I bet that the Arsenal vice captain Per Mertesacker was not looking forward to facing the media after that terrible performance and result by him and his team mates yesterday. But that is the captain´s job I suppose and the World Cup winning defender, to be fair to him, did not shirk any of the questions put to him.
In the interview reported on the Arsenal website, Mertesacker admitted that the 2-0 defeat was a massive blow to the team, especially after all the confidence built up at the end of the last campaign and in pre-season. He was at a bit of a loss to explain just why things went so wrong, but accepted that they did in almost every part of our game.
Per said, “Sometimes it’s hard to explain. We played a great pre-season but that is absolutely nothing. I’ve said that before already, especially after the Community Shield game. That’s reality now. It’s a massive loss for us because we had great confidence and now it’s time for us to settle down, stay healthy and look forward to next Sunday.
“Our first half was not too bad but we lacked a bit of control. We lost a lot of balls, we weren’t patient enough at times, our possession was not that great and they scored at the right times. They didn’t have a lot of chances but they scored at the right times and punished us from a set-piece and in the second half when we lost the ball. They didn’t create too many chances but overall we weren’t decisive enough, especially in the final third. It looked like the last ball was always the wrong decision.”
So even in the first half when we looked quite comfortable, the centre back accepts that the pace was not good and that we were not playing the way we usually do. And as well as saying that the timing of West Ham´s goals made it especially difficult, he is gutted about the manner of them and knows that our defending was poor and ultimately cost us the points.
He went on, “Yes, as I explained, they score at the right times – shortly before half-time from a set-piece. That was very disappointing. We worked a lot on that, not to concede. But I think they deserved it in the end, because especially in the second half, they just defended very deep and we didn’t find any solutions. Sometimes it’s good to come back from a massive loss. I think we are capable of coming back.
“That’s our job now. That was the first game of the season. [It’s] a bad start but sometimes you need a bad start to come back and realise that you have to give more than just what we did.
“The first half was ok, not decisive enough, especially not in the final third. We can only blame ourselves for today’s game. Hopefully we can come back from that disappointment. The confidence was high, everyone felt great but we had a couple of misunderstandings, especially in the first half. We lost the ball a lot, we were not patient enough at times, so there is a lot to work on. We have to work more.
“It’s very important [to bounce back]. We want to have a better start than last season so we need to be very cautious of the situation. To start with a game like that is not good but to bounce back is even more important now.”
Surely the Gunners will not have another start like last year will we?
Well that is a captains job.
But man how can it happen. ….really.
I have said for many years now that there is j deed a psychological issue at the club. I thought it was solved v chelsea…but and after some trophies…u know the never been them and the famous 10 year dry spell.
But now we have a new one. ..the beginning g of the season s…let us pray
Damn auto corrector.
The one fact of never beating Mourinho and the 10 year dry spell of a trophy
It’s an arrogance problem the players,fans on here are arrogant and think we can win the league forgetting that apart from the Cech addition this is still the same disappointing squad that finished 12 points behind Chelsea
Are u saying I am being arrogant?
I am pointing out a problem we do have….we are afraid and we inflict no fear in opponents.
That’s is exactly the opposite of being arrogant according to a dictionary.
No I said players and fans are arrogant I never said you’re arrogant,what makes fans think just by one addition of Cech this is a title winning squad when it’s the same squad that finished 12 points behind Chelsea last season
Ok. It’s just that it was replying t me haha
Cool
Not quite, Gabriel wasn’t part of the squad at the beginning of the year when we had such a poor def record and Kos was also out. Oh yeah and lets not forget that Coquelin wasn’t at Arsenal for the beginning and the terrible start we had which is what cost us.
It wasn’t scoring that was the issue last season, it was the poor start and the poor defensive record of the team.
Team failed to defend properlly and let WHU grab a couple goals, even in our unbeaten record we had games where it was a draw, we can not expect to win them all. Thats why the team at least needs to defend and keep clean sheets, that will avoid a loss.
drop this idiot……..he’s not capable of the job……… Gabriel’s time is now!
