Just Arsenal News

Arsene Wenger has brought a new meaning to the old song “Boring, Boring, Arsenal” as we had to sit and watch 11 Gunners passing the ball from one end of the pitch to the other and then back again over and over and over! Wenger thinks that it was a mental problem. He said: “I put it down to psychological reasons and to the fact that we didn’t want to be stupid.

“You are a bit under pressure when you play 11 against 10 because you think that with every foul you risk a second yellow card so they do not go in the challenges. The crowd is behind their team. it becomes a different problem. In the end, we have a fantastic spirit and that got us through.” .......Read the full article here

Arsene Wenger saw his cobbled together team of reserves and misfits give a spirited display against Olympiakos in the first half of last nights match, but you could see that the lack of match fitness took its toll on the unusual Arsenal side in the second half.

Arsenal led 1-0 at half-time but the goalscorer Thomas Rosicky was replaced at half-time and the home side started playing with a little more urgency, and were rewarded when the referee mistakenly gave them a corner, which was obviously pounced upon by Wenger as he thinks it cost the Gunners the game. “We need a good Christmas present now.” he said, referring to the Knockout draw in December. .......Read the full article here

Well we were all shocked by yesterdays performance by the Arsenal team in losing to Swansea at the Emirates, but it seems that Arsene Wenger wasn’t all that surprised as he knew his team were feeling the effects of having to play a few games of football in the jobs…….

Wenger was asked after the game whether he was surprised at how well Swansea (who had played Newcastle, Liverpool and West Brom in the previous 12 days) played yesterday. He replied: “No, I knew they could play well. I knew the question before the game could be that we could be a bit jaded because we had many players on the edge who had played a lot of hard games recently. .......Read the full article here

Arsenal have gone from being supremely confident when beating Liverpool at Anfield and drawing with Man City at the Etihad, to being worried about facing even relegation candidates at home, in the space of just a few weeks.

Arsene Wenger thinks that the reason for the exagerrated slump is due to a congested fixture list, but he still believes that Arsenal can still challenge for the Premiership title. “I feel, yes, of course we are in the title race. Why not?” he said.

“It is a concern, because we looked quite solid defensively until now, and on Saturday we looked very fragile. I put that down to the fact that at 2-0 up instead of becoming more aggressive, we became a bit easier, instead of continuing to push forward to close them down. .......Read the full article here

Arsene Wenger’s new assistant Steve Bould took charge of his first Arsenal game last night with Wenger banished to the stands, and after an excellent first half the Gunners had to dig deeply in defence to keep Montpellier from equalising as they pressed strongly while Arsenal tired.

Overall Bould was more than happy with the performance. He said: “I am really pleased. It was difficult. I thought we were excellent in the first half – we kept the ball and kept the crowd really quiet. The second half was tough and we looked physically a little bit tired. The crowd got right behind them and it is quite an intimidating place to come and play, so we’re glad to get the result. .......Read the full article here

The young Welshman Aaron Ramsey was regularly critized by Arsenal fans last season as he just seemed to get slower and weaker the longer the season went on, and Wenger even played him on the left wing towards the end, while the young and fit Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain was sitting on the bench.

During these games Arsenal kept dropping points and in the end were lucky to hold on to Third Place and Ramsey himself has admitted that he was in no condition to play at the top of his game.

He said: “To ask me to play to a high standard week in, week out, in the Premier League when you think of the pace that goes with it, was very physically demanding. .......Read the full article here

Should Wenger Give More Time To Gervinho? by AM

Arsenal’s out-of-form forward Gervinho puts the blame of his late bad form on missing the African Nations Cup in the final after an almost perfect tournament.

The Ivory Coast missed out on the trophy after getting into the final with no goals conceded and then lost out to Zambia on penalties. According to Gervinho his late lack of form is due to the horrible experience he had at the African Nations Cup.

“I have come back from a nightmarish African Nations Cup. We lost out on the trophy in the final in sickening fashion. .......Read the full article here

Sunderland got revenge for last weeks League defeat by Arsenal by knocking the Gunners out of the FA Cup yesterday evening. The Black Cats had the benefit of a week’s rest between games while Arsenal were getting battered in Italy and, according to Arsene Wenger, the tired legs obviously contributed to the weak performance.

There was also the crucial turning point where Howard Webb didn’t give Robin Van Persie a dead-cert penalty after he was hacked down in the box, and the state of the pitch was yet another contributing factor. .......Read the full article here

Arsene Wenger saw his Arsenal team surrender a two goal lead in yesterdays Emirates Cup game against Boca, but put the collapse down to tiredness after the first hour of play.

Wenger said: “You never want to concede goals, but overall I do not give too much importance to that. What is important for us it to find a collective rhythm. When we could we managed to play at a good pace for 60 minutes, after it was much more difficult. It was expected, we came back from a training camp in Germany with heavy work and I knew that the second half would be much more difficult. .......Read the full article here

Arsene Wenger feels that the international break contributed to the Gunners “flat” display against Blackburn on Saturday, and says that half his players were “not recovered”

He said: “I had not seen most of the players for two weeks and we got them back altogether on Friday morning for the first time, so it was very difficult to predict what would happen.

“Players have come back from international duty and they are not sharp – half of the team has not recovered.” .......Read the full article here

The Wolverhampton Wanderers manager Mick McCarthy is happy to face an Arsenal team that is tired and suffering from a long injury list, and believes that his team is in form and more than capable of causing a shock at the Emirates today.

McCarthy said: ‘We aren’t going down there with any other thoughts than we want to stop them beating us.

“I am pleased with the way we have been playing but nobody outside me, my team and the staff is expecting us to get anything at Arsenal. .......Read the full article here