Arsenal are pretty used to dropping behind the League leaders in the New Year but traditionally have an excellent run of form towards the end of the campaign, usually to claim a place in the Top Four. This season we are in a much better position just three points behind the leaders and Arsene Wenger is confident that we will once again have a strong finish and hopefully this time it will end up with Arsenal as Champions.
“The secret is that you are rewarded for your consistency of the attitude and your focus at the end of the season,” Wenger said. “The fact that your perseverance comes out is why I’m positive, because I feel this team has been on board since the start of the season. That will become stronger in the final part of the season.”
Another reason we always do well is that all our injury problems seem to miraculously disappear when we are out of the title race, but now they are returning while we are still in contention, and Wenger thinks that is crucial to our success. “The squad should all feel more confident and they should also feel more competition for places,” he continued. “My problem for selection will be bigger but when you look around you, you have players on the bench who can change the course of the game. That makes the squad stronger.
“The squad has responded remarkably well to play so many big games and win them. The fact that we suddenly have more choices at this crucial point in the season means that you can sometimes rest a player who needs a breather and that is an important luxury to have.
“If we want to compete on all fronts, that will be very important.”
So if everything goes like previous seasons where we have won at least 33 points out of the last 45 (and won two FA Cups), maybe, just maybe, this really could be Arsenal’s season…..
i really hope so mr wenger. your not buying a cdm backup haunted us for the last few months while coq was out. thought elneny is more of a b2b rather than cdm; hope to see more defensive work from him.
i could stand the 3:3 versus pool: we showed great courage to come back and were unlucky.
versus stoke, 0:0 is respectable (just).
but the 0:1 to chelsea – that REALLY rankles me. our CDM position was VERY soft in that game (and mr wenger: can you pls not play mert when we are playing a high line??)
If you are to have an opinion at least get your facts right. The situation that led to the Per red card had nothing to do with high line but down to a mistake by Kos. As to your claim about Flamini’s positioning, I can only conclude that you did not watch the match because he was exactly where he needed to be, that is why Willian has to pass the ball to Costa rather than take on our central defenders. Unfortunately this fact does not fit in your idiosyncrasies hence the need to misrepresent facts.
I just imagine what how the comments would be like if it was Arteta or Flamini misplacing those passes that Francis was misplacing yesterday, and losing the ball in areas he was losing it yesterday. This is not meant to slat Francis but we have to admit that he could easily have cost us yesterday by losing the ball in our own half on a number of occasions. But we cannot expect players to be as water tight as a brand new gasket.
Coming to the centre back partnership, if you watched the match you must have notice that on a number of occasions Kos and Gabriel went for the same ball creating potentially dangerous situations for the team. It was not the first time that such misunderstanding happened between the two. In the Olympiacos game the misunderstanding culminated in a corner and a goal. Such misunderstandings never happen when Per is part of the defence. That should give you an answer as to who starts in CB when both players are available.
Thought Ox did well vs. Burnley, however………
He needs some coaching for techniques to keep his shots DOWN. Seems like 99% of his shots either hit the bar or go just over it. Cmon Arsenal coaches. Get busy.
What about the Isco rumour?”Real offering Isco to Arsenal for 25 mil”?Hm….too good to be real…or it is?
It seems everyone is coming back, so f#*+-ng happy, competition can only makes everyone better.
Injuries has always played some part in our seasons imploding January/February every year…but more than the injury jinx the factor most responsible for that habitual and almost inevitable implosion is our lack of character,grit and mental fortitude to deal with pressure….Arsenal game some of the moat delusional in the world so we always have a multitude of excuses ay the ready to explain away another melt down instead of facing up to the reality of the issue..surely its not a coincidence that we ALWAYS seem to go on a good run of form as soon as we are out of contention for everything…the winning streak we inevitably string together always comes when we have nothing to play for and thereby there is no pressures….no pressure to maintain a lead at top of league or to push the league leaders even if they slip up no pressure to qualify for the last 8 of the CL….its just goes to show how mentally fragile the team has been and the result against Chelsea just shows we are still very much the same…..thumb me down all you like but the truth is always bitter and hard to swallow….i just refuse to fool myself and start believing we can win it until the club,players and manager show me things are different and it won’t be a case of same ol same ol…..starting from Tuesday
There is really no need to thump down such childish and mindless post. Except for 2013/14 season, Arsenal has been the team of the second half of the season for the past four seasons. Your childish claims could have held water if you were making reference to the 2009/10 and 2010/11 seasons. Of players who played in those seasons only Walcot and Gibbs are still around, so performances of those seasons have no bearing whatsoever on the performances of the current team.
In the 2011/2012 season Arsenal recovered in the second half of the season from 11 points behind fourth place Totts to finish third, three points ahead of the Totts. Talk of no pressure and no character. The same happened in the 2012/13 season, despite the club losing two of its most valuable players of the previous season.
You can enjoy drinking from your detestable cup of negativity but never translate your ignorance into “truth”