what we can do to improve the results, I would say fk all. Till that clown leads the team, there will be no concrete development in the team. There is a likelhood I will not deny it, that Milan are worse than Wenger’s clowns, and Arsenal win. What then? A new contract? This is exactly the kind of short sighted and myopic planning that has led to Arsenal being made the laughing stock of… Read more »
Biased and disregard for the facts : what do you judge a manager on – any manager ?- how many finals has AW taken the team to in the last 5 years ? How many trophies has he won for the team in the last 5 years ? How many managers currently in action have more CL qualifications in the the last 20 years ? What other club has been able to pay for one of the best stadiums out of the club’s earnings ? How many other managers in the whole PL existence have won more than 2 PL… Read more »
Yes but our legend manager has been on a downward cycle for a long time?
I still want to see him succeed and go out on a high but it’s looking increasingly unlikely
Too Drunk To Be Offside, you ain’t drunk enough pal. Go have some more pliss. Think you need it yo. 😉
This is no comparison whatsoever.
Maybe AW is at the end of his tenure but if you cannot see what he has done for this club then I am amazed.
Isn’t a better analogy that we grew up happy in a family, went to a great school and made great friends and then all the rest of the family and friends were killed in a shooting that left us devastated?
I think that illustrates the up and down we have experienced well…
Either that or we abandon the dodgy analogies other than the one where we are a football fan, our teams does amazingly well, we get spoilt and then it doesn’t perform as well and the manager probably has to go as a result.
Sorry Kos but we are incapable of defending well. Why will this match be different?
Not incapable of doing it, just incapable of doing it consistently. Which is why, currently, we are a cup side .
There have been a few games against top teams recently which prove that we can defend
Also one or two which show how good we can be in attack
We are nowhere near as shit as we seem to be
Sp*rs on the other hand are always more shit than they appear to be
Gotta love the ‘Old Lady’ La forza!
They do know how to make an Arsenal fan smile don’t they? Man that was entertaining!! Hope we can all enjoy n smile just as much tonight.
COYG!!
Or they could stop talking, stop the selfies & social media & focus on their jobs, such as defending, playing with some pace & verve & put a shift in feeling eternally grateful that they have the chance to wear the Arsenal shirt.
Don’t just do it for the fans lads, do it for yourselves as well.
Do you actually believe “the selfies & social media” have anything to do with the problem? Don’t Barca’s players, and Juve’s, and Man City’s do the same thing? Also Stoke and West Brom? Ah, for the good old times, when players didn’t take selfies, or tweet–they just had a pint or two. Or three.
It’s fine to engage in social media when it’s going well. At the moment in my opinion it looks unprofessional and they should let their performances on the pitch do the talking.
I’m tired of the ‘sorry guys, we know what this means to you, we focus on the next game’ nonsense they all tweet after another loss. How about keeping it shut for five minutes to address the slump?
Hard work,
Solid tactical plan,
Emphasis on defending
Will also pull the team out of a negative slump.
Blah blah feckin blah. Actions please. They speak so much louder.
You would have preferred he conduct the interview using pantomimed clues or flag semaphore?
Haha. No. I would rather they do their talking on the pitch by putting in more than a half arsed effort against mediocre opposition.
I guess I just don’t get the angst about players fulfilling their media duties. I’m sure they’d rather be anywhere else than in an interview room right now.
You nearly always say what I’m thinking…I feel guilty for not liking cheese lol
I like cheese. Not so big on politicians though.
Not much else he can really say, it’s part of the job to give the press something to report, in the end it’s up to the players themselves to try and find that form that they showed to beat Chelsea in the League Cup S/F. Nobody else can do it for them…
Or Koz could have said watching Sp*rs get fucked by Juventus in London might pull you out of negative spiral. Or at least make you feel better while falling.
Spuds just lost. We might be having a shit season but it’s always a good time to laugh at your rivals.
Positive vibe number 1 is Juventus beating the dross down the road!!! Ole ole ole ole ole ole ole ole ole ole ole ole ole ole ole ole ole ole ole ole ole ole ole ole ole ole
What a wonderful way to finish the day seeing spurs getting beat at Wembley and some of their players almost in tears
Have they won any substantial trophies yet?
The media always seems to have a good wank on them and Liverpool.
Considering that 19 (as of now) ppl have upvoted this comment, does that make us all sadists who revel in the never-ending misery of those damn Spuds? Or just…..delicious Gooners? *heaves a HUUUGE contented sigh of relief* 🙂
Wonderful too, seeing a Juve supporter holding up a Gunner shirt at the end of the game. I have a screen grab but don’t know how to post it.
Juve tifosi, I salute you! All of you!
Now I’m away to Google that shit haha cuz I missed that
Hahaha man that’s so funny! Fucking classic! xD
A manager like Allegri that actually knows what he’s doing, is exactly what we need.
Rumour is it may be Joggie Low.
May be a very considerate choice.
As I mentioned several seasons now that all those getting their knickers in a twist are frankly wasting their breath.
2018 was likely going to be the summer Wenger hangs up the old coat and zipper.
Post WCup will precipitate a general management reshuffle as those on International calling offer better choice all round.
At the same time, it will give Wenger the chance to be booted up stairs into the National job for Les Bleus.
Positive vibes don’t win football matches if you’re clueless and shit.
Here is a positive vibe…
‘Juventus have done it from behind’
Ha Ha bad luck Spuds! And thank you to Gary Lineker for summing it up perfectly.
Was he crying too?
Koscielny pulling out that old Villas-Boas ‘negative spiral’ trick which sees Arsenal dramatically improve. Clever.
He needs to improve his own game. He has been poor last two games giving the ball away cheaply.
Positive vibes is why we are in this mess. 5 bad games, 1 win against some relegation fodder is enough to set wenger off raving about our mental strength. IF ONLY there was an ounce of accountability.
Please support the team at their time of need. And they need the fans now more than ever. Sign of a true fan.
I hope they watched how Juve defended tonight vs the North London Divers and learned from that..
Yes.
Very much a great lesson for us.
BUT on the flip side, Juve also were sharp to take those chances. We squander away a lot of ours.
At this level, you don’t get too many chances.
Hopefully we will do the business with Welbeck but how we have ended up with Danny as only choice in the all important europa now is beyond me.
I think how we play our fullbacks may be key. We need to provide them the base to push forward and provide the width for the team with less consequence to the back when we get turned over. Milan have similar issues to us and will vacate space out wide behind their fullbacks. If we play Kolasinac and AMN, we must utilise their power (and pace) but also get the ball out to them quick. In turn they need to be prepared to break up the line quicker and in support of Danny. Remember how we did this with Sagna… Read more »
Positive Vibes. Never heard of him. Sounds like a good coach, we could do with one. Sign him up!
I remember 1-5 in the San Siro. It can be done – pull it out and put a shift in. COYG ??