Arsene Wenger did admit after his Arsenal team put in a much stronger and more resolute performance away to Chelsea this weekend than the last one at Anfield when we got drubbed by Liverpool, that he had been able to spend more time on the shape, organisation and all round defensive approach of his team.
It was noticeable to say the least, but the Frenchman played down the idea that he did not prepare properly for the Liverpool game, but claimed that his team, and especially some individual players, did not have the right focus for the Liverpool clash because there was an international break about to start and, more importantly, there was all sorts of speculation about who might stay or go in the final few days of the summer transfer window.
The boss told Sky Sports, “The difference is that we are not in the transfer period.
“And on the day we were not before an important international game with players going away.
“As well, we realised what we delivered was not good enough overall, but I must say we are all human beings and when you play 50 or 55 games it can happen that there’s a bad performance, unfortunately.
“I believe we were focused [against Chelsea]. If we are not focused today we do not get away with a point. We were focused, determined, showed character and when we had the ball we tried to play every time.
“I think we were close to winning this game. It is a good basis to start from and go from strength to strength.
“You could still feel sometimes, because of what happened [against Liverpool], there was a little inhibition. With a bit more freedom, I believe we would have won the game.”
As we know, the move of Alexis Sanchez to Man City broke down on deadline day while our England international Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain did get his wish and signed for Liverpool. There were rumours about others like Mustafi as well and none of these players covered themselves in glory at Anfield.
On the other hand, we have seen some awful games from the Gunners before which have not been at the end of a transfer window, so do you accept Wenger’s explanation or is it just a convenient excuse?
Darren N
If so wasn’t that his own Making the same as last year his contact was a distraction
Wenger was saying all window long that he didn’t want Alexis gone, Gazidis could have stepped in and told City that we wouldn’t entertain any bid but did he?
Instead we hear he could be moving on deadline day IF we can get Lemar…
Lemar bid might have been a PR stunt but I wouldn’t say it was Wengers making, he wanted him from the beginning and AFC failed to get him, lowballing initial bids so Monaco wasn’t so inclined to sell more starters and this I believe is Gazidis fault, been the pattern (penny pinching) since his 1st season in charge.
Wenger was wrong with tactics IMO and that is what lost us the games (again, IMO), not the BS that Wenger said but his faith backfired in Monreal playing in the middle of CB.
Transfer window was a definite distraction .. but for Wenger and not for the players.. for me I woukd have told Sanchez and Ox they were not playing u less they signed a new contract or window was closed… he chose to show them he wanta them but they both used it for their own purposes… As a result the whole pre season was lost as Wenger has played Lacazette and Kolasinac and what must they have thought not to be picked in such a big game…
Wenger should then and always only pick players ready to work hard for the team… yesterday also showed we dont need Ozil to play all the time… if he had come on 2nd half yesterday along with Sanchez the Chelsea players would be thinking WTF at our bench quality
Does Arsene expect Lacazatte to score in the opening 5 minutes ? He should f###### stop subbing him at the slightest chance he gets, Lukaku is chilled the whole game but assists and scores in the final 10 minutes. Give Laca more minutes,
Wenger expects Lacazette to be fit and ready for the next game, and with no Ozil, there was no point in keeping the French striker in all game.
Makes no sense……he is a professional…………
So what are you saying ? Are you saying that Lacazette was bought just so he can be on the starting team sheet and that he has to avoid injury in that game so that he can be on the next team sheet ?
“Is Arsenal transfer distraction right or an excuse from Wenger?”
Transfer windows are open spaces for players coming in and going out. Last I knew that was a distraction for any team, not just Arsenal.
Did Wenger make is worse? Yes and no. Yes he tried to get another signing of even greater impact, and was thus willing to go after a top talent with no second chance if he did not get it right. Lemar is a talent, and is proven at the CL level too, even if for one season. Close, but no cigar.
However, I think Wenger could have just stayed out and consolidated the side by staying with Sanchez for this year no matter what. He thought he could get a deal in and use Sanchez money plus about 30M for Lemar. That would have been too perfect.
