With the very busy Christmas period ahead, and a few easyish games I might add, Arsene Wenger believes that his Arsenal team have a chance to make up some ground on the League leaders to put them back into the title race.
Wenger said in the Telegraph: “Let’s see how the schedule goes over Christmas. We’ll have a much better idea at the beginning of January. It can still change. That’s why I say, ‘let’s wait’. Will it only be Chelsea and Man City? Today you can say maybe, but it is still a long way.
“Chelsea play Champions League, Man City do as well, then you have the FA Cup and Chelsea play in the League Cup. There is still a lot to go. But what is for sure, the teams like us and around us, they need to be massively consistent to have a chance to come back.”
Consistency is hardly Arsenal’s strong point this season, but Wenger is still of the opinion that the World Cup was a big factor in Arsenal having their worst start to the season since he bacame manager.
“I don’t think we have gone backwards in the quality of our squad because if you look at the five players that we bought, you cannot say that one of the five players is a failure,” Wenger said. “I can’t deny that we are behind much more than last year because we have had a depleted squad since the start of the season, and the fact that we got so many important injuries at the back cost us too much. We lost Debuchy and Koscielny at the same period for three months. It’s too much.
“After the World Cup, we had too many players who came back not ready to compete again and then you look at the number of players that we lost when they just came back to their best. We had no Walcott, no Wilshere, no [Mesut] Özil, no Debuchy, no Koscielny, no Arteta, no Giroud for long periods.”
I can understand our long injury list being to blame (although Man United might disagree), but surely the World Cup argument is invalid as all the other big teams had just as many players over in Brazil as we did? Arsene just gave our players a longer rest, and a fat lot of good that did!
Easyish games, did you not watch us vs Pool and Man U.
Most people thought we would win by 3 goals, but we know what happened
We had Injuries season after season so that means hes ranout of excusses
Non Monsieur wenger, Many of your players are simply not good enough.
Fabregas : 12 assist in 16 games this season.
Wilshere: 11 assist in 95 games in his entire arenal career
Martin Skertl : 7 goal last season
Wilshere : 6 goals in his entire arsenal career
I do not care what fanboys say wilshere is not good enough.
Who is acutally good enough at Arsenal you bonehead?
Cazorla for Reyes
Gibbs for Ashley Cole
Kolcieny for kolo toure
Debuchy for Lauren Mayer
Sanchez for Kanu or wiltord
Ozil for pirez
Any of those players will get into the early wenger /invisible era substitute bench.
I cannot see anyone else getting into that team.
Not even fanboy darlings like
Ox
Ramsey
Wilshere
Giroud
I agree with the things you say. Only that Fabregas would not perform the same way he does at Chelsea while playing for us.
Fabregas at arsenal
Appearances 312
Assist. 88
Goals 52
He was as good , if not better.
A goal every 4 games
One assist every 2 to 3 games. fantastic considering the fact that he was playing with the likes of denilson , senderos , djorou etc at that time.
What about what does show on stats like.,
A MIDFIELDER DICTATING THE PACE OR TEMPO OF A GAME .
Which he did most of the time
Wilshere’s game was never about stats anyway. When he won our player of the year award in the 2010-11 season, he scored just one goal.
Fanboy stuffs
Oh what a clueless manager, u were having fun in sao paulo all summer and on transfer deadline day, u were in Vatican city. U must be one of the luckiest employed soul on earth…..u and diaby.
Hahaha!, no kidding
The house of Rahman demands Wenger out
Lol you deserve ten points brother
Same old WENGER, the last few weeks saw some signs of change and thought there was light at the end of the tunnel, but it was just an illusion this man will not change.
I can see why as every year he backs his negligence due to injuries, but I just cant believe that six months after the WC he is still bringing it up, if the remarks are true, then that is a clear sign of his delusional state.
WENGER OUT!!!!!!!!!!!!
Spot on. Same old same old. Never accepts responsibility for his incompetence and poor tactics. Unfortunately there are many fans who lap this rubbish up and side with him. Imagine if Madrid, Barca, City, Chelsea were in this state at this stage of the season? The manager would be out on his ear. At Arsenal there is no pressure on the manager to succeed.
I am not even going to go that far with the likes of Guardiola, Simeone, Heynkess, Fergusson, (SAD WENGER USED TO BE ON THIS LIST) watching the Chelskis game noticed Allardyce was making changes and bringing SUBS at the 58th minute (not 85) at least trying to change things against a team that was vastly superior, what WENGER does in these cases brings POLDI at the 85 minute and Campbell at injury time…well except against LIVERFOOL when he did all the wrong changes…The man has no ideas anymore, completely lost touch with reality and bringing still the World Cup (people already forgot who won it) as an excuse proves it.