Good analysis from our captain, he simply said it how it was. We are all obviously gutted by our poor EPL start but i still don’t see any reason to panic and abuse the players and manager we were praising for the passed few months. Don’t let anger and disappointment cloud your judgement it is simply dumb. In a sense this loss was good for us, we all needed that reality check, players, coach and fans too. Wenger is not delusional, the right signings will come. Let him and our players do their job and let us fans do our jobs as supporters and believers instead of slating the entire team as soon things don’t go our ways.
Wenger is delusional,if his planning was proper he would have brought in a CF and DM to improve a squad that finished 12 points behind the champions
You might be right but it is scary to think that with all this experience, and that includes Wenger and players, of all the disappointing starts and seasons we have had, that we needed a reality check in the first game of the season. That to me points to a problem.
I didn’t quite understand why we didn’t start the same team we did against Chelsea a week ago just to get some consistency early in the season. Giroud had not played for 2 weeks and looked out of it to me. My biggest concern was Coqluelin. This was one of his worst games, missed tackles, errant passes, out of position. He was my hero and IMO the one reason we recovered a bit last season. If he is a one season wonder and can not recover last years effieincy or if he gets injured, we might regret not signing Schneiderlin more than not getting Benzema or an other top striker. This is not to suggest it was Coquelin’s fault, the whole team was of. I just think his position is our single most important position given our poor defending we need a great defensive midfielder. Not to say the second goal was his fault be he had missed an uncharacteristic tackle a moment before. We need him to repeat last season’s level because IMO Arteta and Flamini are not serious backup options if we want to win anything.
Well, what a relief, we’ve stumbled on something that Mertesacker is good at,answering difficult questions from the media. I am sick of watching this man,trotting up and down the pitch, only able to watch as Kos and others are busting their guts making last ditch tackles,or throwing their bodies around to cover shots as he stands motionless pointing his finger at God knows what. Of course he wasn’t alone to blame but how can he be our spokesman, Captain or not. Surely I am not alone when I see, match after match that he just isn’t up to it. He is a liability and must be relieved of both the Captaincy and the acute embarrassment of the team and himself.
This is what Arsenal do,they lose a game then come back to beat the next side they face,this is not a title winning squad we are just Flat Track Bullies!
Arsene needs to inspire his boys even when they are behind…his shivering on the bench doesn’t help matters…Inspiring a team is a major trademark or attribute of top managers…like Simone, Ferguson, Mourinho just name them..
same old shit mention by BFG last season and the season before….
BFG, Giroud, Coquelin, Monreal etc..they all have to go…
they are just not good enough….
So..Wenger has to go …half the team has to go….Kroenke has to go….u sure about supporting the right team hahahah
Peace hafiz
Off course we can not just change everyone on the pitch (as Hafiz would have liked), but the fair point is that we need a goal machine sort of striker and we need him as soon as possible, bringing on Alexis Sanchez (who just came back from his extended leave) in the second half after Walcott, is itself a proof that Giroud can not score in such games where if expect our striker to score. And god knows how many chances he will need to score his first goal of the season, he was pathetic in front of goal. You know in such games you have to score first or you loose, that happened with spuds and now us. The tagline is simple get a good striker in and a cover DM…or forget about title….Worst night after a long time…could not sleep yesterday..I hope a striker comes in by weekend….
Coquelin, Monreal?
Really?
As far am am concerned the squad needs a couple more world class signings to be able to really compete but having said that we should still be able to beat a Westham team with a new manager and a couple of new signings AT HOME…the problem is Arsenal players oft plays with the kind of complacency that comes with assurance that a bad game will not spell any repercussions whatsoever and that is down to the manager and his constant arm around shoulders approach to dealing with overpaid spoilt players…..why wait till you get beat before buckling up?…we came on the pitch like all we need to do is show up and the 3 points are there for the taken, what nonsense…..for someone who spent the whole week screaming how we must start very fast and good I wonder how he went about revving the players up mentally..
