Good reasons for Arsenal fans NOT to panic

Don´t panic Arsenal fans! by Sam P

Of course there are reasons for Arsenal fans to be unhappy right now, not least of which is that we find ourselves level at the bottom of the Premier League on points with the likes of Bournemouth, Burnley and Sunderland. And just to make the opening weekend´s misery complete, we had to see our EPL rivals Chelsea, Man City and United all record wins.

That puts Arsene Wenger and the players under pressure and on the back foot straight away, especially with the manager´s transfer policy giving exasperated Gooners a good reason to show our frustration. But enough negativity for now, because there are reasons for us to not take this early setback too badly.

For one thing, we did score three goals in the match and only lost by the odd goal against a Liverpool side that produced some very good attacking football. We always knew that this opening match was going to be tough, with key players missing and with both ends of the pitch seriously weakened.

When we go to Leicester next week and as the season progresses Wenger will be able to call on Ozil, Giroud and Koscielny and that will make us a lot stronger. So just because Arsenal were not at their best against Liverpool there is no need to panic just yet.

And we will not always have the rough side of luck, just as Chelsea, United and City will not always have the good luck that helped them win their games. City got an own goal, United were fortunate for their first two goals and last night Costa should definitely have been sent off before being able to score the late winner.

Yes it looks bad for us right now but it was just one game and the Gunners have shown many times in the past the strength of character and ability to respond well to adversity. Let´s give them a chance shall we?

Tags Giroud Ozil Wenger

43 Comments

  1. If we lose at Leicester are we allowed to panic then. Remember to win the league you can only afford to lose about 4 games all season. All losses can be written off as ‘only one game’ it’s the total you lose that counts.

    1. Also who you lose to. If at the end of the season we end up five points behind pool then a win yesterday would have put us one point ahead of them. Basically for the likes of manc, manu, pool, chelsea etc we need a win at home and draw away.

    2. Thats right its the next 37 that count. Agreed if we lose to Leicester it wont be easy as I cant see Man City, United or Chelsea losing many games.
      But if we BEAT Leicester maybe we’ll be in a good position. After all, Man City, United and Chelsea will still have to play Liverpool….

  2. Problem we hve now so many fans are finally realising that the club is ambitionless.there is a wave of heartbreak and anger by fans and i fear the mood at the home games will be very hostile.this will make it tougher to win but who is to blame we all know who .
    If we had just purchased a striker i believe this much negativity would not hve been around.furthermore if we dont sign it will evenbe worse guys are tired watching same movie day in day out.i feel so frustrated they are killing the passion we fans had

    1. After few years we, Arsenal fans will lament out today because of the behavior of our owner/board/manager… There is no real intention from them to protect our reputation.. Frustrated fans will decline to buy tickets, revenue from sponsor will decline.. May be in a decade, we may be relegated to Championship as other clubs are not shy away from investing in quality players while we are behaving like what we see

  3. Long way to go, but as always, nothing has changed! The Liverpool game proved that. I remember similar articles to this one last season when we lost to West Ham, and told not to worry. Seriously, how naive can people still be!

    Shocking performance, disastrous preparations, delusional pre-game and in-game decisions, yeah let’s not worry, it’ll all work itself out!

    Wenger is not a legend!

    1. U know pple who say wenger should stay coz of top four dont realise that top four this year is equivalent to fighting for the title.there are so many teams i believe 6 and that is without man u and city that want the top four.I think the club is too comfortable as they always get tht champions league place but my oh my this is the year when they will wake up.all our competitors hve strengthened and we are here playing likes of iwobi (i love the player but lets talk facts the kid should not be anywhere near a starting 11 for a title competing team),even worse holding(impressed me but we are damaging him and dont be shocked to see he will stagnate if we keep playing him in such games).its gud enough when we say we want to develop our own players but in a team it is vital to hve differnt players with differnt traits thats why it is very important to buy.lets go across and see the football giants real and barca (especially barca), i dare u tell me if they could hve won even a single champions league without buying what they dont hve.(if they were cocky like us we just wana develp our players,would they even managed a single champions league trophy??
      I believe we as a club hve got the wrong idea of how to move forwards.they want the kids to run even before they learn to crawl.lastly;i fear now panic buy mode will start.hehw

    2. We said not to worry, and then after the West Ham loss we lost only one of next 10 games, and that was thanks to Costa and a dodgy referee.
      We were back up at the top of the table. So, as we said, stop bloody panicking! It’s early days with 37 games to go…..

