League Cup makes this a HUGE week for Wenger and Arsenal

It is now looking like Arsenal waving an early goodbye to the Capital One Cup at the hands of Southampton about a month ago could turn out to be a blessing in disguise. Of course it means that the Gunners have one less chance of winning a trophy this season, but we have got bigger things to worry about.

Arsene Wenger usually uses the League Cup games to give the fringe players and the up and coming academy lads some experience, but the way that injuries have rocked our squad at this early point in the season, it may be more important for those players to have a rest than risk picking up a knock.

So for almost the first time since the season started, Wenger has a whole week to work with the Arsenal squad in training and we certainly need it. With Theo Walcott, Serge Gnabry, Aaron Ramsey, Yaya Sanogo and Mikel Arteta returning to fitness, this week is very important as it gives the coaching staff at the club a great chance to get everyone playing as a team. And it gives the likes of Welbeck and Alexis a well deserved rest.

After two wins in a row, Wenger can build on the players’ confidence and look forward to a very winnable home game against Burnley next weekend and all of a sudden the poor results and the stuttering start to the season could start to become a distant memory. So the timing of this week off could hardly be better for Arsenal and Wenger, with the Man City and Liverpool results meaning we could start the game against Burnley in fifth place and just three points behind Man City who have the small matter of a local derby with Man United.

Tags Burnley Ramsey Walcott

34 Comments

  1. totally….

    if we are knock out of Champ League, FA and League Cup….

    we will have more rest and can fully concentrate on the EPL….

  2. Am more worried with the body language of our players especially Chamberlain. He looked disoriented and out out of place. could it be what Whilshere said and Wenger is trying to calm the situation by starting him to make him feel part of the team? With Carzola, Ramsey not to mention Flamini severely struggling with form says a lot about trouble in the dressing room.

    Could it be Wenger’s soft gloove approach in dealing with errant players, or is it his obvious bias in repeatedly picking out-of-sorts players ahead of in the inform ones? Whatever it is it need to be sorted out sooner rather than later coz it is now showing.

        1. Actualy i’ll be very happy with Kronke out.
          We need someone to tell Wenger to get his act together. Perform or get out.
          Even “moron”iho will be fired if he doesn’t perform.

      1. Useless fans out !!!
        If everytime u sold a player when they played bad u would sell ten players in every window. You would ‘ve probably had Ramsey sold before last season.

  3. Afc fans we need to support the team right now we are in a delicate situation. The whole point of a supporter is to stick with the team through thick and thin, city lost at west ham and I don’t hear there fans planning to behead pellegrini.

    I truly still believe we have a shot at the title if we stay within touching distance by January. And I think Man U could beat Chelsea if costa doesn’t play.

    Have faith guys we have a quality team I think we will gel and our game will improve soon.

    1. pellegrini has earned time.
      if arsenal had won the PL a few years ago wenger would be given more slack too.
      but wenger has accumulated too long a history of missteps;
      failing to win enough is the primary, but failure to buy the best players in the window,
      and other failures like under-rotation, under-subbing, favoritism,…

  4. getting 2nd is a very realistic target, i would love to see us win the epl but that would require chelsea to really fcuk up 3 or 4 games in the near future

    however fabregas will lose form after jan, its his trademark, and during that time we can see chelsea stumble

    1. I know people will disagree with me but cesc has looked a shadow of his oldself to me. He looks SO slow he can’t run, tackle or take people on but I think what’s keeping him afloat is having costa and hazard who are in good form.
      Once costa gets hurt for a while or when jan comes cesc will be useless

      1. What ? Dunno.
        Haven’t seen many Chelsea’s game. But, fans & analysts have been drooling over him since the first day.

        1. No doubt he can pick a pass his passing game is excellent but that’s all he has now. I’m serious he looks so different but that’s my point by having a good supporting cast it’s hiding his inadequencies.
          Just watch Chelsea play a couple times and you’ll see, against us he was a ghost he got completely overan until he made that excellent pass in the 77th

          1. @goonsquad8
            I think that wasn’t an excellent pass but it was just atrocious defending and a great run by Costa.

  5. Looking back at the sunderland game yesterday, we could have put the match to bed in the second half on many occasions! Santi could have had a double but poor finishing let him down! Sunderland on the other hand could have let us pay with the chances they got, yes it could have ended 1-1. But i must say thank you alexis sanchez for your 2 goals and giving us the vital win! Coyg!

  6. “Under-performing players Out!!!!” So sell Ozil, Cazorla, Ramsey, Wilshere, Arteta, Diaby, Flamini, Oxlade-Chamberlain and Mertesacker? Exactly who do you plan on keeping and starting? Welbeck, Sanchez, Podolski, Campbell, (who do we play as DM), Gibbs, Monreal, Chambers, Bellerin, and Szczesny in goal?

    Taking a subjective look at this season, Sanchez, Welbeck, Monreal and Chambers are the only players who HAVEN’T underperformed, only counting players who have been given the chance to perform. Cazorla has been absolute garbage this season, and was pretty average much of last season. Ramsey has been very mediocre when healthy, Wilshere is extremely inconsistent, Ozil has sparkled in both games as a number 10 but disappeared during the rest, Ox has been extremely disappointing this season, and everybody wants Arteta, Mert and Flamini to leave, even though they’re at least guaranteed to play hard when they’re having a poor game.

