It was not just Arsenal that the manager of the current Premier League leaders Leicester City was talking about after the Foxes stretched their lead at the top yesterday, but all of the clubs hoping to beat them to the EPL title. Claudio Ranieri spoke to Sky Sports after seeing Riyad Mahrez score the only goal of the game to sink Watford.
Trying to ease the pressure on his own players while at the same time trying to increase it on those of Arsenal, Tottenham and Man City, the Italian alluded to the differences in the amounts spent on transfer fees and wages between the big clubs and his relatively inexpensive and unfancied side.
Ranieri said, “We are not nervous, our job is done and our job was to save the team. This is an amazing season for us and everything we achieve is something more.
“The others must be nervous, the others spend a lot of money to win the title. We have to build slowly, slowly.
“This year is a crazy season for us, for everybody and we are happy and we have to enjoy. We know very well this is a strange chance that we have but we want to fight and then nobody can say ‘we were nervous’. No. We are focused and everything could happen.”
Arsenal fans may well argue that the Gunners and Arsene Wenger have not been spending big money to win the title at all, and there has been a lot of anger that the boss only signed Petr Cech in the summer and then Mohamed Elneny in January, but you cannot argue that our squad cost a lot more than that of Leicester.
So does this increase the pressure on us? I don’t think so really but Wenger did admit that there was massive pressure on him and the players from the Arsenal fans, in comments reported by Arsenal.com.
He said, “I must tell you that the pressure from our supporters is relentless and I’m in a good position to tell you that. We have to deal with that. We have to go on a run again. We play on Tuesday night an important game and then we will see if we will play in the FA Cup or the Premier League. We want to win our games.”
Is there too much pressure and expectation from us fans or is it something that the Arsenal players and manager should be able to cope with?
If Ranieri could this with Leicester, imagine what he could do us
raniere has done a superb work,l find it irrational to bring up such a conclusion,firstly its just his first season and thinking he might do this well with arsenal is a lie .
There’s some truth to what Mr ranieri is saying! when the perfect opportunity arises for us to take charge, we always bottle it! Damn! how I pray that this curse can be broken!
It can if the manager changes his ways or we change managers. You can’t rely on three players to win you the league that’s unrealistic, and what’s even more unrealistic if the fact we also rely on an average striker. And as much as I like Giroud he’s not the quality we need to challenge on all fronts, we can keep him as an impact player but either him or Walcott have got to go. Including Rosicky, Arteta, Flamini and Mertesacker. That’s 5 players we need to replace with quality if we want to challenge the big teams next season on all fronts next season. If it doesn’t happen don’t be surprised if Ozil and Sanchez hand in a transfer request.
Ranieri is absolutely right. Pelligrini is gone, whether he wins or not. LVG is leaving his post no matter what, so who’s left? Wenger, he’s the only one that will have to be there for the fan’s furry if we lose the title to TOT/Leicester.
What about Pochetino, he has never won anything and had more chances than us to get above leic also he hasn’t got previous history or helped with the move in the way Wenger would have given his two cents also hasn’t got a first PL team going for FA cup treble. Why is he not being chewed up?
@Trevor………..we may never understand what goes on in ur head, but it’s clear u got wenger’s chromosomes
how prepared will u be when wenger finally calls it a day? (which is inevitable)…..can’t u see the regress? Don’t u see how boring things have become in the Last 12yrs?….what is the major excuse for not lifting the EpL this season?….
The pressure is gone for Arsenal. At this point no one will believe Arsenal will win it this season which is good. We should focus to put Spuds behind us and see where that takes us. If Leicester win then props to them, they were by far the most consistent team in the league and there’s no shame in that, e beat them twice. It would be a beautifull football story and will show everyone once more how bad these over inflated prices are for the world wide football. If they do it then bravo! to them.
over inflated prices? always backing the specialist. when we had no money, we couldnt win even a mickey mouse for almost 10 years, ask youself how Ranieri did it while at the same time surrounded by the oil driven man city’s and chelseas, now we have money we still can’t win it, just because the specialist could not find in the market anyone better than what we already have (Flamini, Arteta, Per, Giroud). the truth is, we will never win it under the old man, even FA cup is n danger coz chelsea are still in it
Forget Wenger for a second (I know that is very difficult for people like you but for the sake of conversation just drop it). How much did Leicester paid for Mahrez, Vardy, Huth, Drinkwater and so on? It shows that you can win the title without paying huge amount of money. It may help but it is never a guarantee.