      1. In fact we only lost 2 of our next 16 (winning 11 of them). Then we came down with the christmas decorations….
        If we beat Leicester will you all stop bitching?

        1. Admin i am assesing and thinking how many points will we take from the bigboys.liecester its a must win for us so winning it will not settle our anger as we hve seen we will go unbeaten or gud form till december then turn of the year we crumble.does that not hurt u?

  4. U know now top four is as tough as competing for epl title.toten hve a gud squad,liverpool hve strengthened,chelsea hve bought and there manager said 2 more yet to cme,that is just 3 teams competing for the coveted fourth place.how will we even manage top four without purchases while our rivals are buying.this is how the ride to top four for ten year started.at this rate we will end up finishing sixth or even seventh coz there are more competitors.its unfortunate and ill say what u feel even if we get a striker and a centre back our team lacks so much i don’t see us winning epl with such additions.but it will enable us finish the 4th place that the board loves so much.it will be very unfortunate if we decide to close shop coz i fear this will be the year we miss out on arsenals goal top four.let the team give us back hope,let wenger do the right thing and give us fans something even a drop of ambition and hope.at the moment so many hve lost hope and know how the team is going

  5. Based on the Article man city, Chelsea, manu were lucky with their wins….We also got a PK that we missed but led in the first half until Coutinho scored a beautiful fk just before first half. Wished we went on the break with the lead. Well, that’s now past tense..

    Moving forward, it’s a league so it’s a marathon and not just one game but to progress In the marathon, one must take each game seriously. After all the games make the marathon.

    I hope we won’t be out of the title race before December. Maybe I should say hope we won’t be out of the 4th place trophy before December.. .

    I am usually optimistic .. But right now the team and Wenger has to do more for the fans. We are getting tired of the same old garbage. .

    Other top teams won, we lost. Forget about luck. Some weekend we might enjoy the so called luck but until then we have to prepare properly for the season..

  6. As far as us fans are concerned we know where we are weak and need strengthening. The media tells us we have over £200m in the bank to spend on player transfers. Sure enough our cash reserves are over £200m. We are told in the media that stadium debt is paid off ( completely untrue). We are told we are the fifth richest/wealthiest/valuable club in the world whatever that means.

    Kroenke talks at a conference about “not being involved to win championships” which we argue over the meaning, but he does not clarify. Wenger talks about strengthening if we find the right player, gazidis talks about other clubs having more money than us.

    Arsenal basically tell us nothing meaningful and we are left feeling ripped off. Then when pool put four goals past us, there is discontent rather than support for the team.

    Same thing happened a few years ago, gazidis said we can compete in transfers and afford top wages, then nothing in the transfer market and we lost to aston villa at emirates in the first game, boos around the ground.

    The financial situation of the club is no secret, arsenal need to explain to us fans what it is, not leave it to the media. We know what manc aims are, it is to win PL and challenge for and sometimes win CL. We do not know what arsenals aims are, suspicion is that it is minimum spend to achieve top four whilst maximising revenue.

    1. very succinctly put and just about sums it up really.
      The stories we get from the Club are different dependant on the scenario, we CAN buy in who we want…or….we dont have the money…..or we are looking for players…or……theres noone out there who will add to the team…..or blah blah blah
      If our sustainable business model was working before the BT sports deal and we “supposedly” had 70 million to spend last year and we only spend 16 of it then surely the excess gets dragged over to this year??
      would not all clubs have funds put aside for transfers ? or are we sooo hard up that this money has been used on some other things??
      so if we only had say 60 million to spend this season why on earth did we buy a japanese player who will NEVER put a shirt on and let alone win us the title ??
      so again I ask where the FACK is the money from the BT sports deal that has been feted as being the biggest deal for sports broadcasting ever???
      I don not and CANNOT believe that our running costs each season leave us with only around 35 to 40 million to spend on transfers each year?? Really ?? no one in thier right mind would believe this the club is quibbling over the valuation of Mustafi yet between Wengers fee which is around 8 million a year (for doing nothing) AND silent stans Business advisory fee of around 3 million (when did Stan know anything about football?) we could have Mustafi in the bag
      Its bent as a butchers hook and noone seesm to do anything about it
      does anyone know where the money is going? including the BT sports money ?? cos if they do please explain it to me .
      Please

  7. All other teams win because of luck? when will we change. We are not that good , that’s the reason we lost. Luck this luck that.

