Match Reaction vs Wigan

[BOBN]

Hes part of the team is he not? I dont have favourites in the team

fair play.

some of these have no concept of objective judgements when it comes to a match. like silly schoolgirls picking between boyband members.

RVP was shyt, hes packed up for summer.

[Cripps_orig]

on the performance…
We made it difficult for ourselves because we had quite a good start but we defended horrendously for the first and second goals. Everybody involved was included for the first and the second goals. On top of that we conceded a second goal with 10 men on the pitch.

It took us too much time to change and it was absolutely unbelievable. We conceded the first when Arteta was out and we could not put the player on because he is not ready. That penalised us for the second goal and after that we had a mountain to climb.

I felt in the first half we had enough chances to come back to 2-2, but the second half we dropped our level, lost our team play, our cohesion and tried too much individually. There was not enough petrol left in the tank anymore. We didn't see anyone who could make a difference. They defended well. We had a tremendous amount of possession but didn't create a lot in the second half.

on the Arteta substitution…
It is the fact that when a player is injured, if he stays on the pitch you have time to bring [a replacement] on. It was a misunderstanding because he walked off and Ramsey was not ready. The players think they will not come on in the first half, so they are not ready. Basically we played with 10 men, which should not be the case when a player is injured. Arteta had to come off but if he sits down on the pitch he can come off as well.

on Arteta's injury…
It is an ankle problem. It looks quite a serious one. We have to scan it tomorrow, it is too early to say tonight. But it doesn't look a little ankle sprain. It is a serious one.

on the second-half display…
We have given a lot over the past two or three months and we were not sharp. Is it mental or physical? It is hard to know why. I felt in the first half we had quite a good response to being 2-0 down, but in the second half there was not a lot to come. We finished with Walcott, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Rosicky,Gervinho and Van Persie offensively and we didn't create a lot.

on the strength of the Premier League...
Everyone is in the same situation. You could see with Tottenham against Norwich, Manchester United at Wigan, us against Wigan. You have to realise that every game is a decisive moment for everybody. You have to be prepared not to be 1-0 down, to be 2-0 down, not like that. When you see the goals we conceded recently, we did not concede these kinds of mistakes.

on the Chelsea game...
It is a massive and vital game for us. We need to recover from the massive disappointment of tonight first, then prepare mentally for the next one.

Wengers comments

[Marc Overmars]

Not in the first half they didn't.
Nor in the 2nd either really although we didn't play well that half.

Just one of those nights today. Wigan are scrapping, they're in good form and they wanted it more. Maybe getting 5 points clear bred a bit of complacency. Saturday is now a very important game. Win that one and 3rd is ours to lose. Just have to focus on that one now.

2nd half I would say we were certainly outplayed.

[Cripps_orig]

fair play.

some of these have no concept of objective judgements when it comes to a match. like silly schoolgirls picking between boyband members.

RVP was shyt, hes packed up for summer.

Pretty much

Hes gone.

Podolski coming in is as a replacement so we're still stuck as we are

[WilshereourGHEL]

Ramsey should of never recovered he probably is more effective with a broken leg.

[fakeyank]

With Arsene, we will win some lose some, go on unbeaten runs, have a few excitement in parts and in the end have no end product. I look at him like a middle class manager (post 2006)- nothing extra-ordinary, does an average job, gets average players, plays average tactics, does just enough to have a job and massages the boards ego.

Question is, is Arsenal a middle class club? Not with the high prices, stadium and the marketing we do of our club. Surely its time to upgrade to a better more efficient manager. I bet we can find a fair few for less than 6 million quid a year.

[Letters]

3rd is 'middle class' or'average'? Really?

[Letters]

I guess if anyone deserves to be cut a bit of slack it's RVP.

No doubt we need to find someone capable of scoring at least 10-15 to lighten the load.

Oh yeah, he definitely deserves some slack and all strikers have patches where it's just not happening for him. He's been so brilliant all season it's been quite noticeable though with him. I'm sure the goals will start flowing again and yes he definitely needs some help up there.

[Ernesto]

What...the hell...was that?

Stupid Arsenal. Stupid, stupid, stupid Arsenal.

[KSE Comedy Club]

Also,

Gary Neville
for pointing out the cheating, diving ****s - gerrard, messi, beckham, etc.


and

Gary Neville
for saying its not cheating and ok to dive to win penalties and FK's