Boom! A few days before Arsenal face Chelsea in the pre-season showpiece match which is the Community Shield, Arsene Wenger was already taking aim at our London rivals and their manager Antonio Conte. And in the pre-match press conference today the Frenchman followed it up with some more and I for one am loving it.
A few days ago Metro was reporting Wenger’s comments about the summer signing by Chelsea of Alvaro Morata from Real Madrid, a transfer that some Chelsea fans are already a bit miffed about as they were expecting to re-sign their former striker Romelu Lukaku from Everton until their former manager Jose Mourinho nipped in and took him to play for Manchester United.
I am sure that Wenger is aware of this and the fact that some Chelsea fans are struggling to understand why Conte does not seem too keen on Diego Costa, so he slipped in a dig about Morata being less of a goal threat than Costa, which I reckon will have landed squarely on the chin of his rival.
In his press conference yesterday in the build up to our Wembley clash tomorrow, the Daily Mail reports Wenger went on to claim that Chelsea will have a tougher time of it in the Premier League this time, suggesting that last season they had the benefit of no European football as well as the other clubs being a bit inconsistent. He then finished off by saying that our win over them in the FA Cup final, and the manner of it, showed that there is not too much between the teams.
He said, ‘Last year, Chelsea did not play in the European Cup and certainly they were a bit more consistent (in the Premier League). We made 75 points last season, which was four more than the year before, when we finished second in the league.
‘So it looks like Chelsea has taken advantage of the fact that all the other teams were less consistent.
‘In the FA Cup final we have shown that the gap was not as high maybe. And we have to show that again on Sunday.’
Fighting talk from Le Prof there, but can the Arsenal players back it up and beat the Blues to the first trophy of the season?
Bob.
Now lets watch how quickly his fighting talk turns into excuses! I am really looking forward to the classics:
“We weren’t prepared physically”
“Judge me at the end of the season”
“I didn’t see it”
“We’ll assess the game”
“He should be back in a few weeks”
Don’t forget:
We were a bit naive on the their first goal and a bit unlucky on the timing of their second goal.
We looked a bit jaded in the second half
We were a bit nervous in the beginning
And dont forget:
“Cazorla will be back, he’s like a new signing”
“We lacked a bit of cohesion”
“Look, the referee was,against us”
Don’t forget:
” The players were a bit too cautious playing with the handbrake on”
Moaning and criticising our manager before the season has begun; what a brilliant display of “support”. The way some Arsenal fans talk about our manager, is the same way in which opposing fans usually talk about one of their rivals mangers.
People like you that stir up all the infighting between our fans, by constantly putting down the team and manager, are an embarrassment. The whole team, fans and club would be so much better off without all the nonsense.
Well you can’t blame the fact that Wenger always put himself in these position for criticism. I don’t get why he can’t focus on us and our title drought but instead keep nosing and snooping around in others’ business. Surely if he knew all the strengths of other teams then we should have won the PL by now not so? Plus if what he is saying is that Chelsea had it easy and won the league because of non European football then can we assume that we have no excuse then to not win, because we can certainly follow suit and do what they did.
Plus,”It was not only negatives from the game. There were some positives as well.”
Classy fans already expecting their team to fail just to say “I called it first”.. BTW, Chelski were not in Europe at all, not even the Europa league.
Community Shield is not important, but it is a good test. I prefer Arsenal use it as a deception strategy, to mislead the opponents from Arsenal’s true strategy in this season.
He is right that Chelsea will face tougher challenge, because of Chelsea’s involvement in ECL. But he must also remember that Manchester City has a new system and already strengthen their squad with world class wingbacks.
Deception??? So we can surprise Leicester? We should play they way we want to play in the PL. If you want to win the PL it is hard to do by deception because it is a 38 games season. You simply need to execute your system well and work harder than your opponents, trickery will not get you vey far. Besides, I think everyone expects Wenger to play 3 at the back anyways so how deceiving can you be?
Tomorrow, maybe..
………………Cech
…..Holding..Mert..Koscielny
Oxlade……Xhaka……Kolasinac
……………Ramsey
…….Ozil……………Alexis
…………Lacazette
I don’t want to see an open end to end game, would rather see something along the lines of the FA cup final. We need to sign players Arsene, a couple of injuries look like it could end our season. And that’s not even counting the fact that the first team places do not look completely sewn up.
