You can’t blame Wenger in any way for Arsenal’s defeat to Man United

As usual, after Arsenal lose any game at all, we always get some commenters coming on here saying that it is all Wenger’s fault and he has to go. Well you may have been right if you had said that after our abysmal 4-0 defeat to Liverpool at the beginning of the season (as in ‘why are we never ready to start the season like other teams?’) but surely you cannot blame the boss for yesterday’s loss?

For starters Wenger picked the very best XI available to start the game, and we know he did because we saw this same XI destroy Tottenham and demolish Huddersfield in the last two weeks. We had kept three clean sheets in a row and all the fans were praising Mustafi, Koscielny and Monreal as being a brilliant back three (which they are usually) but how can we account for the schoolboy errors committed by Koss The Boss and Mustafi? Whoever you can blame it is the individual players but not Wenger.

Some will blame Wenger for not motivating the players? Well I saw an Arsenal team that were extremely motivated and fought desperately to claw back the goals. They were running rings around the United defence and got themselves into loads of goalscoring positions, but simply couldn’t find the end result. It doesn’t matter if you have 100 shots on goal. If every single one is hit weakly or kicked straight at the goalkeeper then they are going to be easy to save. De Gea was highly praised for his performance but our strikers hardly made it hard for him. Is that Wenger’s fault that our very expensively acquired front line couldn’t aim to put the ball into the corner of the goal? I think not.

Did Wenger make the right substitutions? Yes he did! In the end we had every single available goalscorer on the pitch and they were all introduced at exactly the right time to counter Mourinho’s tactical changes. You would have thought that one of them could shoot straight.

Le Boss was absolutely right to be angry with his players at the end of the game, and so are we. But don’t come on here and say that Wenger was to blame for anything because it is simply not true…

Sam P

37 Comments

  1. I can’t blame him but the defenders that gave away such cheap goals.
    Well, if it was another goalkeeper we would have scored basket full.
    Lacazette is a good buy.
    Am so sad not only because we lost but because we have drifted apart from the top.

    1. Defenders are humans too afterall

      Kos and Mustafic would not have made such mistakes in Fifa 18….

    2. It is wengers fault beacause this is not the first time we have seen such mistakes in big games.
      if it was musti then it would be someone like xhaka.

      it tells you that maybe wenger doesnt go hard on this guys.

      i tell you if a guy in a mourinho or pep team did a mistake like that he would get skinned alive.

      IT IS WENGERS FAULT BECAUSE WE HAVE SEEN ALL THIS BEFORE.
      from djorou,almunia,squllaci to wc defenders like kos and even cech.
      the only constant thing is the coach.

    3. I do blame Wenger for wanting our team to play pretty, pit a pat football in or near our own penalty area. It gets us into trouble over and over again. Sometimes it is best to get rid and re form.

        1. Another AKB telling people to either support Wenger or support anotgher team. I have a better idea YOU go nd support Burnley.

  2. Well normally I would disagree but in this game I will not point out any particular player. It was more or less the whole team who just did not perform against a game manure side. Yes there were comical mistakes in both defence and attack but clearly we didn’t play our best.

    However,I would like to admit that wenger needs to take the europa league seriously now especially from the knockout stages coz we are not guaranteed a place in the top 4 and (may I be proved wrong) if we miss the top 4 and wenger bottles us out of the europa league by playing our second team,certainly then he is to blame. I mean this is not the mickey mouse cup and the reward is a place in the UCL. Plus since we are in the QF of the carabao cup and defending FA CUP CHAMPIONS,those two competitions need to be taken seriously too as we need trophies as the EPL TITLE is certainly heading towards manchester-manure or manshitty….

    1. This team needs to play with some pressure…full strength for the league

      and a mixed balance side for the Europa would be a good option till we reached the final

  3. so the defensive mistakes that go back over a decade have nothing to do with wengers stubborness. If its true that we are going for johnny evans that will be the nail in the coffin.

  4. But the biggest question is here that why always Arsene Wenger’s side do such mistakes… Sloppy passes, sloppy Touches, sloppy defending, laps of concentration… Why we don’t have innovation in defending direct set pieces on goal…. Yesterday we saw one amazing defending innovation from Ashley Young when Ozil chipped the ball from free kick towards other side of Dea Gea but Ashley Young already understood the intention of German… Young simply back paddling towards goal even before German took free kick and Young cleared the ball on line… That was sensational defending innovation from Young… These kind of things doesn’t come alone in player…. These things need to be developed and motivated by Manager… Many times we have seen sloppy passes in many games… Sometimes Xhaka does mistakes… Sometimes our defenders…. I am not blaming Wenger but he should maintain the stamp and fear in the minds of players about their place in starting line up if they do such blunders… Such fears players holds about Pep and Jose Mourinho…..

  5. No mattter who we play, we will make the goalkeeper look like world class. I think De Gea is the best in the world but haven’t this happened before?