Just realized that West Ham has a lot of size and height. Hope Wenger’s watching the game because I fear players like Santi getting bullied and we’re playing them away. Most important games yet is against West Ham then Southampton both away…
yeah… I forgot Arsenal is the only team with WC players on it… *yawn*
Same excuse like ” injury has hampered his development ”
It certainly hasn’t hampered diaby and theo who ooze class and quality every time they makes a come back.
Some players are simply not good enough
Excuses! Excuses! Whats new its wenger just being his usual self!
Looks like it’s another assist for Fabregas… What ever happened to if a world class talent is available we will spend??? He was one of ours for crying out loud, now Mourinho has him. Wasn’t a wise move at all I think.
Cesc could have helped Arteta with the double pivot like he’s doing with Matic while providing those long defensive splitting passes from deep. Shame really and to add insult to injury the players we deploy in that position are pretty much ALL injured…
We’ve got wilshere according to some arsenal fans .the same set of fans were on the back of Alex song despite being our only assist creator from the midfield in a three man midfield of him , Ramsey and wilshere.
Newsflash: Wenger, other teams had players at the WC too!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
It’s unbearable to watch Fabregas playing for the VINCIBLES….Thanks WENGER.
Thought I was the only one, especially seeing assist after assist. I actually expect Chelsea to win the league as that’s how it always goes. Teams buy our old players and win the league that same season. City did it with Nasri, Utd with Van Persie and now dare I say too soon, Chelsea looks the type with Fabregas… It’s just too much now for the fans to bear…
I haven’t watched a chelsea game dis season. It kills me seeing Fabregas wearing a no. 4 kit in blue. Can’t even blame him. For, that matter can’t blame RVP or Nasri either.
cant blame wenger for not signing fab as midfield is packed up.but not buying a specialist dm and an experienced centreback has put the team in chaos.maybe nxt season,arsenal will have a complete squad.thats what wenger’s comments suggest (like hes not afraid to spend ?).but this season title ? impossible.he will go on talking this way until its ‘MATHEMATICALLY POSSIBLE’ O_O
if players were burned out after world cup,its wengers job to give them adequate break.he can only do that,if squad is big.man utd arent affected by injuries as they hav good cover !!
Wilshere , Ramsey ,ozil, rosicky
You can sell two players in that list to create space.
I would personally have sold wilshere and rosicky.
They are injured most of the time anyway.
Tbh,wilshere is an extremely talented player.he got lost in all the expectations and praises he got from the media.add to that,the lad is into social networking.hence,he hasnt developed his game.hes still young though,and can be as good as fabregas with his passing if sorts his head….as for rosicky,he keeps playing like some 28year old and speeds up our game,and very experienced too !
It is the defence why the gap is this big,else it wud hav been within 10 points or so,which wud hav meant title is within grasps ….
when you have time , YouTube a video of 19 year old fabregas in an arsenal shirt .then come back with that injury excuse.
Unlike most who expect arsenal to win the league with a mediocre team , I do not deceive myself with such hopes . Some of the players are simply not good enough..
Take your time and look at stats people do not look at . How long can a player hold on to the ball in the same spot , under pressure, without turning his back to the challenger .
The weight of passes given by a player to another player under pressure.
How often does a player do something no one else saw coming ..
Nonsense.
Are you actually telling me that Wack Wiltshire, Sicknote Diaby and Arteta would stop any manager in the world from buying Cesc?
Wise up.
You got it all wrong, just with the first three words .. “”cant blame Wenger”” who then, this deluded individual have to make decisions, he had to drop players to open space for FAB, him and Sanchez together would have given us the Title even with BFG leading our Defense. This excuse of a Manager better do well against QPR…GO GUNNERS
Off topic: I see Chelsea are still playing the diving game. No card for ivanovic, what a joke
You watch chelsea, I cannot stand them. Boring as hell . The person making them watchable is fabregas.
I like to watch football you silly yank
Galaxy gooner y do you hate to watch Chelsea and Manchester United? These teams went out in the summer and bought quality players. Chelsea went out and spent over 90M on Diego Costa, Fabregas etc Manchester United spent over 150M to add great talent to there team, what did arsenal and Arsene do?
1) We bought a C-striker ( Welbeck) whose first touch is atrocious
2) We didn’t get a defensive midfielder( still waiting on Diaby ” God knows where he is”)
3) No defensive cover
4) Average players that no top teams would even include in there squad. These include
MERT,Wilshere, Sonogo, Gibbs Monreal, Flamini, Arteta, Welbeck.
