There is no doubt that Arsenal have given themselves a mountain to climb to get back into the title race, especially with next week’s North London Derby now massively important to our season. A make-shift Man United team made our so-called title contenders look like easy pickings and it will make a big fat dent in our confidence.
Petr Cech unusually conceded three goals, but he was honest and admitted that it was our own mistakes that led to the United win. “Man United away is a big game.” he said. “They fight to have a chance to enter the top four, so we knew it was going to be a difficult game. In a game like this, you can make mistakes and we were punished for them. Every time we made a mistake at the back, they [profited].
“The third goal was a lucky bounce for them and I thought it was decisive, because if we could have come back to 2-2 in the second half, we would have had a chance to win the game. At 3-1 down, you try to get one back as soon as possible, which we managed to do. But we didn’t create enough to score in the last 10 minutes.”
Petr thinks that it is a setback to our title aspirations, but he urges the team not to give up. “We still have a chance, so we will go for it until the last minute. This was a big disappointment for us and is a step back after last week, where we managed to overcome a deficit against Leicester at home. This is a step back but we need to keep working.”
Everyone knew that we hadn’t won at Old Trafford for ten years, but Cech was still asked if he was surprised at United’s performance. “I think it was a perfect game for them. They had nothing to lose and had a very good win in midweek, so everyone was ready for the game. We knew it was going to be difficult but, as I said, no matter what opposition you play against, if you make mistakes, you’re going to be punished.”
“It’s a step back but we can still make up for this. We have two important games coming up this week and if we manage to win both, the table might look better again.”
We must certainly beat Swansea in midweek or we can definitely all give up, but the big one next week is away at Tottenham, and currently we have won just two of our last EIGHT away games, whereas Spurs have lost just one of their last 11 games, with nine victorys. But it is a derby, so anything can happen, right?
No more mistakes Arsenal!
i never expected us to do another “Invincibles” this season. all i ask for is that the players show passion at least. and even just a little commitment. just a teeny weeny bit. and none of these things can ever reduce their mega wages. not even by a penny. my God, is that too much to ask from the club i love so much?!
Arsenal won’t win the league until Arsene leaves!
Totally agree with you
I sometimes think how satisfied fans of clubs like Sunderland and Bournemouth would be knowing that although they lack talent in their ranks they absolutely give their all out on the pitch. And then look at us! Don’t even need to frame any sentences to express the follow up. People are having their biggest laugh at us all around the world. Depressing!
These Arsenal players are picking up weekly wages they don’t deserve,we haven’t played well all of 2016 there’s no passion,no fight,no hard work they are taking us for granted as fans
i do not see the loss as a result of mistakes but lack of quality from the team. as much i am im angry at the players the fault lies with wenger who picks them and decides they are good enough to play for arsenal.the Truth is they are not. they belong in average teams and cannot take arsenal to the top. a lot of them need to be sold
a lot of players looked lost. defenders had no outlets in midfield as Le qoc and Rambo were no where to be seen when it came to collecting the ball from the back. Rambo was neither here nor there im surprised he played the whole 90. Ozil was just standing waiting for the ball to come to his feet instead of looking to make space and receive the ball so he can weave his magic. walcot was bad.
There are a lot of players who were bad. but generally the marking was very terrible as usual and lot a of players that failed again.
Wenger failed to go to the touch line and sort things out. he just put his 1st 11 as always and went into outplay mode like a computer game. i think he cannot take the team further and he and his boses need to accept it and let him move on.
I am faded up seeing always the same old Arsenal in the hands of an old man with a stubborn an old ideas. I don’t think to win the EPL as far as Wenger is there with the same philosophy. He is neither of hearing others advice nor improving his old rigid ideas. Enough is enough.
We need Cazorla back asap. We aren’t dominating games and we aren’t comfortable in possession. Cazorla is the player that sews the team together. He’s the one that runs the midfield and makes sure we play at the right tempo to keep the ball and stay on top of the game.
Ramsey is playing in the central role now, and frankly it’s not working. Ramsey was exceptional in that position a couple of seasons ago, but what’s different? Quite a lot actually.
Back then, Ramsey was alongside Arteta in the midfield. Say what you want about his defensive abilities, but Arteta was superb at dictating games in the way that Cazorla does, perhaps not quite as good as Cazorla, but very good nonetheless. Ramsey never had that role – someone else did it for him. Ramsey instead was the driving force of our team, a high stamina player, pushing us forward through the middle of the pitch. It was a very good combination, Ramsey and Arteta, but of course we were punished defensively.
