Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has admitted that he wasn’t happy with his side’s defending during the first half of the win over Swansea today.
The Gunners had to come from behind to come away with all three points today, and you have to be unhappy with the way in which we fell behind, but our players reacted well in the second half.
We did concede a goal just after levelling the scores through Sead Kolasinac, but thankfully it was chalked off with Tammy Abraham having strayed offside, but Arsene Wenger is ignoring that it seems….
Wenger said: “I knew that Swansea had only conceded one goal away from home this season so I knew they would be tight defensively.
“Our pace wasn’t sharp enough in the first half, we did not penetrate enough and we had to up the tempo.
“The second half was much better. The players were conscious of it and knew we had to play at a higher pace.
“Defensively we looked a bit insecure in the first half – we could have conceded a second which would have made it difficult.
“But we were better in the second half.”
Our defence has been questionable in recent weeks, although we have had to change our personnel due to injuries a lot of late, and I’m sure our frailties will sort themselves out when Mustafi returns from injury and our side can remain unchanged more often.
Have the inconsistencies in personnel been causing us trouble? Is our midfield not giving the defence enough cover which is leading to issues? Will Mustafi bring stability back when he returns?
Pat J
He needs to be worried about every position going forward. He needs to be worried about arsenal football club as a whole going forward. We are the third best club in london at the moment. So no win matters because nothing has changed yet and until that happens nothing really matters. Lets just lower expectations and be happy being a europa league side. Fans don’t care enough o protest and make a change. They’re deluded by their own pride. “Support no matter what” Idiots.
Bloody had me worried too!! I hope Mustafi comes back in for City and I’m praying that Kolasinac will be alright
I didn’t see the game, was Ozil WC again?
Far from it, he tried to dribble once in Arsenal’s half, but got robbed in the process. But at least he tried to be creative and made some nice turns, which is usualy difficult for other Arsenal midfielders.
Good analysis by Wenger. So he actually knows his team’s problems.
I think the problem with this team is the confidence and the guts to keep flowing the ball to the front. This can be addressed by getting better players with winning mentality in January.
No comments until Man city match..
Even with Mustafi back, Arsenal will still struggle defensively with Granit Xhaka as the DM. I dont know what it is that Coquelin did to Arsene Wenger. For me, he should be starting ahead of Xhaka. Xhaka is reckless in possession and rash in his tackling and he does not inspire the defenders behind him!
DM is our problem!
Will Mustafi rescue us? Remember Arsene tries selling him in the Summer…i shudder at how we would be playing if he went
Wenger says they weren’t sharp enough in the first half and the pace wasn’t right….excuse me but isn’t that the manager and coaches job to make sure that the players are aware of this before the game starts and start the game on the front foot instead of always looking lethargic in first half of games recently….
Did you see the state of Mertakickers defending. My goodness you wouldn’t see the likes in Sunday league.