Everyone makes mistakes I guess and boy did the Arsenal players make some big ones against Anderlecht in the Champions League. One of those was made by our giant German centre back Per Mertesacker who got the wrong side of the Belgian club’s striker Mitrovic who then scored a last minute equaliser.
But as much as the BFG was at fault, he should never have been put in that position as the Arsenal forward players were caught on the edge of the Anderlecht box, while Per’s fellow German Lukas Podolski made an awful job of closing down and stopping the cross that led to the goal. So I think he is well within his rights to lay some blame at the feet of the Arsenal players in front of him, as reported by The Mirror.
Mertesacker said, “That was a good warning that everyone should raise their game and give maybe 10% when it is needed.
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“When we drop sometimes everyone has to be involved to defend. You can’t afford for just five or six players to defend, or just the back four. That is what we lacked especially in the final third and in the last 20 minutes.
“We have to defend better as a team. We did not stop them playing and they are good at it.
“As you could see, even in the final third, when you do not put them under pressure, they can deliver good balls through the middle. They can cause trouble and we just left them playing, so in general that was the problem.”
But as disappointed as all the Gunners and Gooners will clearly be, the German defender has moved to play down the importance of the result, reminding us all that Arsenal have had bad results in the past and the last couple of years have seen the team bounce back well from this sort of thing.
He continued, “This result is a small setback for us but it is a good warning and we will bounce back quickly.
“We are really good at that, we have shown that a couple of times. We still have a comfortable situation in terms of going through.
“We want to secure second place and we still have a big advantage after four games.”
Let’s just hope that the players have learned a valuable lesson and can bounce back straight away at Swansea on Sunday, because the last thing we want is to go into an international break after two poor results. Do you think the Gunners will put this straight behind us?
Don’t correct me because I am not wrong!,
But wasn’t Big F**CKING Garbage at fault for the equalizer?
Glass houses and throwing stones.
we hear this every time we embarrass ourselves… meaning its probably the 6-7th time I’ve heard it already this season.
exactly…and there will be more to come….
No disrespect but enough talk! Big mert needs to lead from example on the pitch and stop pointing fingers at other team mates, when he is the gulity party on most of the occasions within recent weeks with shambolic defensive errors! Practice what preach big mert do your talking on the pitch!
he needs proper competition….we dont even have quality backups…
Big per needs better midfielders infront of him (defensively) he had a good game against anderlecht bar the goal they scored he recorded 75% tackle success, won all his headers (except the goal were the strikers reaction was very sharp.) he made 6 interceptions, I1 block, 4 clearances.
Same with nacho he did well except the penalty.
I can’t wait for “bosscielny” to return from injury!
When he returns he’ll have to cover for Mertesacker and Flamini, and then he’ll get injured again.
Our 3rd goal could have been disallowed. Sanchez kind of fouled the Anderlecht guy( he went from behind and got a lot of the player). I didn’t see the Anderlecht players complaining, in fact they bounced back. So, Wenger, we weren’t unlucky.
Also stop blaming podolski. I don’t know why he wasn’t brought on when we were 3-0 up. Anderlecht had the momentum that time and Podolski didn’t understand that. Why? It was because he wasn’t briefed by the manager and no instructions were openly given to him before he entered the field. So it’s not his fault entirely for defending like that.
*that time when he came on
Enough of the excuses, apart from Sanchez and OX and Welbeck being forced to play a game that doesn’t suit him, we played $hit.
No balls, no grit.
It pains me to say it but when UTD went 10 men down to City on Sunday they dug deep and they battled, they put City under pressure and almost equalised.
I mean WhyTF can’t our players grow a set?
Simple answer is the Manager, see Fergie making excuses? Did you hell!
he ripped his players a new one and they didn’t do it next game, played themselves into the ground for him.
Wenger simply can’t inspire that sort of loyalty from his players.
We have amazing players in Sanchez and Ozil and some good team players but they will start to leave soon if we don’t replace the manager, they can all see close up the issues and the good players in the team don’t want to be 4th.
Welbecks’ directness is what suits his style but since the past few games he’s been asked to play like Giroud. Let’s hope it doesn’t affect his play in the longer term.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/teams/chelsea/11207261/Arsene-Wenger-says-Chelsea-can-match-the-Invincibles-and-adds-football-hasnt-changed-in-10-years.html
How should I react after reading that.
PS: READ FROM THE FIRST TO THE LAST WORD. WENGER KNOWS HOW OTHER TEAMS APPROACH US AND YET DOESN’T CONFRONT THE PROBLEM.
