Among all the excitement and euphoria pouring out of Arsenal supporters the world over last weekend, there was still an element of concern. It was nothing to do with the way the Gunners played, tactically, as a team and with the individual performances from the players. The big question was whether it would prove to be a one-off from Arsenal, a flash in the pan.
The TV pundits did suggest that the tactics of staying solid and compact and playing on the counter-attack without committing too many men forward was something we should have been doing in all the big away games in recent years. They also wondered, however, whether Arsene Wenger had set the Gunners up this way specifically to deal with the little Spanish magician that is David Silva.
This left me worried that we would see the bad old Arsenal in future big games, but Wenger has eased any fears about this, in an interview reported by The Mirror. The Frenchman explained the reasons for his tactical switch and they had nothing to do with Silva.
Somewhat surprisingly, Wenger admits that player power was a factor, with everyone feeling that something needed to change and being thoroughly fed up of the demoralising demolitions that we suffered last season. And although the boss says he is not giving up on his attacking principles entirely, he admits that he is happy to go with this system that makes the team feel more comfortable.
Wenger said, “At some stage you cannot go against the feelings of the team because it’s detrimental to the result.
“The team sometimes needs to be reassured and reassurance comes first from feeling solid and strong and then you can express your talent and our confidence in the big games had been damaged by these big results.
“Of course (I listened to the players). Your tactics have to be aligned as well with the feeling of the team and with the confidence level of the team.
“That’s why you hear so many times in the papers or on television “let’s get back to basics”.
“It’s not because a team doesn’t know the basics, it’s just to get the priorities right to reinforce the confidence of the team again because you gain it slowly back by feeling that you are not going to get blown away.”
In two weeks today, Arsenal travel the short distance to take on Tottenham and this will be the first test of the new tactics, even though the spuds are not one of the `big` teams that hurt us last year. And then we have the Champions League with Monaco, where the away tie could be crucial to our progression, but the one I am really looking forward to is the penultimate Premier League game of the season at Old Trafford.
That game could be so important, not just for league position but to show that Arsenal will really be a force to be reckoned with in next season’s title race. So are the big game blues really over?
I hope so
Bradford just equalised
hehe.
hehe, come on Bradford
OH MY F*CKING GOD
CHELSEA SPURS SOUTHAMPTON AND MAN CITY ARE OUT- C O Y G
WOWWWWWW
time to go on the chelsea an man city forums-
trolling there fans- this is too good an opportunity to miss!
loooool
FA Cup massacre day : the gods have looked favourably on arsenal today. lets make sure tomorrow we learn the lessons the big guns failed to do today.
And to think Midlesborough and Bradford had no Shnidelin or Fabragas mabey Chelsea and City needed a Coquelin who is up now for a new 3 year deal. Thinks Wenger will now play a more stronger team to win FA Cup Liverpool and Arsenal are the only ones left in top 5 could be good year me thinks CB
Whoops sorry I forgot about United but the who are they CB
It’s going to be an interesting final 10 minutes
Southampton 1 goal down
Chelski tied (at Stamford bridge)
City and Spuds 1 goal up.
Very close
Hopefully we can beat Brighton comfortably.
But we should give these lower league teams like Cambridge, Middlesborough, Bradford a lot of respect for fighting hard.
exactly. Everyone said we got easy draws in last seasons win (though i dont know how Everton, Liverpool qualify for that… Spuds I understand)… Wigan was a tough opponent, and Hull was too. Never underestimate a team in FA Cup.
I’ve just put an accumulator on Bolton, Bournemouth, Bristol City, Rochdale and Cambridge all to win. Leaves us Palace, WBA and Leicester to deal with.
Guys where can I watch the highlights of today’s fa cup matches tonight?
This is just too much fun
Let’s hope that Bolton can do a Bolton on Liverpool the remaining 20 mins, would make it perfect
Try ESPN Enjoy it I recorded Chelsea as well as City gonna enjoy this 3 hours with me Del Boy Breaky CB
Try ESPN I recorded Chelsea and City so gonna be a fun 3hours with my Del Boy Breaky this Sunday morning. CB
The outlook is looking fantastic all of a sudden; Sanogo scored, man united has a replay, both Chelsea and City are losing with 10 minutes to go, and our cup lineup is almost as good as our PL lineup for now
and now tottenham are set for a replay (as well as Southampton going out)
Didn’t Schnidelin play or was he just ordinary Just goes to show its not how much you pay for a player it’s how he is on being consistent Now I could mention a player for Arsenal that has been consistent in the 4 games so far that didn’t cost a penny but don’t want to upset anybody COYG CB
Middlesbrough aint doin too bad either…DANG!!!