    Reason is bad finishing. Whether its De Gea, Forster or Fabianski, we will make them all look world class.

    When it comes to defending, its a mental problem. We crack under pressure. I think Wenger is the type of person who cracks under pressure and the team is the reflection of him.

  6. Sam the problem is if you can not blame Wenger in any way it means he no longer has any influence on results or the squad and that can not lead you to conclude he has to go.

    Once a manger no longer has the ability to impact and own his teams performances he is done.

  7. You can blame him for persisting with Xaka,, who noted where Lingard was for the third gift only to leave him unmarked, while Jack is on the bench.
    You can blame the officials though for missing two clear penalties, one on Lacazette in the first half with that ping pong incident and the other on Wellbeck in the second. Disgraceful in this age of technology.
    You can’t blame Wenger for an exceptional goal keeping display.

    1. Seagoon, for once I would have supported Wenger if he had slated the officials. Arsenal could not buy a penalty in this game; the missed penalties were blatant and stopped Arsenal getting back in the day. Of the pundits Andy Gray for one, was very sympathetic to Arsenal for the unjust officiating.

  8. Just looked at the highlights. It just really bad finishing, now good saves which almost every professional goalkeeper would’ve made. But mainly just utterly bad finishing.

    Meanwhile Cech concedes another pointless goal, this time between his legs. New goalie needed in January.

  9. It’s not Wenger’s fault per second but he has been around for a long time and it just seems that he has run out of fresh ideas.

    If you look over the last few years our main motivation has come after humiliation. Our best runs start when we are humiliated in a game and that just shows the lack of fresh ideas as the motivation should be coming from the manager.

  10. The loss to manutd is not Arsene wenger’s fault in anyway. He selected his best 11 but they failed to live up to expectations.
    Our back three all fail us.
    Koscienly, Mustafi and Monreal kill the game for us and lacked that composure we needed in such an hypertensive game.
    All round; my team played well but was denied a point my Man of the match DE GEA who is the best goalie in the world.
    Life goes on. We have to learn our lessons and come bk strong because we have Southampton next week which is still another big game.
    COYG….We will come bk stronger. I believe Arsene Wenger and the team.
    2morow is anoda day.

  11. Let me guess, if we’d won, Wenger would have had a huge influence, but we lose yet again to Mourinho, and Wenger is somehow blameless!

    For once, I don’t really have a problem with Wenger. It was three individual errors that cost us the goals, and maybe poor finishing from our strikers, but to be fair, De Gea had the game of his life!

    Wenger has to take some of the blame though. Having this obsession with possession cost us the first two goals. I have lost count the amount of times down the years we play ourselves into trouble from the back, because we don’t want to give the ball away, when we should be just clearing our lines. When Giroud came on, Wenger should have just demanded lots of crosses, and long balls, but instead the crosses were few and far between, and we kept trying to play the ball through the eye of a needle, even though Utd had so many defending.

    1. Wenger has to be blamed for at least 2 things:
      1. Not having enough quality cover in defense so when mistakes do happen he can (although questionable) bench players. These players don’t seem to worry about consequences
      Xhaka despite his miserable criminal lack of awareness on the third goal will start and play next week.
      2. Wenger seems unaware of tactical issues and does not address them immediately on the game.
      Maybe as you said he is more concerned with the passing/attacking side of the game but if you can look at the teams that are on top, their defenses are sound and not prone to the error that plague Arsenal. Pep’s attention to detail and reaction instantly as the game unfolds is a major reason why City will more likely win the league.
      The team needs an overhaul and it may take a few years but the sooner we start the better off.
      Winning Europa is not a gimme either. There are some serious teams in there and it will get increasingly tougher with some teams dropping in for Champions league.

  12. In truth, Le Boss is culpable of our defeat to Man Utd yesterday. Ask me why? Having seen that Koscielny is not up to scratch in dealing with Paul Pogba’s musclar strength play who had earlier out muscled him man to man to set up Antonio Valencia to put Man U 1 goal up 3 minutes into the game, and seeing another defensive flaw exhibited by Mustafi who allowed Jesse Lingard to put Man U 2 goals up 11 minutes into the match. Something should have told Le Boss to bring on his true midfield enforcer in Coquelin for Xhaka to give adequate shield to the back four which could have prevented Lingard scoring his 2nd goal for Man U late on in the game. Had Le Boss brought on Coquelin for Xhaka immediately Arsenal conceded the 2nd goal, the complexion of the game would have changed for the better for Arsenal and going by the strong way the Gunners were fighting hard not giving up in the game, the zeal in them would have led them to cancel out the 2 goals they’ve conceded and go on to score the winner in the game to collect all the 3 points.. Right?