Monreal, Koscielny and Mertesacker had a pretty good game. Ozil, Ox, Coquelin, and Ramsey were sh*t. We had 22 shots. It was a bad day in the office.
Bad day at the office….
the same excuses heard for the last 10 years….
time for a change….
Wenger out!!!!!!
When was the last time we completed a season without losing at home??? That’s the true embarrassment. Seriously if you can’t win in front of your home crowd then at least don’t lose, PERIOD. Yes it’s just the first game but damn, the Emirates needs to be a fortress against all and that’s including Champions League games. If we’re to get eliminated then it should be after an away match, not at home for crying out loud. Now we face an in form Palace away where we really struggled last season and were lucky to come away with 3 points. As it’s looking we might be the ONLY so called contender to lose on opening day. #speechless #whyalwaysarsenal
I thought Ospina had earned a starting position over the last 10-15 games? We were the most successful prem team during that time…
Indeed. I was one of the Ospina fans that didn’t want him gone be cuz of cech.
Gotta admit that when cech arrived I thought he had more to offer than Ospi a even if wanted him to stay but today he s didn’t do himself a favor…he did Ospina a favor
I don’t see Wenger benching Cech for Ospina just for the first mistake of the season. but it should be warning to him that Ospina is watching at the corner as he took it over from Scz
ONE LOVE GUNNERS
Cech put in a terrible performance but look 22 attempts,only 6 on target I think we have to find someone to finish the chances we create because neither Giroud or Walcott will make us title challengers
I’m tired of this :(…was so mad I went put 50 on Liverpool after the game….at least Coutiniho didn’t let me down 🙁
Same old story, First bottle up.. then analyse, then say you want to win the cup and then bottle up again. Why doesn’t the captain sit out and just analyse matches. And the selfie brigade and carry on with their job. Sanchez is back. So the other needn’t turn up any way
The worst part about losing, is comin here and reading the same whiny , moany, blame game posts…
Anyone who thinks that performance was anything near what we’re capable of needs to wake up!!! Pitifully slow out of the gates, but plenty of room for improvement if the boys want it..
To the doomsday predictors… Don’t act like that result was anything less than what you were hoping for… Certain names only appear when we lose, to flog a player who has a bad game only to disappear when he plays well for the next 10!
At the end of week 1 we’ve been hit with a very, very harsh reality check. And I hope the lesson learnt rings true for the rest of the season, if it does then it wasn’t a waste of a game. Nothing gets given to you in this league, you have to earn it.
Three points dropped but there’s still 111 in our hands.
@josh37
Well said Gooner…Thanks
Let’s see arsenal fans going confidence crazy after beating Chelsea but Chelsea played with more vigour against Swansea with 10 men than arsenal who we all know fluffs their lines as usual. The old man talking about good start has started good. Benzema will now be in panic mode what has he done by joining the gunners and there atleast he was second fiddle to Ronaldo but possibility of winning the la liga and champions league is just higher the English team.
Giroud has to understand that he is expected to be in the box and cozorla,oil are just not brave enough going into challenges. The new change from this season is that coqulein has been expected to move further up the field to assist ozil,cozorla
Enjoy the season !
we sign a number 2 gk from chelsea and we are happy….
Van Der Sar was the number 1 choice and playing very well for Fulham before he joined utd
Ceech was a bench warmer conceding 10 goals in 15 games before joining us
scz is sh*t even in his game for roma he spilled an easy chance but fortunate for him de rossi cleared it he isn’t good enough sell him + ospina & get leno fro leverkursen
Sell Szczesny?
Ha ha ha. And get another 33year old journeyman? Yeah right.
leno is 23 year old & has 10m buyout clause loool u don’t know him do u
let’s face it wenger got his tactics wrong playing ramsey on the wings was never going to work he has to drop one of either cazorla or ramsey + everyone knows we need a new stiker & cdm coq isn’t the answer he is good but need better someone like kirchowaik/bender
The first West Ham goal involved marking by Nacho Monreal (5″10) on Kouyate (6″4) that’s a mismatch wenger should work on defense
No one was marking Kouyate it’s zonal marking at its worst
I prefer Monreal over Gibbs but there is little doubt to me that Kouyate was in Monreal’s zone. Monreal should have made more of an effort. The whole team should have made more of an effort.