The Boro should have iced this game many moons ago. City has the possession stats, but Middlesbrough has been the better team.
Bradford have taken the freaking LEAD
3-2 TO BRADFORD (at Stamford Bridge)
And leicester scored to equalize with Spuds.
Hold on Bradford and one more goal Leicester
Gabriel Paulista fee agreed rumours is it true?
I hope so. We need him badly
I’m worried about his work visa though
Relax? RELAX? with the type of FA cup matches going about, I can hardly relax….
Gunners will smash brighton.
One thing I know is… COMPLACENCY… the word of the weekend so far mate.
ur not wrong!
we have to retain this cup
Absolutely. If anyone had analysed the Arsenal, Chelsea, Man City, Soton and Tottenham fixtures we would have probably had the longest odds for a win being away at a Championship ground. Be afraid, be very afraid………well maybe just a bit afraid. But talk of “smashing” them is just needlessly inviting possible embarrassment.
Chelsea lose, Man City lose, Man Utd lose and Arsenal will win fa cup again.
Leicester scored!!!!
Leicester scored in injury time
2-1
Lol
TOTTENHAM BEHIND!!! hahahaha, this jsut gets better and better
wtf is happening lol
Chelski, City, Southampton and Spuds losing
Am I dreaming?
Somebody pinch me
Bradford score 4th goal LMAO
It would have been better if they drew though. Give them that extra match…IJS
that makes no sense, they get an extra match and then get through to face us…?
@Tidan
It makes a lot of sense, because it throws their EPL run out of wack. The extra match…
hahahahaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa, what a joy
Bradford 4-2 Chelsea
Mid 2-0 City
Tot 1-2 LEI
Wenger needs to get real … Man city losing at home to Middlesbrough … Puts our result in perspective!!!! If wenger brings in paulista and illirammendi i will believe we will be in with a shout …. But delighted my old home team put chelski to the sword unbelievable
Am I dreaming?
City losing 0-2 to Middlesbrough, Chelsea 2-4 to Bradford, Tottenham 1-2 to Leichester, Shampton 2-3 to Palace!!”
edit. Tottenham is OUT!
City down 2… this is crazy. What a brilliant wakeup cal before tomorrow
and now chelsea down 2… wtf
So i guess we’re winning the FA cup again?!
these other big guns losing tells us to be VERY careful: if we learn not to disrespect FA opponents, we can win the cup again this year!!
Are Chelsea, City and Tottenham really all out of the FA Cup or is BBC Sport having a joke?
Southampton too? What is this?!
regardless, I am LAUGHING… for now atleast 😀
Ah the romance of the fa cup.
It’s interesting that City, Chelski and Southampton all lost at Home
We MUST take advantage of this great day.
Lets win tomorrow and not have a replay
Also, Wenger needs to learn from today and put our a strong enough team.
Think I might go to church tomorrow morning and say a prayer or ten!!
COYG
wish UTD were though
*were out though
The FA cup is ours!lol
liverpool united and few others may disagree
Heskey might disagree.
all it takes is a draw against Man Utd away and we’re panicking again.
i think we can do united if we play like we did vs citeh
yeah, we’ll need another amazing performance. United may be poor this year but they still get results, and our record at OT is horrendous. We would have to be at the top of our game.
even wenger can now see with our result versus manc that defence needs to be taken more seriously. hopefully if we play against manU like we did versus manC , we can win at OT. all streaks have to end.
Final result: Chelsea, Man City, Swansea, the Saints are out. If Arsenal win tomorrow it will become a battle between Arsenal, West Ham, Liverpool, and Man United for the cup. Hope West Ham and Liverpool will lose but I do not see Man United losing to Cambridge.
You forgot Spuds . Out too.
That’s the icing on the cake For today
Jose Mourinho:
“If we lose to Bradford, it would be a disgrace”
Well we all knew that already, but now it’s official: YOU’RE A DISGRACE JOSE.
But you have to quote all of it. I hate Mourinho as well, but he said if we lost to Bradford to focus on winning the league, then it’s a disgrace.
Actually post match, he has confirmed it right now that it is a disgrace to lose against a lower team, so Maybe he did mean that afteral before the gamel.