I don’t think the team will bounce back cause it takes atleast 15 match winning streak from now on all competition,fans may forget this result with wenger waiting for the summer window inwhich he will positively replace somebody with one or two players depending upon the winter deals. We find sanogo and diaby still at the club cause I am thinking arsenal have made a deal with diaby and fitness does not tell the whole story with him in surgery table more than a Avg human being can sustain without causing any damage to major organ? I mean common the club is lying about him 2 weeks away from full fitness what a. Joke!!!!
I think the boss has to urgently removed the bug that is within d Arsenal defense as a whole. One thing the boss must first accept is, Bfg of last season is not the same Bfg we are seeing this season. The current defending by Bfg appears to be on the decline. The boss has to correct this anomalies in Arsenal defense by taking a risk that could payoff in our away game to Swansea on Sat. Let the boss please start Bellerin Chambers/Ajayi Gibbs as the back four. While Bfg and Monreal should start from the bench. I don’t like the idea of having only one defender on the bench because of the security importance of that department. The boss should not wait until a defender is injured before making a change. The moment he noticed a failure in the defence is likely to occur, he should make a change before a calamity happen. I think mass attack and mass defense should be adopted in some of our games. I think the boss could always have a goalkeeper, 2 defenders, 2 midfieders and 2 strikers on the bench as subtitutes.
must be a german tjhing…..as long as this guy monreal areteta flamini and ramsey are the basis of our defence and the link to forward play arsenal will be nothing other than a 4th place team…at best…this has been obvious for 3 years now and the only reason we are in this position is the manager…greed and stupidity are at the root of the problem and a 3 year 8m quid contract is indicative of a club that is rotting at the core
That’s rich ,coming from him. He is a passenger wearing an Arsenal kit. He’s upset because Kos is not around to cover his lack of pace and showing what a poor specimen he really is. Back to F…… Germany please…
This is the all Arsenal story…
You have Mertesacker slamming his team-mates when he is clearly the worse defender we’ve got (and he just received a 2 years contract extension… And the “circus” continues for the pleasure of some delusional fans).
There is no accountability in this club from the manager to the sh*t players.
Each one of them think they are untitled to…!!! (you tell me!)
Same case with Wilshere who tells who ever willing to listen to his craps that he is back to his best… When, nobody, except “the deluded one” and Roy”The goitre” Hodgson, would even consider picking his lazy, overrated and ineffective “ass”…!! Well, he has that “local boy” bullsh*t going for him until a proper manager arrives and ship him somewhere where he will be forgotten.
Breaking news (In France of course): Abou Diaby will announce his retirement from football at the end of the season… (Source: France Football)
Wenger excuse for not getting a DM after calling Wilshere a “potential box to box player” (almost comical…!!)
I think Wenger makes those players believe that they are, may be, in one of the “biggest” club in the world (Financially may be and still to be proven, but sports wise, not even close) and they are unique and possibly amongst the best at their respective positions.
Wenger said he sees “potential” in the team… Where? Please tell me “deluded fool”?
This team is at best, really at best, average…
So far, based on the last 3 years, I can assume that we have one (1) world class player in Alexis Sanchez (and may be the overused Laurent Koscielny) and the rest is just paper over cracks (Since some have not performed, due to miss-used and tactical blenders).
The manager is basically average (not even that) and tactically nightmarish with no pressure to deliver results and trophies. What is the point of keeping him?
I understand why some fans are so keen for him to stay… It is always difficult to kick an addiction, in this case “failure” (Total failure) and contemplate the spectrum of something new and possibly painful.
Someone here said we won’t be able to find a good manager right now… At £8millions a pop, are f*cking kidding me? And funds for the transfer market (Kroenke will make them available as he did for his almost failing franchises in the US).
Wenger is finished… He is 65 yo and won’t change or try to learn anything new about his job. We desperately need something new and fresh.
This club has become a laughing joke and Wenger an embarrassment.
On a SPECIAL NOTE: F*ck Man City and Tottenham… I am tired of those fans always trying to divert the points by mentioning the demises of other rivals… True signs of weakness and ignorance (following Wenger irresponsible and unprofessional f*ck ups).
Dude….. you dont know shit! just support the club and manager or swap teams! Toten-F**king-ham FC needs more fans, just join them already! i believe in my team, their philosophy, the players (Except BFG), and most especially the manager. stop wasting time condemning, just keep being supportive and positive. #ThatsAll