I hope this blunder does not shake Cech’s confidence. That would be the worst of all outcomes. I am happy we singed Cech, but I thought Ospina did a good job for us, statistically he was the best keeper in the PL during the period he started. The same can not be said for Giroud. DM and striker IMHO were greater priorities. Even if Cech is an improvement on Ospina and or the depth of our squad.
And you think the Kirchowaik is better than Coq,you have to watch him play before you conclude about signing him over Coq. Don’t kill your team because of first lost of the season if you are real Arsenal supporter .
GUNNERS FOR LIFE
as for cech the difference is that Chelsea he had matic/terry & cahill/ivanovic in front of him all of them are well over are good at defending esp at set pieces while at we have midgets defending apart from mertasacker & giroud one of the reason wenger plays giroud is not just because he can hold up the ball but he can defend in conner kicks/freekicks as well
as for gk neither scz nor ospina are good wenger must sell both & should have gone for bernd leno at 23 he is miles ahead of scz/ospina
How long will it take for Wenger to realize that he can not play Coq, Cazorla, Ozil and Ramsey together in one match. One of them has to be on the bench. Ozil’s laziness is easily exposed in tough matches. So Ozil must be benched and should only come in when we are comfortably in charge.
This guy is an accident waiting to happen …. He simply should not be starting for a team that claims to have ambition to win league and challenge for cl … Their 16 yr old looked more accomplished … But this defeat was down to wenger and his style … Flat tired and weak … Not an “accident” .. Back to the pathetic excuses already…. but the product of a footballing philosophy that has become hard wired in to delivering 4th place …. Sad state of affairs for arsenal fc
I blame Czech for d lost, Ospina can’t conceed that way, West Ham keeper saved them, he saved more dangerous shot. I still have hope in d team I kno they didn’t play well in dis game. Let Wenger get us one or two world class especially cf n DM.
Sometimes I am amazing myself if that Mertesacker is really German!
I mean this is one of the weakest pile of sh*t defending I have seen from a “German” defender and he is always proned to excuses.
This guy signed a 2 years extension… You only see thing like that happening at Arsenal (as well as a clearly finished Arteta)!!
A guy, with a new luisant Arsenal jersey asked me why I was not getting the brand new Puma (since I was wearing the 2002/2003 season) and I asked him if he saw “mug” and “idiot” written on my forehead?
I use to be a season ticket holder and realised that I was taken for a “fool” and a “ride” for years… Sometimes you have to say enough is enough… The joke must stop!
I was in Germany and had a chance to watch it he German super cup. I was talking to some Bayern M supporters and they just could not believe the prices… Even the prices of the New Jersey…!! And when I told them (for the ones who did not know) the last time we won the league emphasising that we were a top club, all of them asked me why we were a top club if we were incapable of winning the league? Fair question!
Anyway, it is not lime we have not been there before (loosing first game of the season), it is almost like a tradition.
No need to panic, we will get it right again… But Wenger will NEVERTHELESS win the league again, that is just a fact. He does not have the knowledge, the ambition and the tactical tools (as well as players) to do it.
I don’t even think this club will see a CL trophy in our life time.
Wenger is a a suit.
We sold the club to the wrong guy (clearly establish already)!!
How can prices still increase season after season?
I mean what do you get for your money? Not even a free shirt!
Win the league?
Don’t make me f*cking laugh!
Wenger could not do it even if we were given 10 points in advance, he will always find a way to f*ck it up.
Let’s not forget we only added Cech (thanks, what a memorable debut) and this is the same squad that finished 12 points behind Chelsea…!!!
Top club?
Why top club?
Because we managed to win 2 sh*t cups (well done people)!
Please!
I rather be mid-table and win the CL, any day…
Oh yes, should stop talking about fitness… His excuses have run out and he is an embarrassment and a burden with his ineffectiveness and poor managerial skills!!
