As usual Arsenal had a tough battle at the Britannia Stadium, and Stoke raised their game and fought for ever ball for the whole 90 minutes. Mark Hughes always has his teams prepared to die for the cause and last night was no exception.
Even Arsene Wenger praised our opponents after the game, but also thought that the Gunners matched them for desire. “We did well to battle.” Le prof said. “They made the game physical, they were up for it, the players were up for it and they were up for a direct game. We had to have a physical response and show solidarity, fighting spirit and togetherness.
“We lacked a bit of creativity to force a way through and on top of that we missed good chances. They were fighting from the first to the last minute. We wanted to win the game but looking at our history here it is a positive result. Looking at the results of the other teams that played at the top, it is a positive result. But overall, we missed two points today.
“I think Stoke was dangerous as well. I think Stoke played very well today in the air but we had clear-cut chances with Giroud and Campbell. Maybe there was a dangerous situation when Theo Walcott could have got a penalty or a free-kick on the edge of the box. Stoke have remarkable defensive discipline and they played very well.
“[They] always [have a good game] when Arsenal come to Stoke. I must say I cannot fault my team for their attitude, it was spot on the way my team responded to the challenge. I used to be a bit more creative but overall it was a solid performance.”
Considering that Arsenal were missing Ozil, Sanchez, Cazorla and Coquelin, we were hardly going to be as creative as usual, but Wenger was happy that the Gunners dealt with the thrat from the physical Stoke side. “We had all the ingredients of a team that is ready for a fight and respond. The pitch was not easy as well but we lacked the final ball on the counter attack but we did fight and we have to give credit to the team.”
All in all I think that both managers will think it was a fair result. It’s just a shame that some dirty-mouthed Stoke fans had to show their team up….
Some fans want Arsenal to win every game….Well, I want Arsenal too to win all their games in a season but realistically, Arsenal will drop points in some game (Draw or Lose)..
I am only pissed at times for missing chances to top the league with many points. Defeat to Westbrom and the draw game against Norwich didn’t help us. Mancity fans will be mad at some careless points they dropped too..
The league is a marathon so we have to keep pushing…..Some pundits are saying top teams in England are not performing well this season. Arsenal are consistent compared to manu and chelsea but they forgot that teams like Westham, Palace, Stoke and the likes now have some money to buy good players. So they should give Arsenal credit, likewise those teams trying to match the big guns…
Hopefully, our injured players will be back soon and then we have a good run of games..
Welldone boys for fighting hard to get the 1point against Stoke..Special shout out to CECH!
Let’s prepare for chelsea……..
Good comment. The pundits are back-peddling at speed hoping we all forget they were predicting a Chelsea, United, Liverpool resurgence this season and ridiculing us for only buying Cech. Come the end of the season they might have a point but right now they look stupid. They all look a bit deflated with not much to say with those 3 teams floundering – all set up to castigate us for maybe winning a “poor league”. Entertainment wise this season has been as good as any other – for me the truth is that the quality is more evenly spread. Amazed anyone, anywhere still tries to call out the results as some sort of done deal – I gave up a long time ago. This league will be won with 77-80 points max and if the top 4 remains the same I for one will laugh long and hard (yes, shoot me down, I would prefer THFC to get a top 4 slot instead of any one of Chelsea, United or Pool).
No Sanchez. No Ozil. No Cazorla. No Coq. Ox and Walcott are struggling with form. Ramsey won’t hold any position discipline. Wilshere, Rosicky, and Welbeck have not been seen forever.
And Arsenal are still at the top of the table despite it all. Not so bad really.
When Ramsey is the furthest player forward and poaches one slotting home in the 6yd box I love him. When we lose possession cheaply and he is running back behind the play I despair. I have to say though – I would wager a large amount it is Wenger who gives him this freedom and not AR wantonly “disobeying orders”. Coquelin in his early days was more box to box but clearly now understands what is expected – you rarely find him in front of the ball.
You are most likely right about Wenger allowing Ramsey free movement on the pitch.
But it makes little difference to the opposition. They just thank us for opening the door.
