There were many Arsenal fans (especially on this site according to some of yesterday’s comments) that fully expected the Gunners to get humiliated by Man City yesterday, but the team responded with a show of mental strength to come back from a 1-0 deficit to earn a place against Chelsea in the FA Cup Final.
Wenger’s new formation seemed to grow on the team as they improved from a shaky, but defensive start, to end the game looking like the team in control. Arsene Wenger was very pleased after the game of course. “I felt that we had a strong response today.” he said. “We had a little bit of a cautious start, hesitant sometimes but we didn’t give chances away and we grew into the game. Slowly, we became better and better and in the second half I felt we were very strong, in extra-time very strong, we always looked solid and dangerous. We played more in the second half and I felt as well it was a big test for us today – it was a mental test because many people questioned ‘Can we turn up in an occasion like that?’ That’s why I am very proud for the players, because they showed they are united and determined.
“I want them to enjoy it, to play together and to play for the club. That is for me the most important. To reach the targets that we set for them together. Football is a team sport and as a manager your biggest joy is when you feel you have a real team performance. That was the case today and that’s why I am happy today.
“You know, I feel the club is in a very strong shape and that we have a very strong overall situation and a very strong team. We have shown that today. After that is for me the most important. One day I will leave anyway, so the most important is that I’m sure that Arsenal will always be a great club that everybody admires.”
This win gave the Arsenal fans something to cheer about for a change after our recent troubles, and there was little evidence of dissent amongst the stands at Wembley. Wenger was very pleased to see them go home with some smiles at last. “Honestly, I feel when you see today and you watch the stands, you see how big this club is. I feel just happy when our fans go home tonight and they are happy. When I don’t win the games I feel sad because I don’t feel that I give what people want. We have gone through a very difficult period and we faced some adversity that made the situation more difficult from inside as well. But we’ve shown a united response, not a divided response, but of course, mentally we were in a fragile position.”
Hopefully this will have dispelled a lot of that fragility, and we now can face Leicester and Tottenham in the next week with some added confidence and start clawing our way back up into the Top Four. Every game is a Cup Final from now on….
Admin
Hopefully Wenger can leave at the end of the season having won a trophy
The FA cup was very tough this year. If we win it, could be Wenger’s greatest achievement.
You honestly think playing preston, southampton reserves, sutton and lincoln was a tough run in the fa cup ? …we had a lucky draw ride to the semi !
Great result yesterday…big ups to gabriel, the ox, monreal they were immense..holding too but as for ramsey and giroud meh …time to ship out.
Ozil was poor…not bothered if he leaves . Sanchez was in the right place at the right time but other than that had a pretty poor game too imo.
@Lord wafflebury………. Sanchez always be finding himself at the right place and at the right time……how many other players achieves this ?
.
This is ofcourse the reason he’s termed “world class”
.
And probably he’s our Lucky charm…. Who doesn’t Love a Lucky charm?????
Well then Maybe we should change our name from Arsenal Fc to Arsenal United LoL
.
Likewise, Wenger deserves this token (FA cup) as a parting gift
.
Seriously, i can only be happy for Arsenal’s progress but wenger can’t please me anymore…….His time’s up *serious face*
You see guys, just a win yesterday over a club that has always been our tradition to beat. Even this season they have be so inconsistent.
Now Mr. Wenger is yelling that we are in a strong position, we are a strong team. Bet me, if we win the next three matches Mr. Wenger will come up and say, ” no need for additional player, we have a strong team to compete at the top levels”.
Thumbs up to Wenger and the team for yesterdays performance. The 2nd half felt like Arsenal again. I am liking our new formation, though it needs about 3 to 4 more players to make it close to perfection.
1. First OG must not be in the starting 11 – this formation does not really require a target man but rather a striker who can run behind the lines and can easily swap positions with the runners from midfield. I still say buy Lacazette, stick him to the left and play Alexis up to. Welbeck can be a good option to bring on from the bench.
2. We need a better midfielder than Ramsey – with Carzola aging, we might want to beef up the B2B position with a hard working all round player to partner the DM. Ramsey is a squad player at best.
3. Another DM would not hurt – I still don’t trust Xhaka’s energy levels, he seems to run out of steam and he is a little one dimensional (compare Y. Toure’s and Fernandihno’s midfield pairing to ours yesterday)
4. As much as Ozil put in a good shift yesterday, he had like 2 chances other number 10’s like Silver, Erickson, Isco, etc would have put away with a bit more imagination and individual brilliance. In certain games small margins or half chances makes the difference. We need a goal scoring number 10 to effectively use this formation. If Chelsea are listening to offers for Wilian, I think he would be worth pursuing and placing him at 10 and giving him a little freedom. My first option has always been Isco though he is hard to pouch.
With Sanchez leaving for sure IMO, we could finally be creative in the transfer market and trade Sanchez for another top player. Griezman will go to Man U but in theory we could trade Sanchez plus cash for Griezman. Or trade him to Real, Sanchez plus cash for Isco and Benzema. If big clubs want him enough they will give up a good player. I heard rumors of Sanchez going to PSG, although I am not a big fan of him we could try to cash and player deal for one of their other players maybe Cavani?
Point being IF indeed we can not hold onto Sanchez we have to use him as one of our last chances to attract another big name player in exchange.
We can not just take cash for Sanchez and not get a top player in return.
Keep sanchez…Get me Lacazette, Mbappe , a solid DM and an EPL trophy…. Then you can stay one more season
.
After that, off you go…..To france…. Your misus and kids
That will cost you about 200 million. Not likely to happen no matter how great it would be. That is more like a City or Man U type of move.