Ox’s case was hilarious. Wenger wanted him sold, but had to pretend hard we was the English superstar in making to build a team around. Finally, after all the needed praise and contract offers, Le Prof sold the Ox to Liverpool, and we have 35M to show for it. Brilliant. But, it cost us the game against Liverpool.
That distraction was bad enough along with Sanchez in the doldrums. But, let us hope it was a one off. I hope Xhaka and Rambo learned from that game how not to play mid-field. I hope everyone in the team learned about focus and humility, and what fans want.
Wenger has a hard job that few other managers can handle without 200M budget let alone 50M. I do not think we can win the EPL unless something amazing happens to our players in the next few weeks and they beat City away and United away.
Now of course we can scream to the owners for more money. Surely, our fellow fans can find more evidence of their uncaring attitudes and make it more public? What not try other forms of financial take overs? How about finding a team of buyers with an offer for Stan’s shares?
It is an excuse……,,,Wenger is gushing about the draw……….and I hope he learns from this game………sometimes a draw is the best outcome…….if there had been more time after that red card we could have lost the game……….because Wenger would have gone for it……….making us vulnerable to counterattack……….
It’s just excuse. Admit it it’s your own responsibility. If every transfer windows make Arsenal drop then Arsenal will never be a champion again. Remembering many times Arsenal suffer big lost he always find an excuse like injury crisis, match schedule, international match, etc. Thinking another team, how can they handle with these issues and can go to top 4 or win the EPL. Now time arsenal to change, AW era should be ends soon. I believe if AW era still continue then must be something wrong with the board.
Of Course it is an excuse…. Being player who earning healthy money week in week out then it’s your responsibility to put transfer saga behind you and perform on pitch for whoever you are representing…. It is just an excuse…
Monreal MOTM.
Welbeck missed yet another easy chance, wont miss him if he is injured.
The usual Wenger excuses. Liverpool also had transfer distractions. No one told Wenger to play a player (Ox) who would be sold to Liverpool a few days later and no one told Wenger to play Alexis who still thought at thattractive time that he would also leave a few days later. And no one told him to bench his two most motivated players (Laca and Kolasinac)
The lack of focus for the Liverpool game was vintage up and down Arsenal and vintage poorly prepared for the PL to start and vintage out of the blue redicoulous team selection that included 20% players who didn’t want to play for Arsenal and other 30% (Bellerin, Ox, Monreal) being played out of position.
We don’t have a real playmaker in the middle + the movment and passing is so slow (that’s the reason I start hating Arsen wenger because he forgot how arsenal ply beautifully when whole team ply one touch football)
Hate?? That’s a very strong word….
Now a manager of 25 years experience that only realized his teams frailties in his last away thrashing at Liverpool must be in a comma or something. People have been pointing out Arsenal’s lacking’s for years. Well then again it is weegor we are dealing with.
Actually, when we lost 8-2 to Man Utd , it was also during the transfer window when we had that mass exodus of top players like Nasri, etc. The 6-0 capitulation to Chelsea was also because Chambo handballed in the penalty area and Gibbs got sent off in error. The ref inadvertently sent off two players as Chambers did not recover throughout the game. So to an extent, Wenger may be right as to the importance of players’ psyche before and during a game.
That notwithstanding, he needs to work on the players’ mental strength (maybe employ a world class psychologist) so that they literally stop wearing their hearts on their sleeves. Whether anyone agrees with me or not, Olivier Giroud is extremely strong mentally and I think others should emulate him. Sead seems like a warrior too….
Up Gunners!!
No doubt in my mind that the transfer window did disrupt a number of players and would have had an effect on the team dynamic.
It can,t be good to think that 11 of you are a team but only 9 on you want to been playing.
That being said, if the ox was half out the door and Alexis was still ill/fat/sulking about the failed move to man city they should have both been benched and laca and Kolasinac played instead.
So the