But you know what? The nice thing if Leicester would win the title will be like a confirmation for Wenger that money alone doesn’t win you the title. Leicester may do it once in the life time but it shuts up people like you. You think Ranieri is the sole responsible for good form and consistency Leicester is in now? Nothing to do with the team, no injuries, good reffing and playing their hearts out? Just asking, I know the answer to all these but they worth a mention. If by any wonder Arsenal would win the title then you’d say that Wenger had nothing to do with it. And then you wonder why you look silly when you post things like the ones above.
I agree Budd, also my thinking is we have beaten Lei twice, everyone says you have to beat the teams around you to become champs. We are the only one that done what we were supposed to, manu manc che? tott liv etc are the reason why Lei will have won this league.
Lewandowski was bought by Dortmund for 5m, Aubameyang for 10m, Higuain cost only 30m, stop being delusional and accept the fact our manager has no excuses about not finding the right quality.
First of all get your fact straight. Lewandowski was bought for 3 million, ok let’s say euros so that’ll make 4.5. There is no disclosure as of today for how much Dortmund paid for Aubameyang so you basically talk out of your … dunno? Higuain was 40 million by the time Napoli bought him.
Secondly, what this has to do with everything? Wenger bought Sanchez for 35 million and Ozil for 42 when Real sold both Higuain and Ozil. In 2010-11 we have sold almost everything, 5!!! of our transfers were free transfers (Chamach, Lehman etc) and only signing of importance financially was Koscielny for 8.5 million.
So, if you want to pay now 100 million for Lewa or 50 for Aubamenyang then create your own club and do it. And buy Higuain for 40 million while you are at it. There is quality everywhere. Why don’t you buy yourself an Aston Martin? That’s quality right there, why do you drive a Fiesta?
You’re not focusing on the facts here, Dortmund bought a world class striker for the price of an academy player and then replaced him with another top class striker for less than what we paid Chambers for. There is no excuse about not finding better players than Walcott and Giroud.
Of course Leicester are in a great position at the moment, and the 5 points lead at the top ‘obviously’ gives them a cushion/comfort zone, which could also be their downfall,
If player’s become overconfident and arrogant by taking their foot off the Gas!.. Just like our team, who went through the faze of thinking that they only had to turn up, to win their games!
All the while that Ranieri is trying to keep the media Pressure of ‘expectations’ off his team, their fan’s expectations are growing with each passing game!
Their fan’s are getting so Hyped Up into believing that they will win the league that they will get frustrated with any slack performance’s from their Over-confident player’s, Hence the real Pressure kicking in.
From what I have seen, I doubt that Leicester will win the league, they will buckle within the last 5 games of the season and they will probably end up finishing 3rd,
Which basically means that we still have a chance to claim the title but only if we can win our remaining games or at least better Man City’s results, as I believe that they will finish above Leicester!
I don’t know about that. It remebers me in school this skinny kid getting beaten by the big bully from final year. Every punch downed him but he rised everytime, like seriously. The year ended and then things turned a bit normal. Once he finished school he worked for a while as a social worker. That bully boy came into rehab a shadow of himself, it litterally reminded of the skinny kid in the school so bad was he. He died short afterwards after he run away from rehab for like 10th time.
Moral of the story? In the long run nothing is planned from the beginning.
? You totally lost me there, Buddie ?
That’s another thing that you have in common with Wenger! ?
Where did I plan anything in my comment? ?
That was just my opinion… My Judgement! …
Prediction!
I’m basically predicting that Leicester won’t win the league (Probably finish 3rd) And that Man city will finish above them and that Arsenal still have a chance of winning the premier league ‘IF’ we can better City’s results!
Hahaha
Okay Budd, I’m a bit slow as I’m in a zombie vampire mode! ( no sleep)
Are you the skinny kid that got bullied and in the end, you killed that bully?… Even though you never planned it in the beginning? ?
Good for you!… but what has that got to do with football?
?. .. Was he a Spud? ?
Some big predictions you made up above there, hope you’re right of course. It was a good comment I liked reading it, sort of half agree and half don’t agree with it. This leic team reminds me (Your thinking not this again) of the kid holding onto his few quid or his bag of sweets, a mighty tight grip on them. I was expecting to see more signs of choking well before last nine games because last nine is the final hurdle/stretch. Maybe it will become a horse race, we know the last hurdle is killer.
Haha you must be deluded more than Wenger…Leicestr to bottle it…Spurs to bottle it…Man c to bottle it…thats wat has to happen 4 us to win it does that cross ur mind rili?
Hahaha ?
Where did I say that Arsenal WILL win the league? ?
I said “Chance” and “if”
There’s a BIG difference mate! ?
Come back and judge at the end of the season!