    Just waitin for us to beat Leicester and fans bringing posters of us going to win the league. We are one big joke and there’s no positive in that. Liverpool tore us apart, nothing lucky about that. Manchester United are back in business doing a professional job, Manchester city even without playing well ( welcome to epl mr.pep) got 3 points and same with chelsea. Let us not kid ourselves and call others lucky.

    1. Costa was on a yellow for dissent. Twice he touched the referee, that is two more yellows and the tackle on the goalie was definately a yellow, one commentator said a straight red. Costa is the type of player who will deliberately foul behind the refs back to provoke a reaction. He should not be given the benefit of the doubt. So costas not being sent off was not luck, it was bad refereeing.

  8. Panic is never good. But who is panicking?
    What I see is a lot of fans being very disappointed and angry. And we have many reasons.
    Arsenal was second last season, and a focused improvement could take us forward:
    – But instead of improving the squad in the areas, where it clearly can be improved, we have spent money on a midfielder, and we are actually worse off in defence because of the typical amount of injuries. An amount which always seems to be bigger than any other team,
    – Instead of improving the organization of the team, we see a team giving away at least 3 goals to a direct opponent, who was also weakened by injuries.
    – Instead of an ambitious hungry manager, who motivates and rip into his players, when they don’t perform, we see a bewildered man with no clear plan and a lot of strange explanations
    On top of that, the teams we were in front of last season all seem to have taken steps forward and has not only caught us, but possibly overtaken us.
    It is not time for patience. It is time for action.

    1. After 45 years supporting the club you learn to be patient!
      Last year Giroud had a bad three months, Walcott had a bad 6 months, The Ox had a bad nine months and Wilshere didn’t even play until the end of the season.
      Maybe everyone will have a good year this time around?

  9. Its all very well stating that there are positives and “dont worry” ect ect but if this is the state of play at the START of the season then how will things be in mid december when its the hardest point in the season and titles are won or lost??
    with no new acquisitions in positions that we really need what the positives ???
    That Giroud will be the same as last year and not worse??
    That Walcott may be less lazy and put more effort in instead of being the same as last season??
    OR that the entire team will stay injury free and up its game and smash the PL ???
    NO
    none of this is likely to happen so where are the reasons to be soooo positive ?????

  10. Hey, Sam P … You sure are taking the ‘P’ mate! ?
    Oh and Ozil is more than likely to miss the trip to Leicester,
    As Wenger is Panicking over risking him, to injury.

    Talking of luck, it does seem as if it is riding with City and Chelsea, at this early stage.

    Right now, I can relate to this old Anita Baker song!
    And on that note, I leave you with this:

    ?There are hills and mountains between us (Money?)
    Always something to get over ( Wenger ? )
    If we had our way, surely youd be closer ( WC striker )
    We need, you closer ( ??) ?

  11. Only Xhaka and Holding have been signed and in my opinion we’ll not see any new signing, I just think we’ll see Wenger making excuses between now and when the window shuts – i.e. come the end of the window he’ll Koscielny is back and Gabriel is nearly fit so we will be fine in defence, plus there weren’t any available strikers that could add quality to our squad.

    As I see it when trying to calculate whether we stand a chance of winning the title we’re only really the addition of Xhaka and maybe Holding better off than last season.

    By that I mean we finished 11 points of top place last season and Man City, Man Utd and Chelsea won’t have such bad seasons as they did last season so do we believe that Xhaka and Holding are going to provide us with the additional 10-15 points that we’d probably need to win the title?

    I think we all know the answer to that.

