The Arsenal midfielder Jack Wilshere was only playing his third League game of the season when the Gunners took on Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool side on Friday, despite playing them at the Emirates where we had won all but one of our last 14 games.
We went down by one goal in the first half with defensive errors all over the place and we looked dead and buried as we went into the break.
He said: “We felt we didn’t do ourselves justice in the first half. We played with a little bit of fear.
“We were scared to play our game, we are at our best when we play our football and pass it around quickly.”
But the Gunners must have had an inspirational chat at half time in the dressing room and even though we went two down rather too quickly we came back fighting and managed to put three past Mignolet. Wilshere called Wenger’s speech a ‘strong look’. He continued: “We allowed them to take the game to us but we had a strong look at ourselves at half-time and came back much better.
“We were disappointed not to win after conceding a goal like that, but we were better in the second half.”
Better is not the word, but we certainly were more spirited although we were helped by Liverpool’s defence which was just as bad as ours!
All we need now is for Wenger to give his half time talk before the game starts next time!
Darren N
When playing against the best teams in the world,it is the opponent who fears to step foot against that team. When we had teams like 1997-98 and 2001-02 double or THE INVINCIBLES,the opponent felt intimidated even in the tunnel itself due to the shear quality and the character of the personnel involved,let alone fear playing against us on the pitch. But now most teams;no all the teams think they can get a result against us if they defend well and just find a way to get at our SPINELESS TEAM SPIRIT+DEFENCE.. Wish I could see the ARSENAL OF THE OLD TIMES when teams prayed they better not get embarrassed when they play against us-Let alone the fact that they could get a positive result….
Very true arsenal nowadays, not having the confident we use to see when the likes of Henry ,viera,Danes,Roben V, and lunbarg were on the starting lineup ..it is only Alex and Ramsey who are capable of challenging any team in Europe because they are brave .current players are so scared to face top teams
Many Arsenal players do not dare to possess the ball more than two touches, because they are afraid of getting robbed. They will not be able to play at Barcelona with limited skills like that.
Ramsey? Brave? Bahaha
Ramsey might not neglect his duties at times but it doesn’t mean he isn’t brave. I would prefer an in-form Ramsey to Wilshire any day because he can defend and attack. He can be really frustrating when he is off form
Ha ha ha, Aaron “in-form” Ramsey The Brave, should be an Arsenal s captain as soon as he returns as a “great new signing”!
That will be the best symbol of fall of Arsene Wenger in last 10 years.
The way Arsenal play reflects the mentality of the manager. The players like to play safe, they are often reluctant to make risky moves and passes.
In this season, I only saw them played bravely twice, against Everton in the Goodison Park and when facing Tottenham at the Emirates. If they do not have cojones, like the manager, they could never win against big teams in away matches in this season.
New brave players like Sanchez, Monreal and Maitland-Niles would be needed in January, to instill the guts into some Arsenal players that like to play safe and like to make predictable passes.
Its lack of ambiton which creats a team as ours. Fans even do have problems to disnguish between the good, bad, and the worse bec of being deluded in accepting manager who has an loser mentality for years
If you play against liverpool one does not need to be told by the manager to be all fired up, its a matter of course, but like i said, Arsenal fans are fickle and deluded
I think lots of Arsenal fans are deluded as most of todays population is. There concentration is not high as should be. Thinking also. Marketing is rulling todays world and then when you get Trump, Brexit or rise of the far right, you start asking right questions. But sometimes its too late.
At Arsenal we are stuck with the Board who is trying to make a perpetuum mobile 4th place club. It lower the risks of investments although I can see clearly that they are taking money from the club, not feeding the club.
For more then 10 years now, we were always in need for two players on the levels of Ozil and Alexis (minus Ramsey 🙂 but we never buy them!
Even now, and even with this Board, and lack confidence, and Wenger and captain Ramsey, we would be much better with better CB and CDM then we have.
Wilshere is correct that they were scared of Liverpool. A team reflects the image of the manager ,that is all. Man for man, Arsenal players are better than Liverpool . No team in England has the squad depth of Arsenal ,with current and ex- internationals but we have a manager that makes team selection that confounds everybody but himself. In May at Anfield ,Wenger who lost home and away to Liverpool last season thought the best way to win at Anfield this season was to bench Lacazert the record signing , Giroud the dependable striker as well as Kolasinic an international defender who was brought to Arsenal to strengthened the team .Wenger did not stop there,, he played some players out of position , Bellerin a right footer at left half back .Wenger a week earlier did the same thing at Stoke City where Arsenal lost .
Last Friday, Arsenal FC could have beaten Liverpool with any other manager in the top ten . The two goals scored by Liverpool before were preventable with a left footed natural defender in Kolasanic ,but he was benched like it was in Anfield in May. Mainland – Niles is not left footed and he is not a defender, He is a natural attacking mid fielder hence he ‘strayed’ into an attacking position almost in Liverpool half of the field ! Wenger who sees nothing to micro manage matches saw nothing and as usual did not use the technical area to call him back . The second goal also came from our left side of the defense for the same reason! Let nobody blame the talented young man , he was played out of position
The question is :Why should Wenger be weakening Arsenal by wrong selection and wrong positioning of players in competitive matches?He has been doing it for years to the detriment of the club. He is also incapable of instilling confidence into his players and the fear of the opponents even at home shows many times no matter the caliber of players brought in .The defense has been leaking goals for over a decade with clueless Wenger unable to fix it
For Arsenal’s fortune to change , Wenger should go in summer .
No team has the squad depth of Arsenal?
I beg to differ on that.
And the league table reflects my opinion.
Man City has a squad of players light years ahead of Arsenal…
we have many players of a Europa League level quality. How many players we got that are world class? Right now I’d say none. Ozil, on his day, but no consistency, and Sanchez, Cech, even Kos are all finished.
Nooo, we have Ramsey! Barcelona, Real and Stoke are fighting for his signature as we speak!
But Wenger wont sell his in-shadow-captain.
Scared?
More like motivated.
They didn’t look motivated in the first half – a statement backed up by Bellerin who came out and said the manager gave them the hairdryer treatment at half time.
Not being funny but if you are an Arsenal player and you cannot motivate yourself against or are scared of playing teams like Liverpool – teams with our resources we should be competing against then you have no business playing for Arsenal.
Therein lies the problem at Arsenal – players who are not fit enough to play for them and a manager who cannot see it despite the fact it is staring him in the face…
Of course you will be scared when you are facing teams with far superior quality to yours.
Average players without a game plan will always feel intimidated by teams turning clubs inside out on the road. On Friday arsenal were fortunate to have a Sanchez and an ozil
EVERY big game we hear the same thing! “arsenal were not ready” “arsenal were not prepared” “we didn’t expect this”…. how is this possible?? This isn’t an acceptable thing to say at a big club!
Arsenal need a new Manager.