Man City to finish above Leicester
Arsenal are too unpredictable and they will either go on a strong run to challenge Man city for the title or they will fade away in the midst of 4th place battle!
I didn’t mention the spuds because they have already bottled it by failing to beat west ham and 10 men Arsenal ?
Another St. Totteringham Day “trophy” fatty? They still 3 points ahead and bunch of goals differences from us. Which one worse? Leicester win the prem or Spuds celebrate St. Arse Day? I’ll take the second option anywhere anytime.
Not many teams have retained the Premier league Crown because of how their opponents up their game against the champions in the following season.
And I’m guessing that in the remaining fixtures of this season,
You will see the ‘opponents’ of Leicester and the spuds, up their game against the so called title favourites!… ( the old yard stick)
Everyone has basically written Arsenal off,
And this is an advantage for us,’ IF’ wenger can get his ? together. .. we can only wait and see with that.
And I’m hoping that the real Arsenal turn up from now on inn.
Ah, so there’s no pressure then, eh? I don’t look for you to say I am right but this is cool stuff. Without realizing you just made my point. I go get a beer. You prepare to go to work, ok?
Enjoy your Beer …
Mr BUDD-‘none the ‘-WEISER! ?
if we win rest of the matches we will be champions but the question is can we manage to display such a feat
No, fat man. Idea was that Leicester planned for staying in the EPL but instead they are running for the title. I know is morning but you can drop the rum and stick only with the coffee.
Hahaha
Keep guessing Budd,
And actually, it is the Coffee, that I am abusing lol ?
My profile name and picture, only reflects my sense of humour and nothing else ???
I’m sure Hollywood good better idea on filmed this Leicester event than your story. Moral of the story : Impossible is nothing.
Hahaha………fatboy……that was a perfect response to wenger’s next of kin
Mr Wenger,
I’ve been critical of you, but I wish you the best in our game on Tuesday. And I hope we win every game from now to the end of the season.
What you have done to Arsenal can be discussed at the end of the season.
well said mate,lets rally the team now.they sure need the push
Leicester are doing a great job of keeping pressure away, Ranieri Marhez and three to four more of their spine in particular. The day will come or would have come I’m sure of it but with a lead like they have now well that only helps them keep the pressure off still. I’m still amazed that I am not hearing Arsenal fans who say sack Wenger then also say get Ranieri in. This last one to two weeks was absolutely huge for us no-one needed reminding, looks like we were going to turn it round before Coq of all people slipped up. Little too late seems to be the case again, and maybe next season we will have a new player who can do what Santi does and another which can do what Coq does and hopefully a another CB along with a shiny brand new striker ..and start all over again, aaargh.
It feels like the joy and hope has been ripped out from the team and it looks like a repeat of 2011 season. Atleast in that season United won the league and no reason to be ashamed but Leicester winning is really a tough one to take.
I never see such a team like Leicester anywhere ever before. Not in this modern industrial football era. They are flipping their destiny just like that according to last year result. One may argue that their rising is due to big five awful performances. That’s incorrect. The stats ain’t lie. They won most and lost few. They are the most stable and consistent side at the Prem. Motivation from Ranieri? I don’t think that it is enough to explain this wonder things, because Ranieri had never ever won league title anywhere in his career. In hyperbolic metaphor we can describe it like this : If the moon moving into one straight lines between the sun and earth, you can’t avoid of living in darkness no matter how strong you are.
shameful piece of writing………whr were u when Leicester came from behind on a quest to Lift the League……. The idea of saying players prices are inflated soesn’t hold water in this case….how much does N’golo kante and mahrez cost? And how much does the entire Leicester squad cost?….its supposed to be a shame on wenger’s part considering how cheap wenger have been over the yrs and have not gone far in terms of achievement
this Season the Door has been Let open for Arsenal way too many times….yet we blatantly refuse to go thru and bottle it up…. And he can’t motivate , he can’t make rightful selection nor is he Less rigid in his tactics to adopt going into games
.
This is the curious case of Arsene wenger
that one was for u Budd!
Whend did Leicester came from behind? They were up there since the beginning. Man, I can swear by the fact that you don’t watch absolutely any game in EPL, you probably a Manure or Liverpool troll coming here just to test the waters. You take titles from Metro probably and come here saying you watched the games when instead you read the results (not bothering to even look at the table) and come here presenting an analysis based on your last breakfast.
Don’t forget the last 20 seasons when they were in the first division. You see? You can go back in the begining of Premier league if you want. But then Wenger would look like an achiever, isn’t it? That would not fit your bill though and this is why you don’t mention.
Fact : Leicester was in front (briefly in 2nd, agree) since the season started. Other teams could not keep up with them. Your point being?