beIN Sports have a few quotes from Arsene Wenger which came after the final whistle blew at Stamford Bridge. Not a good night at all for Frank Lampard and his team.
What has he [Lampard] learned… but he knew already, because you don’t lose five home games if your team is superior to every other team.
But at that level, to give possession away you’re punished at some stage because they make you run too much, and you cannot survive for 90 minutes. ‘In the Champions League, if you lost the midfield you’re in trouble, it’s rule number one.
Rule number one might be having a solid midfield in the first place and for all his early days bragging rights of being able to field Petit, Vieira, Gilberto etc, his midfield signings which followed were pretty dire to say the least. Diaby might have been a classy player but he was seldom available, Denillson didn’t have a footballing brain to make up his lack of speed bless him, Diarra didn’t hang around very long, Flamini for a second time was bizarre and Kim Kallstrom was perhaps one of the worst. Hang on though, Let’s not forget Bischoff. Or Alex Song, brilliant one minute, a massive liability the next.
Bayern Munich usually battered us home and away so if I were Arsene Wenger, I’d have stayed at home rather than answering questions about where it went wrong for Chelsea.
One of the reasons for Chelsea losing last night was Serge Gnabry. Yep, Arsene spilled the beans on him too:
He has no real limitations it’s more how much does he want to suffer, because he has pace, power, technical ability, he’s very intelligent, sometimes he looks for the easy way in football. That’s what was his problem. He lacked a bit. I gave him to West Brom, it didn’t work out at all.
In fairness I think we had an agreement with him but Bayern stole him away from Werder Bremen. He’s a good player. He has individual ability and collective ability. We had an agreement with him but because he didn’t play at West Brom I let him go with the U21s in the summer with the German national team and he did very well of course.
We had prepared him for us to sign his new contract but then suddenly he wanted to go to Werder Bremen. But it was not Werder Bremen that bought him it was Munich that bought him. Because six months or less than one year later he moved from Bremen to Bayern but it was a done deal before.
I’m not sure if Arsene is saying Gnabry had a bit of a bad attitude as far as putting the effort in goes, but it kind of sounds like it. Sending him on loan to West Brom was in hindsight a huge mistake. Actually, hindsight is not required because as an Arsenal manager, the last thing anyone should do is trust Tony Pulis with an Arsenal Player. Pulis, the same man who defended Shawcross after he broke Aaron Ramsey’s leg. A manager who used to send his players onto the pitch to get at us, get in our faces and deploy the rough stuff. Why would anyone send an Arsenal player to train amongst blokes like that?
If I was Serge Gnabry, I’d have wanted to be as far away from Pulis and Wenger as possible after that and I’m pleased for the player now he’s enjoying life at one of the best clubs in the game.
Better still is watching him come back to London and score goals against the likes of Chelsea and Toots. Nice…
Catch up in the comments guys..
‘morning all, off subject but a revealing stat. Serge Gnabry has scored six goals in London this season, that’s more than Alexandre Lacazette in the same period.
Not off subject at all Cicero, Gnabry is the topic of the post. Did you not read it? 😂
Morning Rico. Good old Arsene!
He obviously believed so much in Serge that he loaned him to Tony Pulis? Err, sorry! Surely not the same Tony Pulis who was the architect of Ramsey’s broken leg. Not the Tony Pulis who tried to drag his team back to the stone-age with his Neanderthal notions of physical intimidation. It must be another Tony Pulis surely and not the long-throw merchant with the elbow-to-the-skull tactics and all those charming supporters, mindlessly cheering every leg-breaker.
Wenger messed up badly with Serge but the spin is that Bayern Munich ‘stole’ him when he should have been at Werder Bremen.
When you have had a career as distinguished as Wenger there are times when you should just shrug your shoulders. They are for shrugging despite Pulis’ notion that they could equally be employed to injure opponents on the pitch.
I just did Rico, and very good it was. 😉
Excellent read, Rico… urgh Tony Pulis – I can’t stand him (or his shell suit!)… and fancy him saying “Gnabry wasn’t up to the required level to play for West Brom” hahaha!!
I guess we can’t blame him for wanting to go back to his native country… and Bayern are always sniffing around aren’t they?! It’s a shame though… but am really enjoying watching him batter the teams I don’t like…. if he could do it to Liverpool next, he’d be an absolute legend in my eyes 😁
So, Kolasinac has a ‘significant’ shoulder injury…
Morning Adam. I guess it would have made little difference as he’d have ended up at Bayern and wasn’t his Arsenal contract nearing its end?
Ha ha Cicero.
Thanks Sue. That loan to West Brom was going to be doomed from the start I reckon.
Do you reckon he’ll get the opportunity against Liverpool? I’m hoping Atletico Madrid put a stop to any chance of that..
Haha sorry I should’ve said next season 😉😜
Fabregas.
Cazorla.
Rosicky.
Just a few decent midfielders that were left
left off the list.
When Gnabry left he was down the pecking order when he left, couldn’t play out even close to 90 minutes and wanted out, so what could the club do???
Morning all.
I’m referring to the defensive side of midfield Scott.. otherwise, of course those you mention would have been on the list. Wenger’s problem imo always was the defensive side of his teams during his second ten year spell.
Fair enough, Rico.
It remains a massive shame that Diaby was destroyed by a talentless thug, as he’d have been a game changer for the club.
What a wasted talent he was.
He was a game changer Scott, 4-0 v Newcastle, he gets sent off and we draw… no bigger game changer than that.. lol
Seriously, I agree, he might have been a very good player for us but for Dan Smith (I think it was)
He’d have been world class without question, Rico.
Dan Smith indeed.
He will only ever be remembered in footballing folklore for one thing lol
Well I don’t think we can be sure about that Scott. World class is a bold statement.
Rico, when he played, he was dominant and that was after the injury, not that it happened too often lol
Rico, it’s freezing… and the white stuff is forecast tonight and tomorrow…. ☹
Hailstones here Sue… brrr
I was never too bothered about losing Gnabry, fantastic young player and good luck to him,but you couldn’t blame him for going back to Germany.Plus it was reported at the time Arsenal wanted him to stay,they couldn’t force him.
Bit chilly tonight as carnaval comes to an end but about 16 degrees tomorrow then it’s back for the deep freeze on Friday
What a game and what a result for City!
I just read a stat saying Lacazette’s goals per shots on goal is almost identical to last seasons, but he’s having a lot less shots.
He’s either being utilised differently, we aren’t creating enough chances for him or he’s not getting into the same positions.
Thoughts???
Hi Scott I like Lacazette but I think he is playing more out side the goal square. I recon he is better when close to the keeper with the ball at his feet for that quick turn and no time to think just shoot
Geoff,
You might be right mate.
Most are Criticising him but it seemed he’s doing a damn similar job to last season/
New post up now