    1. *i.e. come the end of the window he’ll say Koscielny is back and Gabriel is nearly fit so we will be fine in defence, plus there weren’t any available strikers that could add quality to our squad*

      1. Every team is allowed 25 players.
        Arsenal have four centre-backs plus others that can take that position. THREE of them were injured or unavailable. How many can we buy to cover for injuries?

  12. As an Arsenal fans, we have been waiting for improvement expecting the issues and concerns will be addressed through proper transfer signings. However, with limited transfer performance, the same old Arsenal is continued with the boring business as usual approach. our concerns are still there and need to be addressed soon. Limited signing and high injury problems seems our permanent issues looking for some to be resolved. Any way, let’s take the positive thing from the opening match defeat to Liverpool and consider it as an opportunity for improvement if Arsene Wenger thinking in the same direction.

  13. We keep hearing we UCL football to attract the best players. Yet Ibrahimovic, Pogba, Mkhtariyan all left champions League football for Manu who are not in UCL.

    If you pay the correct money, players will come and clubs will sell.

    1. I think that there is so much money in football these days, that you have to convince the players to push for moves. They have to want out and ask for the move. There is still a good share of clubs that cant say no to a good pay day, but those clubs would be lucky to have anything resembling ready made quality. Many of the experienced top players are at clubs which aren’t financially hard up. Years ago a Southampton, Napoli, Marseille and the like, simply couldn’t turn down the millions on offer.

  14. I don’t care right now what AFC do! AW and/or the board are taking the fans for a bunch of complete muppets!
    Last summer was the biggest JOKE of AW 20 years at the club!!! This summer transfer window is shaping up to be the same!

    What I don’t get is WHY is AW soo secretive about his transfers, when he doesn’t even make any!!! It’s pathetic and embarrassing!
    If for example a Mourinho or some other manager that actually spends, brings in players and shows ambition, was to be secretive with their dealings I would totally understand. They don’t want people to jeopardise their business.
    WTF has AW/AFC been doing ALL this time?? Somebody please explain because I honestly can’t! I mean if not going to buy anyone of note then just say! If going to shop in the bargain bin then just say. These b-c level players should have been brought in asap! And they don’t need all the secret dealings either! Big trams don’t want them and we have more money and appeal than the others! Come on AW man! I’ve always supported you, up until last summer! When we the fans all felt betrayed!

    1. Last summer was a big joke?
      Arsenal spent 10m and finished second. Man United spent 200m and finished…..

      1. Oh my bad, I forgot that was how we measure success?? Don’t be so ignorant!

        Admin, I love you, this site and everybody on it, but don’t act like you are happy about how last summers window transpired!

        1. Come on. Wenger went for “cohesion” and “continuity” and we came second. Whereas everybody else (so-called BIG teams) spent fortunes chasing the elusive dream, but finished behind us.
          Okay one team got lucky with cheap buys and a cheap manager, but can you honestly say Wenger was wrong to keep to his philosophy?
          The Premiership is not won by spending for the sake of it. It is a team game – not 11 individuals trying to look good….

  15. Wenger NEARLY signed Naby Keita it was revealed yesterday

    Wenger’s NEARLY signed players would have made a great team

    …………………Buffon
    ……Pique……Kompany……Verane………..
    …………Mekelele………Xabi Alonso
    Hazard………………………………..Ronaldo
    ……..Messi…..Ibrahimovic…..Suarez

    Bench: PePe Reina, Pogba, Essien, Roberto Carlos, YaYa Toure, Di Maria, Bale, Drogba

    1. RB Leipzig midfielder Naby Keita has revealed that he rejected an approach from Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger this summer.

      The 21-year-old, who joined the Bundesliga outfit from RB Salzburg, had also attracted interest from Liverpool and Manchester City but said in an interview with Die Welt that the Frenchman was the only manager he spoke to in regards to a transfer.

      In addition, Keita spoke of Leipzig sporting director Ralf Rangnick’s influence on his decision.

      “I only had contact with Arsene Wenger, who spoke French to me,” he told the German publication.
      “Ralf has treated me like a son. He came to France in 2014 to sign me for Salzburg and I trust him entirely.

  16. Things are simple Wenger and the club have to stop “gambling” because if they don’t it’s going to be a long season and finishing top 4 will be the least of our problem!