Excuses after excuses from Wenger he keeps blaming the World Cup for the teams bad performances well Mr. Wenger 90% of B. Munich team played in the World Cup they are top of there league and they top there group in CL. My grandma use to say “you can’t teach a old dog new tricks” I am not by no means calling Mr. Wenger a dog but I am saying he is out of tricks(tactics).
I remember in 2011 after the famous 8-2 smashing our deadline day trolly dash of Mertersacker, Andre Santos, Arteta, Benayoun and Park. For the past few seasons fans have been slating Arteta when actually he was the only one of that group worthy of Arsenal. Funny what some 3-4 seasons later fans are now crying for Arteta to return because Flamini is a wrestler and Per is nothing without Kosielny. We need (2) CB’s and a DM…
Next time. I blame my hamster for Arsenal poor performances.
Why is it when teams play Chelsea, City, Utd, Liverpool and the lot they play absolute rubbish but turn up against us always? Something I’ve actually noticed and it baffles me.
Cause we sh1t due to lack of tactics and playing players out of position. Also loser mentality, fragile ballerinas
Nothing about tactics
The question is can each and every players hold their own against 2 markers at the same time.
Wenger philosophy ( power , possession , speed and intelligence) is built on players certain traits.
Now take each player and measure each trait against their names.
I will do possession
I can only think about 4 players capable of giving a perfect weighted pass under pressure ( cazorla,ozil and kolcieny, ramsey).
They know they can bully and intimidate us, because we allow them to without fighting back except for a few players.
18 points behind and we are not half way through the season.
Wenger must blame himself for once….. He makes bad choices and trusts his misleading instincts… Look how Song is playing, look at Fabregas….. And imagine we still rely on Flamini and a winger for a central midfield role…. Wenger makes me feel sad about supporting my Arsenal…. I don’t want to lie…HE IS THE MAJOR CREATOR OF OUR TROUBLES….. And I for one have lost all my trust in him… Unless he chokes up a narrow win agains West Ham,, um scared we won’t crack it…..
IMO we shouldn’t make it. Only way a change will come in Wengers approach or a new manager all-together.
“Nothing is impossible; there are ways that lead to everything, and if we had sufficient will we should always have sufficient means. It is often merely for excuses that we say things are impossible.” Francois De La Rochefoucauld
Wenger + Excuses = Season of Failure
Wenger
Diaby
Wilshire
Mert
Monreal
Campbell
Sanogo
Wellbeck
Flamini
Arteta
Poldolski
All players that should have left the summer.
Poldolski only there cause he doesn’t fit into our system
Yes I’m sure Mertesacker was the only player that came back from the world cup completely ready. Thats why he has played more games than anyone except Chamberlain.
And yes I know Welbeck would not have left as we never should have bought him. Headless chicken
What happens to our starting defensive lineup on Sunday? I know for a fact that whatever happens today, Mertesacker will not be fit enough to play on Sunday. He has already played so many games, and he is slow anyway so a second game in 3 days is not going to be ideal. Will this be the back for?
Gibbs-Monreal-Debuchy-Bellerin
That will be a joke, that our back four our filled with fullbacks, you can thank Wenger for that.
Sorry I forgot we have £16m Chambers.
It’s last chance saloon, Coquelin should be given a starting berth somewhere for us. Maybe instead of Flamini, or in rightback position.
Watching this Chelsea team is so frustrating. They’ve been playing the same starting 11 all season. They have had barely any injuries. I’m just waiting for two or three of their regular starters to get injured as it happens with every team (except Arsenal who has 8-10 big injuries) and see how they cope. I’d love to see them play an extended period of time without their strongest CB pairing.
Manyoo vs Newcastle will be interesting. Pardew lost three on the bounce. Hope he pulls off another Chelsea with LvG.
Tired of the same xcuses #AW OUT!!!
United have shown us.
invest in a world class manager and give him all the money he needs to fix the squad and everything comes together.
Arsenal board should take notes,even with the injuries United had they still doing pretty well.
Then Wenger says buying too many players disrupts the squad…only if you are a rubbish manager…
We need quality at Arsenal starting by the manager then the medical team and finally players…we need extreme change to compete.
United have won nothing yet so easy on the accolades. So United have discovered the secret have they? Hire a world class manager and commence an unlimited spending spree. Oh the genius of it all. Tell me, if that is the recipe for guaranteed success why doesn’t every team do the same? And what happens when others do the same? 2 of the Man City, Chelsea and United trio are going to fail each year?
Look in the Mirror Mr Wenger see that person looking back at you he is to Blame.
Mr Wenger you blame everyone but yourself as usual. Get a grip.