With Arsenal’s performances over the last decade under Arsene Wenger seeming to have a pattern of failure to sustain a title challenge, as well as selling our best players to our rivals, we could all be forgiven for expecting more of the same this season considering we have so many players entering the last year of their contracts.
But we have begun the season with a dramatic win, which is unusual in itself, and we Arsene Wenger has continuously and consistently refused to allow any of our stars to leave. So have Arsenal finally grown a pair and instilled that elusive ‘winning mentality’ into our side?
Wenger, for one, was very impressed after Friday’s victory over Leicester where we came from behind to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat. “Overall I must say we kept going and the spirit of the team was absolutely outstanding and overall you could say as well we were punished on every single mistake tonight by a Leicester team who was very efficient going forward.
“And you could see that this team has quality and is used to playing together, but [we had] 70 per cent possession with 27 shots on goal. Leicester had three shots on target and scored three goals, so that shows you how efficient they were, but overall I must say if you look at that from a neutral point of view, for the first game it was a top-quality match. You want the Premier League to be the best league in the world and I think it has to produce this kind of game to produce interest and quality. Even people will say we conceded three goals, yes, but we scored four as well and the game was of quality.
“Well if you were a manager and you would be on the bench when you’re 3-2 down with 20 minutes to go, and you win 4-3, you’re more happy than concerned. I feel as well that the goals we conceded, we can work together to get rid of that because one was a corner, one was a ball we lost in the build up and the third goal was on a corner again, so we conceded two goals on corners. We were quite good last year on corners and overall I believe that with a bit of work we can get that out of the system.”
So the Gunners have continued their winning run from last season, and with the extra confidence of beating Chelsea to two trophies since they were crowned Champions, surely we should be amongst the favourites to win the title this time around, if we can keep our spirits high in the dressing room. “Yes, of course,” Le Prof continued. “I am convinced that we won 10 of the last 11 games, and we won against Man City in the semi-final and the final against Chelsea. Overall I am convinced that the team is focused and I see that every day in training.”
Will this hard-fought opening day victory prove to our rivals that we mean business this time around?
Sam P
It will send a clear message , more especially we without our 1st choice back line (Boss, Musti, Per) our best player is also out. we can only get better. #COYG
Yes well said.this season is ours.in attack we are fine.in midfield we need someone along side xhaka.in defence we will be fine after the return of kosc and mustafi.so people who want to spend 50M+ on VVD,it will be a money wasting.with that money we can buy a great CDM.and we are fine for the season.
Gunners for life?
We need a deep lying midfielder not CDM. I don’t know why ppl keep asking for CDM when our problem is ball control and fast transition to Attack.i mean look at OX with leister. He was good coz he was changing defence to attack so fast with his technicality and pace. Xaca is a great passer but is not fast and technical enough to control the game. We miss Cazorla so bad. And by the looks of it, wilshere is not mature enough to make the right decisions and Elneny and coquina are CDMs of lower quality. Ramsey is exactly where he should be. Not a starter but not a bench player too. We don’t need RW too. I mean what are ppl thinking? We have iwobi, Walcott, welbeck, OX( his natural position), Campbell and Perez. Even though the last 2 leave still too much players. And this is in the back 4 formation coz in the current formation, add bellerin to it and we have at least 5 players there! And ppl keep asking for a rw???
The only thing we need to sign is another Cazorla ONLY.
we could search far and still not replace santi cazorla – seems we’ve coped well in his absence that’s down to having to regroup; and far as changing from defence to attack i see we are among the best in this department –
our problem is we get the opponents 18-yard-box and start faffing around this area offering a tick-tacky move that comes to naught or we get into the 18-yard-box and then start passing back.
Since the formation change we have done well in getting the ball forward, we did lack that when we stuck to the 4231 formation without Cazorla and it shown with the implosion we suffered.
Agree, most people think Arsenal need more players with outstanding physical attributes and defending attributes. Arsenal needs players with better technical skills to control the midfield.
The reason why is because the people who watch the games can see how Xhaka lacks the pace and agility to be a top CDM in the EPL, people run past him too easy and his slowness can mean he trips a player when aiming for the ball… being slow. However he could be a top Deep Lying Playmaker which is more of the role he has been doing, he has the STR to hold players off when he has the ball and he has a wide passing range with a respectable pass completion.
ElNeny played as a defensive minded B2B player and IMO that is what AFC needs more than a CDM (in 3421 formation) however a CDM with energy and intelligence can easily become a defensive minded B2B player. If you need an example of what a def minded B2B player is then go watch Vieira highlights, the guy gets called a CDM by a lot of people still which is frustrating as an Arsenal supporter who loved watching Vieira passion to get back to defend and then to drive the team forward. He was so much more than a CDM, true quality.
After watching pool and Chelsea, think we had a good result. Now bring in the big guns for next week! Continue this run to 10 games.
Next 10 games? why not till may next year?
Some of the comments yesterday were quite harsh. It was the first game of the season and had two left backs playing as centre backs.
I personally thought it was positive. Arsene has a bit of fire in his belly and Ramsey needs to score, which he did.
I was very pleased with the character we showed in the first game. If we can keep up this mentality throughout the season we can seriously challange for the title
Once boss, musti, per and gab comes back we will have one of the strongest defence in the league, up there with chelsea (specially with a weakened spurs)
With laca, sanchez and ozil we also have one of the best and fastest attack in the league, up there with city
Wings are also covered well with sead and ox (if he can be consistent enough)
The ony area of concern is the center. We need a very good DM to partner Xakha
I would say more of a def minded B2B player, a CDM to me is someone who sits back and defends in CM, rarely getting forward. A Def B2B will get forward to the oppositions box and defend from that spot all the way back to our own box.
