Acting Arsenal captain pulls no punches on Chelsea loss

There was no thought of looking for excuses or blaming the fact that Arsenal are well and truly out of the Premier League title race after losing to Chelsea, well not from the acting Arsenal captain anyway.

Unlike his manager, the France international defender Laurent Koscielny did not even mention the supposed foul on Hector Bellerin in the build up to Chelsea’s first goal. Instead he pulled no punches on the failure of his Arsenal team, both individually and as a unit.

Koscielny did not excuse himself from the criticism either, as he conceded that the Gunners had needed to be better at both ends, missing chances to score and making it too easy for the league leaders to do the same thing. He also admitted to the Arsenal website that confidence is not great in the Arsenal side and that was not helped by the surprise defeat to Watford last week.

The centre back also suggested that there is still a big difference between Arsenal and what it takes to become champions of England, something that perhaps the players and Arsene Wenger could look to Chelsea to learn.

Koscielny said, “I think we had a good reaction but Chelsea played well and they scored with their first opportunity during the first half. After, we had some opportunities to score too, but we didn’t [take them] – that is the difference between us and them.

“In the second half we tried to come back because we knew this game was very important for the race for the title. We needed to have the three points, first because it’s our direct opponent and second because we lost against Watford on Tuesday. We are disappointed tonight but we need to come back stronger, to play and to win.

“The confidence is a little bit down but with a win it will come back quickly. We need to work together to stay like a unit, like a squad. During the season we’ve had some bad moments but we need to stay confident and show our quality.

“I don’t think we played very well together in the same way, it was more one player after one player. I think we’d have had a lot of chances if we’d played quickly with our passing, on the flank we had to combine to have some opportunities. We did it in the first half. During a big game, if you don’t take your opportunities, it’s difficult to win the game. We need to be more efficient in both boxes.”

In the midfield too, although the injury, absentee and disciplinary situation left the manager with no central options at the worst possible time. Very noest from the Arsenal captain, but how do we go about fixing these problems which seem to keep affecting the club?

Bob.

10 Comments

  1. “In the midfield too, although the injury, absentee and disciplinary situation left the manager with no central options at the worst possible time”. even with all the midfielders the team is spineless without Santi. Even Coq couldn’t stop Hazard, he tried jumping on his back and fell on his back (hehehe that was funny) and he is the tough tackling central midfield we all praise

  2. I keep telling people sometimes its not even abt the score lines its the manner in which we lose this games, players shouldn’t be given 10 yrs to show they are good, now Lucas doesn’t even make the bench no matter what he does, ozil will never be benched even if he strolls on the pitch an AM that can’t pull the trigger only silky passes, Walcott a winger that can’t dribble why does one club have so many flops?

    1. Just like we all have jobs, playing football is their “9h00-17h00”. And with that in mind I can’t help but feel for Lucas Perez. It’s like for me (a Graphic Designer), finding out that this huge company is in desperate need of my services. I get the job and then get told, “Errm, ok, we like you, but Alexis over in Accounts is pretty good at designing as well, so yeah, we’ll be using him thanks”. Also we don’t really see you as a Graphic Designer, you’re more of a wide man – go get us some coffee.
      Jokes aside though – we need to get our basics right again. Don’t give the ball away, Stop “playing out from the back” – Clear the ball once in a while. And just shoot, shoot shooooot!

  3. Give the managerial job to Kos the Boss lol?
    At least he can see and admit to the problems,
    whereas Mr Riddled with riddles Wenger doesn’t see or acknowledge jack???

  4. Why has no one even mentioned Alexis yet since Saturday? Everyone keeps talking about Coq, Koscielny, Ozil, but what about our “main” guy? Fact of a matter is he stunk against Watford, and he stunk even more against Chelsea. I love his usual work rate and fighting spirit, but he’s been very quiet in the last couple of weeks. I’m not saying that he should be singled out and blamed for the recent losses as I think guys like Coq, Cech, Mustafi, Koscielny should also take part and share responsibility, but if you’re the leader of the team, and I think that’s what he thinks of himself, then be a leader, and lead the rest by example. There’s no time to sulk or anything like that. Pick yourself up, dust yourself off, and march on.

    1. Lets face it, those chances we had, Alexis is the guy we needed them to fall to, esp the Ozil one. Chelsea shadowed Alexis anytime he came near the D, I don’t know if that’s a good enough reason for him not to have the ball in the box at least once. It could be because he keeps getting shifted back out to midfield, he’s not a natural striker so I don’t think it helps changing a players duties from one game to the next, we seen what it done with Calum after a confident start. Milner is one who comes to mind that juggles this act well, Gerard was good at it too, but I think most will agree that a fixed position is best for most players. The problem is all strikers hit purple patches and then maybe a few forgetful ones, Wenger then brings in Giroud instead of keeping trust with one of the leagues best players.

  5. I was expecting a potent 3 upfront with Lucas – Alexis-Welbeck and Iwobi or Chamberlain playing the number 10 to be quicker in our movement and passing. I was also expecting Holding or Adeleide to pair with Coquelin as well in midfield. Lastly, I wanted Gibbs to replace Monreal. We would have had something from this this game if Wenger had not fielded a toothless front 4. We are an attacking side yet could hadly get up to 6 shots on target in the entire match. You would think the Watford game would make him change his tactics and formation against Chelsea but NO, he wanted to proof that that same team would rice to the occasion against a ruthless Chelsea side. Arsene Wenger is delusional and a GAMBLER in real life.

    1. Was that the same team that started Watford, hm, in hindsight of Watford game, that seems like a pretty dumb move.

        1. And what did that tell you? it simply means we should have started with our quicker and technical players upfront. The front 4 would have been players with pace, movement and technique. I believe Lucas – Alexis- Welbeck would have done some harm upfront with Iwobi or Chamberlain in the number 10 role. I would prefer Chamberlain with instructions to shot from outside the box when he gets the chance to. A dynamic front 4 and Chelsea won’t know what hit them.

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