Freddie pleased with Arsenal’s reaction after being sucker-punched by Liege

Arsenal’s makeshift side actually played very well last night, but of course there was the usual sloppiness at times, and they simply could not get the ball in the back of the net at all in the first half against a very poor Liege side.

And then there was little surprise when we went behind to a badly deflected goal, and when the same thing happened ten minutes later it looked like we were going to have yet another depressing evening.

But the lads kept plugging away and with young Saka full of energy down the flanks he managed to set up the first goal for Lacazette and then finally get his name on the scoresheet.

Freddie was understandably pleased after the game, but he admitted to Arsenal.com that he was nervous when we were 2-0 down. “Yeah of course,” he said. “it was a bit difficult because I thought we played really well in our game plan in the first half and created a lot of chances and they didn’t have, I think, any shots on target. We should have made it in one or two goals up at half-time. That’s what it felt like, at least. A bit of bad luck and we then get sucker-punched a bit. They then scored two deflected goals and of course there’s a lot of points to learn from before that, but they’re still two deflected goals that you can’t really smash the players for.

“But then, the reaction we had, we believed in how we played, we kept on playing and we found the pockets and we sliced them open for two fantastic goals. As I said to the players, away from home and – no disrespect – but there was not so much grass on the pitch and at 2-0 down you can be like ‘ugh, I’m not going to bother any more’ and fold and we didn’t. We actually kept going and we came back to the game and then 2-2 and maybe could’ve gone up 3-2 in the end there as well. But at the same time, like I said, I got the information about the other scores and we were trying to not go too much.”

Although Arsenal ultimately didn’t need the point in the end, Freddie was very pleased with the players’ attitude. “Tremendous. Really proud of them.” he said. “That’s what I said to them after the game, it’s a tough place to come and be 2-0 down, like you said, tremendous fans in my opinion, a great atmosphere and they showed that belief in how they can play football and their own quality. That shows good for us in the future, of course they need experience yes, and they need to play, but that heart and that fight and that belief was amazing to see from the sidelines. And maybe I should also mention the energy they do it with. They go and they go and they go and they don’t stop.”

So despite all our worries, the Gunners gave the fans something to cheer about at the end. Hopefully that will give yet another little boost to our confidence ahead of the Man City clash….

Admin Pat

21 Comments

  1. Common! This was a game for the youngsters Saka, Nelson, Smith-Rowe, Mavs and they rose to the occasion – an away draw is not too bad as compared to a home loss to Brighton with our regulars. How do the youth learn and develop if they are not exposed ?A bold statement by Freddie and a coach who knows his team can take this decision.Well done Freddie, more to come and may you choose the best team for Sunday.I personally want him to get the permanent job rather than looking for rags and discards. City are beatable, and we can do it if planned well and natural calamities do not make it to the match day.

    1. The next tough five EPL games should be used to evaluate Ljungberg’s and the senior Gunners’ consistencies

      If they can get at least ten points from those five games, we would go back to top four race

      If they get less than ten points, Arsenal should start looking for a new manager and put the underperforming senior players into transfer list

  2. Great effort from Saka, but Nelson and Smith-Rowe need more training if they have to play in 3-4-2-1 again

    Saka has proven that he can play as LW, LWB or LB. I hope Nelson could also get his chance on the right side

  3. I like the urgency that Martineli brings to the team.we were toothless untill he came on.Lacazette was shocking,i do not like his body language.
    Let this be the last time we try playing from the back ,what the fk was that? We lose the ball EVERY time.
    Luiz and Sokratis should be killed or sold.
    How many times did AMN pass the ball backwards,i was seething.
    Martinez is let down by his defence
    Guendouzi has somthing missing from his game,i dont knw what it is,he goes sideways a lot for my liking.

    Im disappointed really,these are game we should win and score a ton of goals

    1. Lacazette dives a lot and I don’t like his reluctance to get past the opponents. But he hold Standard Liege’s CBs off pretty well last night, considering his small built

      Luiz and Sokratis should be killed?? Luiz can still be used as a CDM in EPL, but Sokratis is too sluggish to play in EPL and his aerial ability is not good either

      Maitland-Niles obviously saved his energy and avoided injuries for the Man City game. We will see much higher motivation from the players at that big match

      1. I was joking about killing them,but seriously we cant have those two at the back,its insane.
        I have been thinking about Martineli at number 10 instead of Ozil

    2. Luiz is a total liability, Sample any match and watch his movement, its always away from an opponent. Just sell the clown

  4. Am not really sure what to say. I wasn’t shocked by the team performance because I’ve come to expect it, but Mavropanos? My goodness he’s like the product of a Mustafi-Sokratis honeymoon. So much for that fraud, “Diamond-eye”. Brought us Sokratis, Lichtsteiner, Mkhitaryan and Mavropanos. Thank goodness he left. His diamonds are fake!

    1. We could as well Bring in van dijk ..and we are perfectly capable of turning him into a pathetic defender. The problem is not the personel but the it is with the training.

