Just Arsenal News

What do Arsenal need this Summer to be title contenders by CJ

Arsenal are 18 points behind Man Utd and 5 points behind Man City, however both teams have a game in hand on us so the question is realistically how far, in footballing terms, we are behind Man Utd and Man City.

Last week’s game against Man Utd showed us that this current group of players under this current manager have the desire and the quality to compete with very best – but don’t have the required mentality that’s needed to win a major championship. United had nothing to play for and in that 1st half we absolutely dominated them. We were quicker to the ball, we were closing them down and were passing the ball quickly and accurately, but then Man Utd showed why they were champions and why we are not even contenders right now. .......Read the full article here

It would be a very brave man that would bet on Arsenal to make it through to the next round of the Champions League after last night’s home defeat by Bayern Munich, and it seems that Arsene Wenger has surprisingly agreed with them, although he thinks there is a “hope” we can go through.

Wenger said: “Let’s not hide the truth: it will be extremely difficult against a team of that quality. They didn’t play two finals in the last three years without that quality that we have seen tonight. We have to give our best there and hope that everything will go for us and hope that by the second leg we have built our confidence up a bit more to go into the game with the belief that will be needed. .......Read the full article here

Arsenal were thoroughly put in their place last night by an excellent Bayern Munich side, and itis now glaringly obvious that the Gunners can no longer compete at the top table, but (predictably) Arsene Wenger gave his side credit for their “battling” qualities, albeit after they were 2-0 down…..

He said after the game: “We played against a good team who took advantage of every opportunity they created in the first half. We had quite a good start for five minutes. You could see we were a a bit nervous, but Bayern was fully confident and we paid for it. At 2-0 down of course it became very difficult, but we put in a good battle in the second half and came back to 2-1. .......Read the full article here

Arsene Wenger has obviously been under a barrage of questions about tonights game against Bayern Munich, especially as the Germans have been in imperious form lately, while Arsenal were dumped out of the FA Cup by Championship side Blackburn.

Naturally the bookies have Bayern Munich hot favourites to get a result at the Emirates tonight, but with Wenger certain to field a completely different team than Saturday’s XI, he is hopeful that the Gunners still have the quality to get a result at home.

“We are the underdogs – you just need to read the English press to understand that,” Wenger said on Arsenal.com. .......Read the full article here

Club Captain Thomas Vermaelen comments by AH

Thomas Vermaelen has today told Arsenal.com that he has never doubted what this Gunners team are capable of.
Vermaelen told Arsenal player; “You could see it from the start of the season; this team has a lot of potential. It’s a case of everybody staying fit. We have enough quality in this team to beat anybody. I think you could see that in the games we played against top teams. We didn’t get the results but I think in some parts of the games we played well.” .......Read the full article here

Arsenal’s only signing of the transfer window, Nacho Monreal, is convinced that the Gunners style of play is similar to what he has been used to in Spain, and feels that having his old team-mate Santi Cazorla already in the squad will help him settle into the Premiership very quickly.

He said: “Arsenal like to keep the ball, which is beneficial for me and I like this part of the team’s game.

“I love playing with the ball at my feet, short, sharp touches, and good movement.

“I think Arsenal do have certain elements of the Spanish football philosophy. .......Read the full article here

Being Realistic – By LmFaO

Let’s take a realistic look at the January Transfer Window. To start off with, Arsenal were looking in serious need of some firepower. Some real quality players. Many players were linked with Us over the last few weeks. Some of them being Klaas-Jan Huntelaar, Adrian Lopez, Fernando Llorente, Edinson Cavani, David Villa, Mario Gotze, Stevan Jovetic, Mats Hummels and the list goes on… After a disastrous start to the month, the fans were screaming on top of their voice for some new signings, but to no avail. .......Read the full article here

The well-known Polish Gooner Wojciech Szczesny is (as always!) in a very confident mood going into todays clash against Swansea, despite the Welsh side being just one point behind the Gunners in the Premiership table.

The Swans have been very consistent in their first two seasons in the Premiership, and Woj has been very impressed with their attacking style and is under no illusion that it will be an easy game for Arsenal.

“I think they’re a quality team, so it will be a very tough game and a very important game,” Szczesny said. “They have changed their style a little bit, they don’t keep possession for ages, they are a little bit more direct. But they still try to play very good football and as a football fan, I appreciate that: I like watching them. .......Read the full article here

Arsene Wenger watched his Arsenal team struggle to break down bottom-of-the-table QPR after a rollercoaster week for the club in which they lost two games and got a rollicking from the fans at the yearly AGM, but the Frenchman insists that yesterdays opponents were a quality side that won’t be in the relegation positiions for much longer. .......Read the full article here

The Arsenal Chief Exec Ivan Gazidis has been talking about the way that Arsene Wenger does his transfer business, and he says that the price of a player will not influence the Frenchman’s decisions in the transfer market but he is more concerned on whether the targeted player can actually improve the squad.

“I don’t think Arsene is conservative, I think he is extraordinarily brave. I think he does things others don’t do and sees things others don’t see,” Gazidis said on Radio 5 Live.

“Arsene is not fixed on the price of a player in assessing a player’s value, he will look with equal weight at a young player who is coming through the Arsenal academy and a player that might be available with a very hefty price tag from overseas. .......Read the full article here

The Arsenal defender Per Mertesacker returned from his bout of the flu just in time to play his part in countering West Ham’s aeriel superiority on Saturday, and he admits that it was a tough game and even more so after West Ham scored the opening goal against the run of play.

“What can you do about their goal? Sometimes that happens,” said Mertesacker. “We have not conceded a lot of goals during games this year and most have been from set-pieces. We just need to keep concentrating on our defensive level. .......Read the full article here

Kieran Gibbs admitted that it was important for the Arsenal team to quickly put the Chelsea defeat behind them by beating Olympiakos on Wednesday, and although the Greeks pushed them very hard the Gunners quality came through in the end. The England international thinks that this will give the team back the confidence to improve yet again in the next few games and hopefully start wining a little more easily.

“It was important to bounce back after a defeat against Chelsea at home,” Gibbs said on Arsenal.com. “It was important for the players especially. .......Read the full article here