    1) Why are you the only one to rest players so long specially when you are facing an injury crisis already and playing a quality team in your 1st game of the season? Payet played for West Ham yet he was playing the final at the euro! Nobody asked for you to play them 90 minutes. Put them on the bench to apply pressure and let the other team know that at any given time you can call upon them if you need to change the complexion of the game. It can also make your team work harder because no one wants to be subbed out. Makes the fan feel good too!

    2) The eternal dispute over fees has to stop plain & simple. At one point if we’re really in for Mustafi; he will decide that he has had enough and will elect to end discussion himself wouldn’t blame him. We seem to suck at completing transfers.
    For 5m your making it the biggest problem of all. Something’s wrong for a club who has money to spare (now if it is true). In the previous windows you bought Cech in the summer (10m) & Elneny in the winter (5.5m). Not much of an outlay of cash. Even if we have a restricted budget I bet it would be around 70m pounds still got a comfortable 60m for the summer alone and if we add winter we probably would be around 75m that were not spent. We should have more to spend this time considering that…So what is the problem?

    1. If the money is there like you say and your working hard it’s time to announce more signings with a little over 2 weeks left, and good ones at that. If not than stop confusing us if the money is not there just say it there’s nothing wrong with being honest at least we’ll know what to expect

  17. Don’t Panic. Ozil and Sanchez will certainly leave a year later.

    We need to forget about top four. I even wish we performed even worse than Cheese performed last season. So that Wenger will leave. And hopefully we relegate and force Kroncke to leave as well since we are no longer profitable.

    With Kroncke and Wenger here, don’t expect to spend big and buy more new quality players.

  18. It is getting more worrying and tiring to listen, read and watch comments and interviews regarding Arsenal…
    Arsenal fans are not panicking because they already know we are no where near or close to win the league (not talking about the CL, it will just never happen, we don’t have the level or the stature… In the CL we are a very small club!).

    This a club who has decided to adopt a different direction. After 2004, they have concentrated their effort on making Arsenal more valuable and more financially stable and sustainable. Wenger has doubled his wages only with the aim of keeping Arsenal around and in the CL spots.
    Let’s be clear here, being contender is never an option or an objective. Only the CL qualification counts for the Arsenal hierarchy.
    Fans are upset (accordingly, noticeably and rightfully), but it does not matter.
    Believe me when I say Wenger and even some people “high up” care about the fans and the footballstic destiny of the club, but that is not what is important here. The board and shareholders want profit and ONLY profits.
    So, it takes e to my next argument… This is the only country I know where the fans want change, but do nothing, and I mean NOTHING about it. Leaving the stadium 60 mins into the game makes me question the sanity of some people. You have paid (some of them season tickets) and you are leaving your seat because you are not happy !!!! Why not buy the ticket and not come all together??

    Nothing will change as long as we will have the same people managing the club and the same fan mentality (some of them are still singing “there is only one Arsene Wenger”, I mean are they on crack?).

    Anyway, I have forfeit my season long time ago (5 years) and this is the best investments I have made regarding this club. I don’t buy the shirt or any Arsenal merchandising. I just watch the game on tv ans hope for a miracle (that would never happen).

    An Arsenal fan told me he was hoping for a Leicester type of miracle to happen at Arsenal… I told him “you wish sucker”, it does not work that way… We should have won the league last season and will never have another such juicy opportunity.

  19. It was pointed out already but these money making trips all over the world each pre-season aren’t doing us any good with preparations. We used to go straight to Austria I think it was, and you wouldn’t hear much of anything coming out of the camp because they were focused on getting ready. It’s no coincidence since these long ventures we have been sluggish come day 1. They must know it too because we have won something like two from seven on first day games over the last nine years. People still say Arsene come on man, you used to have a great formula, we should have tried going back to basics, it might seem a small thing but for me traveling all over the world certainly doesn’t work.

    1. I agree. And it is Kroenke that has introduced this change to improve his “marketing of the brand”
      Wenger was always against long distance pre-season preparation…

  20. Blah blah blah; same story and same justification of mediocrity. Am sure you Sam P are one of many thrilled by “stellar” signings such as Asano’s

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