  13. This match highlighted the areas where we are lacking namely at goalkeeper and centre back.Czech and Kos have been fine players but they are no longer first class. As for Mustafi he is what he is, an average footballer. Unless we recruit in these areas, because Wenger clearly does not trust Holding and Chambers in Premier league matches, we will continue to be also rans.As far as I am aware AW sanctions all sales , loans and acquisitions and as such he alone is responsible for the teams performance.The players showed plenty of fighting spirit against Man Utd who were handed their goals on a plate. I suspect the same might happen against City next week as they are also deficient in defence.

  14. We saw nothing new in terms of the mistakes and lame defending. Let’s be honest there was time after the first mistake by Kos for his teammates to correct the mistake but instead, they were cut up by Man U as if they were not there same for the second goal.

    As Wenger said we were weak and not dominant in the beginning of the game and were punished for it. How can the team start the game with such lapses in concentration? That has happened over and over again. You can’t give them too much credit for trying to catch up after they give the game away inside 10 minutes.

    This is a trend not a one of an incident. If it was one of the incidents I would agree with you Sam but since this happens in most encounters against the big teams you have to look at the manager as well. And the manager is not going to change his ways and therefore the team’s trend and characteristics won’t change either.

    1. That’s right – the whole defence seem to think they are a carbon copy of a certain L Messi! When in doubt get rid! Even kids know this – but not defenders trained by Messrs Bould and Wenger, who think it is below them for any Arsenal player to simply hoof the ball to safety.

  15. Manager chose a good team and was not scared to make the substitutions needed…apart from one !
    I am a little tired of seeing Sanchez pretending to play and giving the ball away so often. All the talk by the pundits about Ozil having to be carried by his team mates…no one seems to have noticed the decline in Sanchez’s game. Dare I say it…it’s almost as if he is doing it on purpose.
    As for our other strikers, Lacazette included, I will only say that they were very disappointing in their finishing.

    1. Yes, especially infuriating is that stupid little lob Sanchez does into a penalty area packed to the brim with big opposition defenders who invariably get to the ball before any of our greatly outnumbered and much smaller attackers – usually 5 against 1! It’s pointless and just gives the ball away – while Sanchez thinks it looks good and he’s being clever. Just lately he’s ‘gone down the nick’ as we say in my neck of the woods.

  16. Think I watched a different game – a-side from 2 mistakes which should never happen, but will occasionally we were outstanding

    Best we’ve played all year.

    The fact we did that after going 2 goals down shows deeper resilience, and courage than we’ve shown in years.

    Thought Ozil, Ramsey, Lacazette were fantastic. Never been as happy despite the loss

    Sad to lose the 3 points, but we show that warrior spirit in next games and we do just fine!

    COYG!

  17. Only a complete fool or an outright hater (e.g. Konstantin) would blame Wenger for this loss. To summarize, 2 bad defensive mistakes, great goalkeeping coupled with some poor finishing, and poor refereeing cost us the game.

  18. I think we are too obsessed with blaming Wenger for everything that goes wrong with Arsenal that we do not see some other things not going well with our team. Man city plays out of the back and its a measure of the confidence of the team and we can not blame Wenger for trying to play out of the back but experience defenders like Kos and Musti should know that when its tight to play out, then you should play safe and even if they were not told by the manager, common sense should tell them. Common, I am here and I am not paid to play football but I know these things and so we can not blame Wenger when plays do not take responsibility on the pitch. Did we notice how many times Sanchez gave the bail away and one actually led to the 3rd goal ?!!

  19. let me ask this question
    is this the first time this defensive howler is happening or has it been happening for awhile even though we’ve had personnel changes in players. please akb answer this question. thank you

  20. Adams could have brought some stability to the defnce but he said
    Wenger didn’t want him. As was keown. Wenger didn’t want his tactical
    strategy to be changed when everybody knows it aint working against the big guns.
    The fm is an arrogant fm and as long as he stays,Arsenal aint going to win the epl.
    Adams has said so and did many other top players.
    As many fans have written to say his passing game is to be blamed. Mu played minimum passing with acres of space and scored. Why didn’t the defenders concentrate on defending?
    Oh Wenger would love defenders scoring . Instead they shot themselves in the foot.

  21. When will Arsenal fans accept the fact that the modern Arsenal team burns out the potentials in a well proven players with exceptional qualities the more they played with the mediocres/under average players they met on ground, because they’ll squeeze out all they have till last drop…to mention few: Cech, Arshavin, Ozil, Vamelin…while other big teams makes an average player looks world class: Lingard, David Luis, Pogba…

  22. The early mistakes were costly and unacceptable from both Kos and Mustafi. But afterwards, the attitude of the players, the intent, the team selection were absolutely amazing: Wenger did everything that was required and it didn’t pay off. I personally believed we were able to come back, even at the 89th minute, when then announced 5 added minutes.
    We can blame everyone, including Wenger when we lose 4-0 against Liverpool with no attempt on goal, but for this kind of match, blaming Wenger is just stupid. Many other teams have lost a game when they deserved to win.
    I am so tired of Tony Adams’ comments: we never hear him when Arsenal is winning… is he the fan we could expect from a former player?

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