Meant to say NEVER not nevertheless ?
And new shirt, not New Jersey
Thanks!
It’s the same old arsenal as I see it. No new players but players going out. Remember the Man U manager he would have his player list for the club to go and buy. Yesterday is down to AW simple. I new West Ham were going to do this and I told my wife who would score. 2 players needed and needed now end of
Well sometimes I’d want to blame the players but when I think of it, they didn’t select their self, Wenger did. You think if Ozil and Sanchez won’t be happy playing alongside a player like Reus, Cavani, Benzema e.t.c? Coq performed really well last season because Wenger allowed him to keep things easy (shield, retrieve then give the ball to either Cazorla or Ozil) by playing Cazorla beside him to dictate/start attack from deep which made them both excel. Same Wenger stupidly and sentimentally disrupted that by playing Cazorla wide and Ramsey deep with Coq when we all know Ramsey can’t dictate attack, he needs someone who can defend and start attack deep and not him starting attack reason why he and Arteta both excel when paired because Arteta can recycle and then start attack from deep and that was why Coq was trying to find Cazorla with those long pass because he was so used to giving him the ball(so maybe Ramsey just looked strange to him lol).
Also, I don’t know why Wenger continuously play Ramsey on the wing when there are better players that are more suited to that role and are fully fit (why have so many wingers in your team if you won’t use them?)
Also, someone please tell Wenger its not a must Ramsey plays, and even if Theo wants the CF role let him know he can score goals from the wing too and get a STRIKER.
The best double pivots are Arteta-Ramsey and Coq-Cazorla and not inter-changing any, that’s why there’s something called rotation. Coq doesn’t have to start all game if you won’t buy a DM(don’t wear him out) so when he doesn’t start, you can start Ramsey, don’t stupidly start Cazorla because of say form… Its a NO-NO, the two would get bullied and run over by big or pacy players.
And I am not saying Mertesacker is not good enough, but try pairing Kos and Gabriel and let’s see how it works, those two have pace, tenacity, can tackle and will be great against pacy strikers and not let Kos be the one making the run for two people with that, you risk your best defender being injured. One more team, I think we really need a new captain and that should be someone playing week in week out, because I don’t understand the logic behind a captain that doesn’t make the team…. Like how will he lead, how will he control the players, how will he lift the players’ morale? A viera mold captain would have helped the team yesterday when we were 1 goal down, because after that, the whole team’s morale dropped heavily and there was no one to cheer them, and then we lost concentration and then conceded the 2nd goal and it was game over.
Lastly, if you’ll continually use Giroud as your striker, then don’t bench Theo, you’re benching our goals that way. But after all said and done GET A NEW STRIKER AND STOP MAKING WE FANS LOOK LIKE FOOLS YEAR AFTER YEAR. With the said amount available(£200m), we can buy any player in this world and forget that strikers are “over-priced” thing, they are because they are good. Why didn’t you offer £40m for Giroud if he’s that great. £50m or £60 for Cavani or Lewa is an offer too irresistible for their respective team to turn down. Do what you had to do, just like Fergie had to sign Van Persie for such ridiculous amount considering his age and injury record, he knew what a talented and world class striker could do and I remember Mancini saying Van Persie would be the one to decide the league and of course he was single handedly winning games for ManU. You’ve been through a lot of sticks when you were financially handicapped and now that you are not? Why is it hard to spend the hard earned money. You’ve always had the support of we fans by paying for the highest match ticket in europe if that is not loyalty then what is it? What else do you want? Why are you so being stubborn? You can’t say you know more than everyone in this world and even the players knows this too. When Mourinho didn’t win the league, the next season, he addressed the crucial things he needed, A STRIKER, A MF CREATOR and then a KEEPER and then what happened? Stop complaining because honestly we fans are tired of your bs… We have the money to strengthen so why can’t you do that? Honestly, with all your legacies and things you have done for th club, it won’t be great if you fail to win the EPL/UCL one more time before you leave the club.
Opinions divided… What do y’all think?