Arsenal go to Man City today to try and hang on to third place in the league knowing that a draw will be enough to take into the final game against Villa.
Maybe this is why Arsene Wenger has come out again publicly to criticise his defence in the hope of getting a better performance out of them today.
Le Prof said: “We have to add something defensively as a team to be more ruthless,”
“Once you are two up at West Ham you finish 3-3 you question the team defensively. We were not strong enough defensively. We gave cheap goals away against Man United and were punished for it.
“I don’t think we are soft but we need to toughen up. In some games we were caught, but a lot of the teams have the same problem.”
It is unusual to see the Boss publicly haranguing his players but he has been critical of the defence for some time now whoever is playing.
Perhaps when he says “Add something defensively” he is talking about some summer arrivals??
Admin
monreal-koscielny- toby alderweireld-bellerin….problem solved
good luck trying to convince the Spuds to give us Aldeweireld!
Yep, defence is first priority in a team, but we need a hungry talented striker (assuming we can’t get an established name) too, plus a midfielder or 2.
I’ve been a fan of Giroud, but even I’m starting to lose patience with him and see that we need a better upfront player, but like the man says….who?? Who is available?
Our best back 5 are decent.
Apart from Ozil everything
further forward is suspect,
over rated and often
injury prone.
I’d like to see a big clear out of at least 14 players.
Ospina, Mertesacker Debuchy, Gibbs, Arteta, Flamini, Rosicky, Walcott,
(Wilshere +Cazorla injuries), Chamberlain, Gnabry, Giroud, Sanogo.
Then bring in a new manager and 10 quality additions.
I agree on all of them except wilshere and Santi…. Wilshere still needs time to prove himself and Santi, well Santi is not expendable
@ziol
Jack has had more time than most to”prove himself”…
Gnabry? LoL. You sir, shouldn’t be a manager 🙂
And what on earth has Ospina done to be sold?
Jesus your as extreme as Piers Morgan!
Selling Carzola is ludicrous, why would we sell one of our best players?
Wilshere I can see where your coming from but give him a bit more time too much talent to throw away so rashly.
Chamberlain should be kept but maybe send him out on loan because I think we all know that has got great potential but just needs a solid season as an undisputed starter for a club which he won’t get at Arsenal and rightly so.
Ospina is a good goalkeeper but will probably want out so can’ argue there.
Giroud would be a great squad player and good insurance should whatever striker we bring in not perform, he is our top scorer after all with 20 goals(good for squad player).
Gibbs is a weird one he is decent to have in squad but we need to be grooming a top young left back so if we could get one let Gibbs go but if we can’t then keep him as left back isn’t really an urgent issue compared to other areas.
Debuchy, Arteta, Flamini, Rosicky and Sanogoal will go so fair enough.
Mertesacker is decent to have as back up so if he is willing to stay then why not keep him because we saw how much we missed him against West Ham he is good to deploy in certain games.
Gnabry should probably go or send him on loan to a German team and see if playing at home builds up his confidence again.
Walcott is dangerous to let go if we don’t replace him with someone of top class because we know he can perform on his day so we would need someone a bit more consistent. I just worry he goes to Liverpool or City and becomes a World beater, sell him abroad if possible.
“I don’t think we are soft but maybe we need to toughen up”
Wengerspeak
Our attacking players don’t do enough defensive work. Sanchez doesn’t track back. Ozil covers great distances but doesn’t really tackle. Walcott is not known for his defensive strengths. Campbell works hard defensively, but he’s not really starting games is he?
And that’s probably the biggest difference between Arsenal and Leicester. Also when Leic park the team, they have CBs who dine on crosses into the box.
Pochettino replied to
criticism of his his team’s
rough play. “Spurs used
to play good football but
got bullied all the time.
Now if any team tries to bully
us they get a knuckle sandwich”.
Arsenal needs to toughen up too.
The fans need to stop accepting
the 4th place B/S that’s been going
on these past 12 years.
The defence has had some horrible games this season, that goes without saying but with Monreal, Kos, Bellerin in the team we already have a good foundation to build on, but Wenger in his infinite wisdom will nit buy a world class CB, choosing to rely on a Per who will not make the first 11 of any half decent side, so who is to blame for that oversight? Not saying Per is the only reason we have been dog waste for a while defensively, our over all approach to games don’t help to and that goes without but surely when you buy a good player like Gabriel you play him as often as possible to let him get used to the league and team not leave him on the bench in preference to Per thereby killing the guy’s confidence…..you don’t win the Europa league with a solid Villareal team unless you are half decent…ao Wenger cam point fingers as much as he wants, any half decent football watcher will know the bulk of the blame lies on his ahoulders
Well for me, the frailty at it’s worst came from not stopping crosses at it’s source. The wingers and on occasion fullbacks were the weak-link. Monreal for the most part did his job, but he wasn’t helped enough with cover, so could not close the man down, instead he would have to go with runner. Bellerin sometimes does not get tight enough to his man. Alexis, Walcott, Ox and even Iwobi do not work well enough defensively, not determined enough to do it at every opportunity in every game. Joel and Ramsey when played were probably our most consistent defensive widemen. Arsene needs to take his share of blame with tactics. He likes expansive football, but doesn’t have them drilled hard enough about our shape without the ball.
Why is wenger talking about the defensive department at this stage of the season? Is he afraid that his precious top 4 trophy might slip away? Heard him saying “the future of our club depends on this game” so suddenly this game is now so important,but he has been sitting like a spectator with arms folded in 80% of our previous matches. He should stop talking and show his experience (if any) on the manager’s technical area.
Two games to go and Wenger has the cheek to come out with that. People have been saying for 3 years that the defence was not good enough and he comes out with this 2 games to go……..pathetic! Did he not buy the players, does he not pick the players, does he not direct the players…………pathetic!