      I heard martin keown saying this in an interview “allow goerge graham to have training sessions for a month with this team, not even playing any matches but just training and i can guarantee that the defending would atleast improve by 50%”

      And i believe in his statement too. We fans are talking about bringing in upamecano in january. But i can guarantee you that it wont even take 10 games for him to fall to mustafi level.

      Only for this specific reason(defending) i would love either Allegri or simeione to be our manager just till the emd of the season.

      They should never be hired permanently at any cost as the so called arsenal DNA of beautiful football will be completely erased from the DNA(it has been gradually been erased from the dna since the final 2 years of wenger).

  5. Ljungberg has inherited the perfect storm.
    A team low on talent and low on confidence.
    A fan base with vastly unrealistic expectations.
    A rising tide of Injuries.
    A horror run of games upcoming.
    A board who is apparently interviewing managerial candidates.
    Amazingly Freddie has been calm and serene.

  6. Freddie has spoken a lot about confidence
    To me he is saying that many teams have a lot of talent
    but many bow to the pressure and don’t play to their potential.
    Arsenal were 3rd after 8 games but top 4 expectation saw Emery try to protect the top 4 place by going ultra conservative and the team retreated into their shell.
    Xhaka said the team was afraid of Watford and Freddie said the team was afraid v Brighton.
    Freddy wants to bring back the Arsenal swagger.
    But will he have time?

    The Arsenal schedule through February is proper scary.

    City(H) Everton (A) Bournemouth (A) Chelsea (A) Man U (H)
    Leeds (H) Palace (A) Sheffield (H) Chelsea (A) FA Cup 4th Burnley (A)
    Newcastle (H) EL 1st leg (A) Everton (H) EL 2nd leg(A) Man City (A)
    If Freddie survives till the end of Feb he will be a genius.
    Will he?
    No.
    I think the perfect storm will win.
    What say ye?

    1. Good observation Agu “Arsenal were 3rd after 8 games but top 4 expectation saw Emery try to protect the top 4 place by going ultra conservative and the team retreated into their shell”
      Sport is not for the weak, timid and faint hearted. The team should set aside their egos or whatever it is ,inculcate a winning attitude (irrespective if they win/loose) and play for the badge. No game can be a foregone conclusion, walk from the tunnel to the pitch with self belief and motivation. Players getting “scared” have no place in sport leave aside Arsenal. They should be only scared to collect the fat pay cheques without any performance on the pitch.
      Shame that the experienced players have to learn attitude from Gaby and Guendozi.

  7. Considering it was a young team, I would say well done lads. But going down 2-0 and than coming back shows both the fighting spirit and the amount of risk we take. We may not be able to come back against good teams. Specifically, I would like Saka to play on Sunday. Both he and Martinelli epitomize the spirit of Arsenal. AMN did the right thing with the Man City game in sight. Why did Freddie not use Medley as LB and gone with a back 4, so that Saka had more freedom and space? We have to use the Academy players at some point or other, to mutual benefit. Sad that Mavraponus is not yet upto the mark and cannot replace Louis or Socrates. I would prefer a pairing of Louis and Chambers for the Central defence on Sunday, with AMN and Kola as full backs. Anyway great we qualified as winners of the group or else we might have had to face either Inter, Ajax or RBS in the next round although we will anyway be facing them at some point or other. Hope Arsenal has had made significant signings by then. Finally FL did a decent job in the last 2 matches, and I feel he should be given the rest of the season and bring back confidence and swagger to the Arsenal team. Bring up Man City!

  8. Once again Sokratis and Luis were woeful.To turn his back on a shot from outside the penalty area just about sums up Sokratis.While I agree with the sentiments expressed by QD on Mislintat , I feel he is being harsh on Mavroponas who was playing his first game of the season at this level in a back three, whereas he normally plays as the ball winner in a back four.He was unfortunate with the reflection for their second goal which was a direct result of a mistake by Willock who I thought did reasonably well otherwise.Saka showed a real aptitude as a left wing back and could well be needed as a left back given the injury to Tierney.

  9. While Mislintat was here Arsenal made some good signings: Leno, Aubameyang, Torreira and Guendouzi and also OPPOSED the signing of Denis Suarez.
    Unknown yet: Mavropanos – young and could still come good.
    Bad: Lichtsteiner, Sokratis, Mkhitaryan
    So all things considered not too bad once a balanced viewpoint is taken – unlike the usual pathetic prejudiced viewpoint we’ve come to expect from Quantic-I-live-in-a-biased-Dream’.

  10. I watched the 1st half, not good. For you lads trying to break onto the 1st team there is a lot to be desired. They were slow, unadventurous, bad tactics poor all round.

  11. Look, a good turnaround in the end but we dont seem to be making any progress without the football. We are in a bad habit of bad habits and sloppiness. But through whatever means we won the group and we move on. Its just hard work watching us at the moment, we look a very shaky init, whoever plays.

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