As Arteta aged and got injured, step forward Francis Coquelin, the solution to our defensive woes in midfield. Coquelin was, and is, brilliant in his role. But Coquelin can’t dictate a game. To make up for our defensive frailty, we sacrificed our midfield playmaker. Obviously, that wasn’t going to work. So we put Cazorla in to make up for the loss of Arteta, and sacrificed Ramsey instead, moving him out wide. We could do this because Sanchez was now the player to drive the team forward, but from out wide instead. We didn’t need Ramsey to push us forward anymore, we still needed his energy, but from out wide we still got that. This meant we had all the boxes ticked. A proper defensive midfielder, someone to dictate the play, a high stamina player and someone to drive us forward, and it worked brilliantly. An almost perfect balance, but for the lack of a right winger. Nonetheless it worked very well and we were comfortably the best team in the league with that midfield balance.
Fast forward to now, there’s no balance at all. The team is fragmented and honestly it looks like they don’t have a clue what they’re doing. Özil seems the only attacking player we have with a brain these days..
@Mick the gooner I don’t think Cazorla will make much of a difference,the team as a whole is not performing from back to front we are seeing dismal displays every week
In situations like this,I feel like seeing u guys and we have a face to face chat..I love you all this wonderful family..
Yesterday, I was just reading comments after the match and I couldn’t say anything cos words fail me…however, from now on I now strongly believe Wenger can’t win a big trophy for Arsenal..Wenger is absolutely the problem we have..
One cannot be more arrogant than he is, or more deluded..his personality is written all over the team,infact his arrogance is on the team cos sometimes the players play like “we just need to show up and we will win”..
What more am I gonna say that has not been said?
Look, am tired of mentioning players and blaming them,they didn’t put themselves on the pitch…
But yesterday, I felt gabriel let us down..nothing is certain but then you feel we wouldn’t have conceded the first two goals if Mert was there..
Right now, Gabriel is just like the Ox or Walcott in defence as he is all about pace and aggression but lacks intelligence in vital areas of his game and no real physical presence, infact I don’t think he can’t patner Kos..
Secondly, obviously, Cazorla does more than we see, am surprised he is the one behind Coq’s success..A disciplined and intelligent player, a rare gem I would say, without him, Le Coq is lost and the team/midfield is disjointed..Walcott??? Do I need to say anything..
Lastly, on Welbz, yes he is lively and all that, but I will never get carried away with these British/English lads..they have to be far more consistent..
wasn’t mert the reason we conceeded a goal against barca?
F***! ….u play gabriel once in every how many weeks? And u expect him to shine like a star in the sky?..
Wenger is to blame for all our miseries….he handpicked everybody and suggested they were good enough to wear our shirt!
We are a Donkey. A Top Donkey. A beautiful one.
But you know who wins the race. A Horse!
everyone criticized mertasacker for being slow blah blah the French media said that kos was playing with an idiot in defense but yesterdays game showed that without mertasacker kos is sh*t , per maybe slow but he can read the game well , Gabriel isn’t the answer
When Ramsey becomes a player that is rested for a big game as Barcelona, you know your team is not good enough…
Funny thing is,he sees himself as a world class player…Still, Wenger is to blame for everything..I mean everything!!
One thing is sure,I won’t leave Arsenal for Wenger he will leave for me one day, even if he stays for another 5years…Am diligently waiting
Blame the shareholders who sold their shares to the Kronkie syndicate for the woes on the pitch.Check out the championship ‘s his NFL teams have won in the USA. I’ll save you wasting your time. A big fat NONE.Seems they enjoy finishing 4th.What a surprise.
A new manager of any repute will want to spend money so that won’t be an option.
Bet we get some up and coming new kid on the block.as a manager.
A foresee a l-o -o -n -n -g -g – wait
This team does not show up week after week ready to give 110% to win. Is it Wenger’s fault? Do we have a team full of players who lack the winning ambition needed? Either way this is not going to be fixed.
I have alot of question for Mr. Wenger
1. How on earth did He think Mr Invisible Walcott will do a much better job than Oli against such a make shift defence?(Rashford has the same no of goals as Mr invisible this season)
2.Is metersacker so Useless dat he his experience wont handle a 18 year old prodigy?