Wow, I mean like wow.Interesting FA Cup matches.Yesterday man utd draw, today Chelsea, City, Southampton, Spurs lost
@muffdive trust me we will win it
really? your confident? we scraped past wigan an hull to win last year, actually scraped- gotta learn from today- dont be over confident!
Calm down!
FA Cup up for grabs again guys! Most top EPL teams are out now. No complacency, lets retain this trophy 🙂
paulista £12m with £3m based on appearances deal by Monday depends on Campbell (loan) as well
Hope its true. We would have got more points had we signed a quality CB in august. Hopefully
this is true.
Yeah, I’ve heard the deal is essentially finished. So happy we are finally getting another defender.
Mourinho, Friday: “If we lose to Bradford, it will be a disgrace.” hahahhahahaha looooooooool
Man City, Chelsea, Spurs, Southampton & Swansea ALL out of the FA Cup come on ARSENAL
Ooooooooo Haaaaaaahaaaaah!!!!!! i m really really happy guys because all the premier league big boys lost their games at their own stadium few minutes earlier in fa cup against small teams… it has really made my day and m very happy… chelsea lost 4-2 vs bradford at bridge man city lost 2-0 vs middlesborough at etihad southampton lost 3-2 vs our sanogo’s crystal palace at saint mary’s and lastly tottenham also losf at white hart lane vs leicester 2-0… I hope liverpool also lose today vs bolton at their own turf anfield in later match that would be something amazing guys all top teams gonna be out with our team hopefully tomorrow we will see off brighton and win the fa cup again and retain the cup and I think we r now favourites to win fa cup INSHAA ALLAH tis season again.. coyg..
Bradford became the first club to score four goals in the home of a club managed by Mourinho.
I would prefer FA cup win, atleast semis of UCL and atleast 3rd in EPL will be a good season.
Agree. 3rd, at least quarters in UCL (i still question us against teams like Bayern, Real), FA Cup. I’m feeling more confident since were finally getting a defender it seems. As long as we avoid another huge injury crisis I think we can do it.
v.interesting to read behind the lines on wenger’s comments: seems like the players got fed up with him not paying enuf attention to defence. and he listened! (finally!). if we can do that, we can win against anyone. the trick now is to figure out how to have both ozil and caz on at the same time and being effective.
We have to take the FA Cup seriously this year! All of the teams above us failed to win this weekend so we have a real chance but we absolutely cannot underestimate the competition, like they all have. This is a real chance for a Trophy!
We need new signings but likely to get only one Paulista.
The stage is set… Come on Bolton!
What a bad day to be a plastic fan.
Suddnely the transfer window activity will escalate in the next week, Chelsea will look to spend big on defence and City if allowed to by FPP will also try the same. I wonder if Mourinho is still thinking if he doesn’t need to spend in this window.
The FA cup is our most realistic chance for a trophy. We aren’t out of CL and PL is still mathematically possible, but now the FA Cup is very realistic possibility. We MUST take advantage of what happened today.
Chelski’s downfall was amazing because Bradford were 2-0 down @Stanford Bridge.
Very happy today
But more nervous for tomorrow TBH
I would really like to see Mourinho’s post-match interview, has he given one yet? After conceding 4 against Bradford, I imagine it would be quite amusing, especially being a manager who prides himself on defensive performances.
Crystal Palace front 3 next season
Lord Chamakh-Lord Sanogo-Lord Bendtner
15-16 Champions.
Loved the results today, all we now need is United to get knocked out somewhen and hope Bolton can pull something off at Anfield now! Things are looking very good already if we hope to lift the FA cup this season again however we shouldn’t underestimate the smaller, lower league teams.
tell me any Chelsea , man city or united forum. I wanna TROLL
Relax?I will only do that the very day he declares his seat vacant!
its confirmed paulista to arsenal and Campbell on loan to Villarreal
Im happy sanogo scored and happier totenham n city lost but happiest chelshit ate shit, four times, the moaning hoes face looked like the shit really tasted like hafizs’ shit, spend spend and still get beaten by bradford
Am I too greedy to want Liverpool to lose too?
Liverpool losing would make this a perfect day and us winning tomorrow would make it a perfect weekend.
who cares if its greedy? 4 out today! thats already f*ing greedy. even if pool or manU dont get knocked out, we CAN knock them out.
Gabriel is almost a done deal. Campbell headed opposite direction on loan till the end of season.