Wenger right to bemoan Arsenal luck after Leicester loss?

On the face of things this was another terrible night on the road for Arsenal Football Club, as the first defeat to Leicester City with Arsene Wenger as our manager left the Gunners still without a single league point on the road in 2016.

A record like that does not come about from just being unlucky, but was the Frenchman right to blame his side’s poor fortune for this latest defeat away from the Emirates Stadium, as reported by Sky Sports last night? The boss felt there was plenty to be positive about after the 10 men of Arsenal fought well and even scored a deserved equaliser before a penalty and another late goal killed off the game.

He said, “I felt we played with great spirit and we were unlucky to play with 10 men and to be caught with a non-penalty.”

Do you agree with Wenger? Both the sending off and the penalty could easily have not been given, but do you think it was bad luck? I think the referee may have been influenced by the vocal home crowd but that should not affect his decisions. He certainly seemed reluctant to book their players while often going for the harshest response to any transgression by an Arsenal player, but is that just the way it goes. Do Arsenal really need to be lucky to get anything from an away game.

Wenger was also full of praise for the team performance against strong opposition, though, and suggested that it is a very good sign for the future.

He said, “I felt we played with great spirit and we were unlucky to play with 10 men and to be caught with a non-penalty,” said the Frenchman, who watched the Gunners lose a seventh away game in a row for the first time since January 1966.

“Overall, though, there was enough room for us to win the game, so I would like to praise the spirit of my team tonight, even if we lost the game.

“Overall, though, there was enough room for us to win the game, so I would like to praise the spirit of my team tonight, even if we lost the game.

“Even with 10 against 11 we looked like we could score at any moment and at 1-1 we had two situations with three against two, but we complicated our game a bit.

“We had the chances to score and win the game. The fact that we had to chase the game with 10 men made it very open.

“I would like to say that this team has shown tonight they have a future and hopefully they can show that next season.”

Do you agree Gooners?

Bob.

30 Comments

  1. LADIES AND GENTLE MEN,
    AS PER YOUR WISHES, THIS IS TO ANNOUNCE TO YOU THAT SWANSEA CITY WILL BE RELEGATED.

    1. Specialist in Failure Wenger, it’s not luck but your tactical failure, poor coaching method,mostly rubbish signings(auba signed by Raul and Sven) zero ambition.Let’s not forget Wenger’s record of 11 years without trophy,zero away points this season and his repeated failure. Merci Wenger my D**k!

  2. Bob, the majority of posters here want to hear no more from Wenger. He’s going. And Arsenal had nothing to play for. They sincerely hope the next man in charge is active on the touchline shouting at his players, and not bemoaning EVERY decision that goes against the team

    1. Unless Swansea beat Stoke by 5
      and Southampton lose to City by 5.
      Not likely but 3-0 Swansea
      and 0-3 to City at halftime is not impossible.
      Would make for riveting 2nd half viewing 🙂

  3. English refs are just rubbish that’s why none of them are going to the world cup! Most of them are too old and overweight.. but we’re just not good enough Wenger doesn’t understand tactics and his defence is crap! OT.. I’m getting seriously worried that Mikel Arteta’s name keeps popping up.. reports say Kroenke hired a 30 year old in one of his Yankee teams and he’s doing well and is keen to carry that trend on! I will be outraged if Arteta is appointed the new manager that will just show Arsenal haven’t got a clue how to make a club challenge for major honours and also completely show a lack of ambition! I wasn’t a fan of Arteta as a player and I won’t be a fan of him as a manager either! I’m sure he’s doing a good little coaching job up in Manchester but he will be completely out of his depth here! I really don’t understand why he’s even on the shortlist! If Allegri, ancellotti, Jardim, Luis Enrique etc get overlooked for Arteta then something is seriously wrong at Arsenal!

    1. John, as well as hiring a young (though well credentialed) manager for the LA Rams, Kroenke also put in a lot of money to buy players. He had to do this because of the bad taste in leaving St Louis and the fact that the LA market has other competing teams. If the LA Rams don’t win games the franchise loses big time.
      Now Wenger won’t be at Arsenal next season, fans attention is now focused on Kroenke and the board. A poor managerial appointment will empty the Emirates again.

  4. Both decisions were correct.
    Mavro rugby tackled the striker
    which shows he knew he was
    in a lot of trouble.
    The penalty was clear contact no doubt at all.
    Arsenal were 1-0 down before the red card.
    7 away losses is disgraceful.

    1. Barry, given the cynicism of managers and players in EPL, Arsenal has to become more hard nosed and street wise. Mhikataryan wa also fouled in the area and denied a penalty because he tried to stay on his feet.
      However I agree with John that the standard of refereeing has been abysmal.
      Here in Australia my local team the Newcastle Jets was robbed against Melbourne Victory, when a goal was given following a corner with 3 Mebourne Victory players offside. Not only the referee and second officials were incompetent, but the VAR failed at this exact time. This made headlines in Australian papers, outside of Melbourne of course!