Have to admit Oxy best game so far for Arsenal,his best pos is in middle as for Walcott it’s a shame he gets put out to left, Giriud lucky as always up front would love to see Walcott get say 3 games on the trot as striker. Awobie is gonna be great, It’s gonna now come down to who is best to get first pick, when Ozil, Sanches, Gazola Wellbeck Coq, Ellerny all up for selection as well as those now playing. What a headache for Wenger, but great for the club. End of summer a few shocks await at least 4-5 players to be shown the door. CB
Yes It was a very physical game and we matched the physicality. It is very unfortunate that we missed Ozil. We are 1 point ahead of city. I think if win at home against Chelsea, I would say we have a descent run what we called our make or break period.
Same period
1. Arsenal drawing away at Liverpool is bigger than City Draw at home to Everton
2. Arsenal draw at Stoke equals City win at home to Palace
3. [Magnitude and impact] Arsenal home to Chelsea = City away to West Ham
So if we win the third battle or even draw with City, I can see that we have come out of our critical fixture well on top considering we are without of 4 Genevieve stars
I get a kick out of the British sports media.
Just last week they were lamenting the continued poor form of Rooney and the repeated dismal performances of ManU under LVG.
ManU eeks out a single very narrow (and somewhat fortunate) win over LPool and now the publications are filled with stories declaring ManU top title contenders and lauding “in-form” Rooney as the best striker in the UK.
How ridiculously fickeled can you be really???
Agree completely. It is depressing beyond belief to see Rooney make the”back-pages” when he is not scoring and making the “front” and “back pages” when he amazingly happens to score a goal. There is nothing, nada, zilch that interests me less Wayne friggin Rooney. I don’t even hate the guy but it is simply mind-numbing to keep hearing them bang on about him. Times move on but the heavily Pool/Utd-centric journos are still living in the past. They think there is some inevitability regarding Liverpool dominating the football planet again – still, 26 years on from their last title. The mind boggles to think how long it will be before they can start talking about United in the here and now and not get it that SAF was probably a phenomena that occurs but once in a club’s history, and only then if you are incredibly lucky.
That was the best I thought we could get at stoke hence no complain today. Hope the lads prepare well for chelsea clash which again will not be easy as usual, forget their form they will always turn when they face us just like the goddammit scousers.
Well if Wenger has been telling the truth then Rosicky amd Welbeck should make the bench for chelsea. Sanchez and ozil should start. The hard times are over guys!
I don’t get how some people are still questioning Arsenal’s title credentials, so fans still putting our team down … we are still ahead of man city and that is what counts.
people mentioning that we threw away points that we tied stoke away, remember stoke beat man city man u chelsea there this season without conceding goal.
people mentioning we threw the game against liverpool, yet no mention of how liverpool completely manhandled chelsea and man city in their own stadium.
If we had a bad run, we are still top of the league, if we haven’t looked that spectacular, we are still top of the league …we are still top without the spine of the team (coq) and without the spearhead of our attack (sanchez), their comeback is around the corner, then we will do things spectacularly so everyone is pleased … until then, we are still top of the league
There will always be excuses and positives found in the negatives! But in the real world, This kind of behaviour is classed as being indenial and completely deluded!
Welcome to the delusional world of WengerNAL!!!
Where Dreams turn to Nightmares,
Where Potential fails to Progress,
Where Words Speak louder than Actions!
And no one, seems to care,
All Blinded by the Deceiver,
Still Believing, that, he is the best!
Prepare for a rude awakening!
Gloating over Chelsea and man utd ( a 7 point gap with such a poor team should tell us something too) is pleasant but ultimately stupid…don’t think anyone thought lpool were a threat even with all players fit once Suarez left… they need a complete overhaul, klopps job over medium term. We should look at ourselves. The sad truth is that we are just a couple of players away from having a very strong starting 11 … Wenger’s fixation with Walcott and mertesakher as starting players remains a mystery to me …neither have the quality of a top team like arsenal … I am not a giroud hater but he is still too inconsistent and the big question is whether welbeck can push him in a way Walcott won’t … Campbell has done well and has moved ahead of Walcott and,ox for sure but there is still a question about how much more he can improve… Elneny is certainly an upgrade over arteta and flamini whether he will make it I don’t know just hope that he does but arguably wenger could have been more ambitious … That leaves a top quality striking option … There is no doubt that wenger deluded himself over the summer and that needs to be corrected ASAP … Draxler dybala aube and even griezman with a big enough big could have been prized in summer…january not a good time for this but it is not difficult to find better options than Walcott ox or Campbell … All a question of whether wenger wants to win EPL on his terms or wants to win this for the club