Think you are right and it is obvious that upgrades on Ramsey and ox are required to give us a chance of competing at top over the season …. Sadly this has been the case for years now … And can be done for under the 100m still supposedly left for transfers …. but the ostrich just likes to keep his head in the sand and look for excuses when thighs go pear shape … Expect the same this season
“and can be done for under the 100m still supposedly left for transfers” Why is it that Wengers main detractors (shamefully enough, that’s mostly our “fans”) are always the exact same people that believe everything they read in the newspapers? It shows a distinct lack of critical thinking.
I for one am hoping we lose the CS. We normally beat teams in the CS and lose to them in the PL, how about we try it the other way round.
How about we win both!!!
This Lemar thing is taking far too long. Now it seems Barca could be interested in him. He will most likely chose them over us and they can outbid us too. It’s more likely that they will go for Dembele but if they do get Lemar it will sad to be so close
Except, Wenger is actually a massive reason why a lot of players choose us. Especially young french-stars, as he is well-known for his ability in taking players to the next level. He’s really the only reason we had a slight chance of signing Mbappe.
And what an honour it is for us to almost have signed Mbappe, Ibrahimovic, Ronaldo, Dele Ali, Di Maria and Pique!
even Wenger admitted we hadn’t made a bid for mbappe.
LOL the critical thinker!!!!!… U mean the young French stars like pogba griezman hazard kante or the young french stars like chamakh sonogo alidaire …. Mbappe …give it a break and get off the fantasy football
I understand the fears or anxiety from us not completing signings since Lacazette, but I strongly feel we will get both Lemar and Seri. What does frustrate me though is the length of time it’s taking to sell the players that we have no plans to include this coming season. We know who these players are as their names ring across the internet every day. It was obvious that most if not all these players were not needed early enough last season that I would think the club would of assured something was already lined up before this transfer window was ever open. Maybe the uncertainty with Wenger played a big role in that. It just seems like now we’re trying rush and are struggling to cut them loose which in turn is hindering us from adding especially a “non-homegrown player” to meet squad registration requirements. I really hope the squad we have now seriously turns it on this season with the proper coaching until those other requirements are met. Maybe add another CB even for obvious reasons.
Kiko! I used to think like you years ago when wenger had a bit of mistery about him! I’d think oh he’s probably lining up some double swoop when the times right coz he can’t possibly go into a season with such a weak squad! But then he didn’t he went into season after season without buying what’s required! Remember the summer we’re he only brought in cech???? We had alexis and only needed a top striker but he left us to rot pretending we have so cohesion advantage lol this time it’s about players being in there last year and he says it’s ideal haha everyone is better off ignoring arsenals details and just watch the highlights now and then until wenger is gone or more importantly kronke is gone coz it’s painful
I think a major issue with moving the “surplus” players is that they are on big money with Arsenal, and the teams they are trying to sell them to don’t want to, and will not pay them the money they are making with Arsenal. And in the case of a couple of them, Arsenal selling price is higher than the amount other teams are willing to pay. They also recognize that Arsenal is in a situation where they need to sell some players in order to complete their plans for adding players, so they are playing hard ball.
Shame really and I agree with your view. I put myself in the shoes of a professional footballer for a minute and I just couldn’t be content with sitting there week after week getting paid for nothing while seasons go by and aging without wanting to play and better myself. Maybe it’s an ambition thing in me, but if these players really are concerned about their footballing careers, taking a pay cut or even having your reps sit down with the club about accepting offers to see them move on shouldn’t be an issue. These guys get paid miles better than the average human being anyways. It’s not like ARSENAL FOOTBALL CLUB need money either. Especially during the season before a World Cup.
Wait, in one moment you say that you’re frustrated how long it takes us to sell players and then you go on to say that we are rushing it. I can’t both, they directly contradict each other.
Watched Monaco last night didn’t see anything special about lamar gave the ball away so many times in the first 20 minutes try doing that in the premiership, how about we win all our home games this season that guarantee at least 60 points eh just a thought
Keep dreaming lol
I assume selling any football player is rather similar to selling a house-
You need to complete a chain – to complete the deal
Particularly when you remember that 10’s millions £££ are involved
Many teams cannot take the risk of buying a player for £10m, if they can’t sell another for £5m
As it is every season, many of the deals won’t come together until last few days
Sadly most fans think signing a player is like in Fifa 17 and it can happen instantly and have unlimited of funds to sign any or many players
So it’s safe to assume Alexis is staying, only to be gone for free in 10 months? Hmm….
He’s going to look a bit silly when Chelsea finish above his team at the end of the season.