      1. Yeah I saw that you
        lost the final.
        The VAR failure was reported.
        Amazing that this was the only time
        VAR had failed all season. Conspiracy theory?
        Mind you Newcastle is not as important as Melbourne 🙂

        1. barry, Newcastle is the second largest city in NSW, but is the largest coal export port in the world. Sydney and Canberra only take from us, don’t give much back!
          Sound familiar; similar to Kroenke?

          1. Lol Banter ozzie Lol.
            Newcastle did great
            Knights had a couple
            of wins lately.
            Watchout for my mighty warriors

            1. barry, the Knights are my second rugby league term, as I grew up (first 22 years) in the St George District, so have red and white eyes! The Dragons defense didn’t turn up against the Warriors, but are travelling well at the top of the table. Warriors looking good as well.

    2. Clearly, Mavropanos brought down Ihenacho and deserved the card yellow or red depending on if he was the last man. I read somewhere on the internet he wasn’t I’m not sure. I applaud him for the fight and he was unlucky his clearance hit Ihenacho.

  5. @barryglik red card definitely but that was not a penalty. Needless to say we need to know who our coach is ASAP so we can start reinforcing the squad cause we need minimum 3-4 players to get back in the mix with the London clubs and Liverpool. City’s bench looks more appealing than our starting 11 tbh. Gundogan is better than Xhaka, myhkitarian is as bernando Silva and Jesus is as good as lacazette and all there centre backs are better than anyone one of ours. Bravo and Cech are the same. How TF does Arsene think we can compete with them next season LMFAOOO

  6. Wenger blaming a loss on bad luck??? How strange. Guess you need luck if you don’t have skills.

  7. We’ll have to wait until the world cup (or just after) to find out who the new manager is, so I read
    Can’t come quick enough…. please don’t be Arteta

    1. Appointing a Manager during or after the biggest football tournament would be as stupid as keeping Wenger for the last decade.

      That would be typical Arsenal though, leave things to the last minute when other clubs are already busy securing new players.

      The new players and fans are all eager to know the new Manager so that we know what to expect next season.

        1. For a manager to come in after the WC would be a disaster unless the manager is happy with the current squad!?

          There will most likely not be much in the way of transfer activity before the WC so it’s going to be a battle to sort this team out and integrate a new manager with new staff and ideas!

          In a way, the change of manager is coming at a bad time 🙁

          Hopefully, Arsenal will have most of the planning done already….. Hahahahahahaha….

          1. Regardless of who the current manager is, the timing is awful for any club to change their manager this year, especially for a club like ours that’s in such a mess.

            Not only is it World Cup year, but the Premier League clubs voted in their wisdom to close the transfer window before the season starts, as this was a unilateral decision by the PL clubs in the rest of the world won’t close until the end of August, unlike the PL which closes on 9th August, so we’re losing 22 days to bring players in.

            What makes this even more ridiculous, is the rest of the world can sill buy PL players up till the end of August as normal, so a foreign club can buy PL players and weaken the side, and we can’t replace them.

            Brilliant eh!

  8. The team is spineless, reckless and too casual. The players know even after they make mistakes, they would never be sanctioned or benched. That’s we see them attempting silly passes or stunts in their own box instead of proper defending. The truth is, I think these boys are too happy and comfortable at arsenal cos’ Wenger never yells at them for mistakes made. Instead he protects and defends them for every terrible performance. A hard as nails manager, who isn’t scared to take tough decisions is what we need. Allegri or Nagelsmann would be okay. Why does ozil selects games he plays in? Just thinking out loud. Have a thrilling day lovelies.

    1. Ozil wouldn’t last a week in any other profession or regular job, as we all know. Imagine a Dr. Ozil saying “No , I can’t be bothered doing that life saving operstion today” or “No, I can’t be bothered driving that bus around the route today.” When one is a multi millionaire , paid £350, 000 per week for throwing regular sickies and on a guaranteed contract, it is easy to become a conman. WALCOTT DID IT FOR 12 YEARS , BUT ON LESS MONEY. He merely “stole” a hundred grand a week (or thereabouts) to either be “injured ” or to hide on the pitch. Both these “honourable” men had Wengers full blessing and regular excuses for their shabby behaviour. This excusingof dishonourable behaviour and in almost all cases over a generous decade too has led our club to its present lowly state. And STILL some poor twerps can never understand why we fans forced him out! Incredible!

  9. It’s typical Wenger..

    See’s what he wants to see and “I did not see it” when it suits him!

    It’s never been any different. We could could all see last night that both decisions were spot on!!

    As for the red card. If it was rugby it would have been a great tackle but come on, Wenger, the fact you defend it is all the more reason why this team has failed! You cannot defend that kind of football to protect your player. All you do is give more reason to carry on doing it and then you are in trouble again! Ring any bells?

    I understand that Wenger has been very protective of his players but, frankly it’s quite embarrassing sometimes..

    Admit the error and move on..

    BTW, how is it that Wenger can have such a good account of things anyway? I mean, it’s not like he’s spent a lot of time on the touchline to see things happening over the years!?

  10. “Do we agree?” you ask us. When did most of us EVER agree with anything Wenger has said, as yet another excuse for his own shortcomings as a manager, for a decade past? Honestly, WHEN? One of the huge plusses after this Sundays game will be the welcome relief from constant absurd excuses, which embarrass our club and us fans.

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