3.Is Joel Campbell that bad dat even Iwobi gets a game b4 him?
4.Was Elneny supposed to make Ramsey better after such a stupid performance? Or why play the guy atall?
5.Why do Arsene say irrelevant things as excuses during His pressers?
6.When have we become this Clueless?
7.Mr.Wenger why cant You jst resign and let a manager with ambitions take over?
Yesterdays display was nothing less than pathetic..Where was the drive?…Where was the hunger? I feel sorry for certain players like Ozil, Bellerin, Coquelin they yesterday did not have a bad game..The manger himself did not read the game effectively and make smart choices..
Ramsey- Oh My God if I could I would have flown to Manchester to deliver him a drop kick right in his head because he was not screwed on AGAIN…Gave the ball away was always out of position not linking up play like a midfielder should..he wants to much glory of the goal he needs to take a seat at home and watch others play. Several times he was caught ball watching and not tracking back and helping out….Eleney should have started the few minutes he got he looked good trying to link up play from the middle and not looking for the glory tried to get some general attack going and he always tracked back to help defend!!
Walcott- Was poor was not switched on as well did not offer anything at all going..Why are we not playing Campbell? has he done something wrong? or does he have a hidden injury that no one is telling us about? when he was playing he was getting better with game time been very creative on the winging, offering something in both attack and defence..Him and Bellerin have a mysterious chemistry when they play together that hurts teams why are we not using what is clearly a good partnership more?
Sanchez- I do not know what is wrong he is going through a really bad period…times like this is where the manager earns his money he should not play him against Swansea give him the time to go shit down and get his head together we can still be effective in the remaining games if Sanchez of old comes back.
Our centre back both had an appalling against a bloody kid!..I have said it before and I will say it again come Summer we need a new CB Per is Old and we need another option to avoid what happened yesterday…
Wenger- Poor sub choice why did he not take Ramsey off? he was the worst on the field and he let him finish 90 min he took of Coquelin instead which left us more open! No Campbell again I think Wenger does not like him or is intimidated by his more “senior” players who will complain about less game time but here is the thing you do not perform you do not play SIMPLE! If you do not like it then leave there is a queue of players wanting to get in. Who are more hungry than you for the sport rather than the pay check and nice lifestyle.
We are closing the door on ourself for this title no one is doing it for us. and we need to get our heads out our backsides, slap on some war paint, find the hunger, motivation and drive and blood get things going.
Sorry for the long rant
This is the season when Arsenal does a complete Liverpool.
I reckon this will be the last season we came close to a title in many, many years.
The current fans that are filing the stadium will keep on filling it for way shittier performances than the utter shyte we are being served for the past ten years or so. The bar will keep on going down, don’t worry. Tourists and kiss cam-prawn sandwich-I’m important cuz I can afford an expensive ticket types of fans are a vast majority of the crowd at the Emirates will go down with whatever Satan K and his slaves offer, they don’t give a shit about the club’s direction. Was there a protest about the fifty quid scam for the Barca game? Can someone let me know if it happened?
Furthermore, ambitious players like Sanchez and Ozil have seen what it is playing for Satan K’s Arsenal, lead by the senile stubborn git. There is no money that will keep them in the forever average club that Arsenal now is. So expect them to leave. And once that happens, there won’t be a single top player in the whole world that would want to sign for Arsenal for anything else than money, but then again, such player will always find his way to a PSG, or a MCFC. Which leaves us with the best signing of entire Satan K’s tenure at the Arsenal – Mr Ben Wrigglesworth, a guy that knows how to buy amazing players for next to nothing. He’ll ensure we get the good cheap players in to keep the Wenger trophy alive and then leave for 20 mil and more and tadaa, Arsenal does a Liverpool just when it should have restored it’s glory. How ironic, indeed.
I have said it so many times that the rate of errors caused by a combination of Gab and Kos is far higher higher than that of Per and either of them. These guys ruined the game by conceding softly.
As for the blame on the coach, anyway leaders are always to be blamed when a team fails. But the players who started against Man U are supposed to be good enough to win the game even supposing the coach was sent to the stand. It was a team full of the so called pace that some of our fans have been calling for. Especially in attack. Time to tell ourselves the truth, players like Walcott has to leave this club soon.