Kante is a great example of someone who does this, some people was saying we should have bought Kante instead of Xhaka but I think it would have been ideal to have bought them both as they could make a great partnership.
With the return of Kos and Mus and with the growing momentum in our attacks, we will be a force to be reckoned with. I loved the way we scrapped it out on Friday……I think Leicester thought they had sneaked a number on us, until our two supersubs slammed the door.
Def need to fill in a bit in midfield , don’t know why we aren’t going all out for someone like Carvalho.
All in all we have showed our intent and there are more things to be positive about……. Even for the heralds of doom amongst us
thinking about ramsey and giroud only as super-subs – it makes good sense.
more comments like that and i’ll send kolasinac to your media offices to put you all in a sleeper. its a new day and thingsappear to have changed.
Let all stop getting over excited over one game saved by Giroud’s last minute goal.
Am sure if it was a draw or even worse a loss the response here will be different.
Can anyone remember that last minute’s Winner over Burnley at the Emirates last season both fans & players celebrated it like winning the UCL. While i think winning the game is ok but our defence is not the type you are expected to present if you are seriously Bidding to win the EPL
Don’t fool yourself. We not signing anybody else. Lemar talk is finished. Le prof saying his usually “we only look for an exceptional player”. Maybe a couple out on loan – Perez + chambers? . But be no more signings!
Up gooners!
We are always labelled with strong character and with “growing a pair” after having a hard fought comeback but why can’t we ever do it from the start go? Either you are an optimist or a pessimist or in between, it is way too early to judge this team on either it will succeed or not until next year. I think what is clear is that there is work to be done and fast, the next game will tell if we are serious and urgent enough to want to succeed this season. We also need to get better players and sell the ones we don’t want, which is as crucial to succeeding on the pitch.
I hear rumours that Marco Asensio is trying to use Arsenal as leverage to get a better pay at Real Madrid. Well I have been following this player since a year ago and all I can say is this boy has massive potential and is pure class. If there is any chance we can get him, although highly unlikely because I think he is too important for Real Madrid to let go, then we must do as much as we can to get him. I believe he will successful in the CM role and is above Thomas Lemar in terms of quality.
Well said.
That last 15 minutes performance was a dream come true!
If we are willing to let Sanchez go for free next summer which is a potential 50milllion loss compared to selling him now , why don’t we release the fringe players and those who are utterly useless to us from our sqaud. Debuchy , Jenkinson , Gibbs and Campbell will never see 1st team action so release them from their contracts to free up space for better quality players or use that to fund the 350 000pounds it would take for Sanchez to stay .
With regard to Arsenal growing a pair it’s too early to tell , season after season we have continually been misled with our team performance. Just when we think they are turning the corner they go loose abysmally to the likes of Watford , Westbrom & Crystal Palace . The game against our tormentors Stoke and Liverpool will be a true indication of what this team is all about . Stoke just like Chelsea at the bridge and Utd at old Trafford are psychological scars that we can’t get past . If we can dominate and assert ourselves against a brutish Stoke who now under Mark Hughes can actually play some football and against a Liverpool team that mixes physicality, brute strength and aggression along with dazzling pace and attacking players then we can safely say Arsenal have grown a pair .
I’m optimistic about our team especially with the addition of the BEAST , Sead Kolasinac , I’m hoping he is the inspiration on the pitch which inspires these players to actually GROW A PAIR .
Alexis could help us earn at least £50 million in prize money, EPL finish and cup runs…
Releasing the volume of players some people would like AFC to get rid off will not earn the club a profit.
Silent Stan cares about share prices, losing assets for free without them earning the club equal to their cost is not going to boost share prices and as such I can not see AFC being happy to do that.
Ultimately it isn’t as simple as we may like to believe, it is more than just cost when it comes to shares and how business people can manipulate share prices. Sad I know 🙁 Part of the reason why I am so happy to bash Silent Stan. I want him to show passion for AFC and to show ambition. I know any owner we are going to have now will be interested in profit and I do not care if we make an owner richer if we are showing ambition on the pitch to make us supporters sing with joy. Doing as you said would be a way to show ambition but does Silent Stan tell the club to consider it? Wenger has made it clear that some of the players are not wanted.
While i fully acept quite a lot of fans are very happy with yesterdays result as am i, i wouldn’t say we’ve grown a pair of anything just yet. Yes our boys did us proud with the win and the way we came from behind twice but there is far to much football to be played for us fans to start shouting that this is our season, after all it was a game against Leicester, not Man City or any of the other teams that will be challenging for the title this season.
Not so fast mate. Let’s not forget that almost all pundits and many arsenal fans alike has written us off already. so let’s take it one match at a time. And we should not forget that even champions would loose some matches. So let the criticism be objective and reasonable. COYG
No difference mate
No defence
No spine
But attack is same considering we scored load of goals last season but out of the top 4 all the same.
No improvement yet
It show our fighting spirit, as we won 4-3 and does send a signal to our premiership rivals, but we need consistancy so let go to stoke and pick up three points as those sides we do struggle against
It is very early to say. Sometimes we start good and collapse towards the end and sometimes the other way. At the front line, it looks promissing but we still need 1-2 Cazorlas