    At what point do we look at the players as much as looking at Wenger? He had to play Arteta and Flamini this match to help cover Monreal and Per as our CBs. A front 4 of Welbeck, Sanchez, Ox and Cazorla should have produced at least a few saves, a few very good saves, yet they didn’t. You cannot blame Arsene for starting those 4, almost everybody would. The only person in question was whether or not to start Ox, Podolski or Campbell. Is it Wenger’s fault that Cazorla can’t come within 10 yards of hitting the goal, much less forcing a save? Is it Wenger’s fault that Oxlade was abysmal? No. At some point, the blame lies at the feet of the players on the pitch.

    It is not Wenger’s job to motivate them. They make 100k per WEEK to play a sport that they love in front of millions of fans. Why should they need motivation to play their hardest? Schoolboys do that when they’re playing for just their parents. Blame Arsene for the lack of defensive cover, or the lack of a solid, athletic DM, I sure do. But you cannot blame anybody but the players themselves for the fact that Sanchez, Welbeck and Chambers are the only 3 players who have performed well this season.

    We’ve played 9 matches, are 3 points out of 3rd place, and have already played at Chelsea and at Evertonwith City and Tottenham at home. Chelsea is the ONLY team with less losses than us. City already has 2 losses this season, with a considerably easier schedule on paper, thus far.

    We are not crumbling, we are not falling apart, the sky is not falling, and the world is not ending. We’ve literally had 3 starters so far who have played well, and haven’t been hit with injuries. Those 3 being Chambers, Welbeck and Sanchez. We’ve got FIVE players returning this week, including Walcott and Gnabry, and we don’t have a midweek match, which is a miracle.

    TLDR — Blame Arsene all you want for the lack of an athletic DM and another CB or 2, don’t use him as a scapegoat for the dismal displays that the PLAYERS have been putting in on the pitch. At a club like Arsenal, it shouldn’t be Wenger’s responsibility to make sure that we can hit the goal from 15-20 yards out, or that we can make quick, accurate passes.

    1. Well said I agree with everything you said. I think you meant being “objective” though but either way nice to see some logic prevail instead of the emotional little kids on this site.

    2. All good points but we can blame Wenger for:

      1. No CDM and not enough defenders.
      2. Using the wrong formation.
      3. Playing the wrong players – never giving Podolski, Rosicky or Campbell a chance. But giving his pet players unlimited chances. Sanogo will be on the field soon, no doubt (until his next injury).
      4. Leaving Gibbs on way too long yesterday possibly making his injury worse. The match announcer commented that Gibbs was struggling mightily 20 minutes before Wenger finally took him off.
      5. Always waiting too long to bring on substitutes and often replacing the wrong player when he does sub.
      6. General lack of roster rotation.

      1. yeah, the players are crumbling too.
        i know they get 100k/week but theyre getting psychologically affected by
        their manager’s bizarro actions.
        HOWEVER, they are professionals, do get 100k pw and more , and so
        they need to buckle down and show up.

  7. Same old crap. Arsenal players can rest only one player needs that and that is A S. The rest need to go on report and do a 1000 lines saying I must help arsenal win I must help arsenal win

  8. when u have macho unreal playing as a cb says it all about arsenal & arsene wenger no planning nothing the players look lost no one seems 2 know what their role is. Southampton (despite losing several key players) beat sunderland 8-0 we had wait till stoppage time to confirm 3 points

    wonder what would have happened if we hadn’t signed alexis sanchez

  9. Iam sure all the arsenal fans here would take jose mourinho as manager in a heartbeat… that is how clueless our manager is! why wasnt santi subbed off earlier? why wasnt cambell nrought on for the ox who was clearly struggling why wasnt podolski given a start? for me rosicky should have started ahead of santi and either podolski or cambell ahead of the ox and the other brought on soon ..

    1. I agree Wenger doesn’t know how to use subsitutions. He always seems to make wrong subsitutions or very late.
      But, I don’t agree on mourinho. The guys a Scum. Wouldn’t want him anywhere near our beloved club.
      My choice for manager will be Ancelotti.

  10. Let’s face it; without Alexis we would be in 17 or 18 place. The only reason I think he plays so well is he doesn’t understand AW Alexis’ tireless work rate + Sunderland’s horrible mistakes = a gift of a two-goal win.

    Alexis Sanchez must be exhausted. He has to play Striker, right wing, and as our no.10 bottom-line he is our only positive

  11. Sanchez has been immense considering this is his first season in the Premiership.

    I wish we had more players with his kind of attitude. If we had we would not be struggling quite so much..

  12. As the players have a week off perhaps Wenger can organise a search for diaby using the whole squad and the fans ! Reward if found ?

  13. Sanchez has been a breath of fresh air so far but it makes me laugh when people say adapt to the pl. Top players dont need to adaptbthey just come in and hit the ground running, (sanchez, costa, e valencia, ) a lot of it is down to them having the tools, (pace, strength, vision etc) and the other part is determination and desire, if you are determined to do well and your good you will! As for diaby ibread a clear statement from wenger saying due to his sustained time out after playing, (u21’s) he takes longer to recover. He currently has a minor calf niggle that isnt serious. I suggest he will continue to go through this problematic vicious circle until he or we call it a day.

    1. i’m very sorry for diaby but if W isnt sentimental (or W is let go at end of this season),
      diaby should be let go.

  14. Arsenal – sanchez = embarrassing joke. Some of these guys ought to donate a % of their wage to charity until they start earning it again! Say poldi he’s not good at the moment but gets paid 100k/week, he should be embarrassed but instead moans lack of game time, too many egos that need massaging, a kick up the ar*e would be more appropriate. And I don’t buy this confidence is kow bs, if you are a competititor you are a competititor win or lose, our boys arent trying.

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