ARSENE WENGER HAS admitted that Arsenal have taken a step backwards with regards to their form last season but said he can “live with the reality” of it.
The Gunners missed out on the Champions League last term for the first time in 17 years and may well do so again unless they win the Europa League. Currently, they are 13 points shy of a top-four spot in the Premier League, while they exited the FA Cup to Nottingham Forest and lost to Manchester City in the Carabao Cup final.
While many supporters made their apathy clear by staying away from Thursday’s 3-0 loss against Manchester City, the manager appears at ease with the situation.
“This season is worse than last season because last season we won the cup and we made 75 points,” Wenger admitted.
“I don’t deny that, but we’ll analyse that at the end of the season. Don’t worry, I can live with reality. At the moment, we lost a cup final and we lost a big championship game.”
Wenger also dismissed suggestions that he is failing to adapt his tactics for different opponents.
“It’s not true,” he said. “I try to find solutions where the team feels comfortable and confident. Overall, I believe that at the moment it’s difficult but we also have to take a little bit of perspective. We played against a team who is not only top quality but in full confidence at the moment.”
Arsenal face Brighton in the Premier League on Sunday before travelling to Milan for the first leg of their Europa League round-of-16 clash with the Italian giants.
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Somewhere Phil Kearns is having an absolute meltdown about the unfairness of it all…
Great to see Jaguares win, hope they can follow up next week.
Argentina are 50-1 for the world cup! Insane odds given how well the Jaguares are going. Plus they always underperform in the Rugby Championship cos of the distances they have to travel. Given Ireland are 5-1, this seems pretty long for the Argies.
@Farzad Saadat: Pool C will see a big faller at the 1st. France, England and Argentina will be interesting. You’d think France could be the one to miss out but they’ve been ruthless with their squad selection, brought in O’Gara and you only have to look at 2011 when they had no chance and made the final. England could find themselves in a similar fate to 2015, after a great start under Jones they had an awful run of loses. Argentina always peak at world cup time. Exciting!
@RabidHorizon: Did they bring in O’Gara in the end? I thought that was all just rumours in the end
@Eddie Hekenui: No they didn’t in the end
@Ciaran Twomey: Cheers. Thought I might’ve missed the news he’d taken a role with them.
@Farzad Saadat: Madness considering they have knocked us out of 3 of the last 5 RWCs.
@RabidHorizon: they didn’t bring in O’Gara
@RabidHorizon: France brought in much better coaches than O’Gara, they should get a real boost – Labit and Galthié – they picked the right squad, too. I think England could be the team to miss out..
Brumbies should never have made it to a semi. Awful team but get lucky because of how weak their conference is.
@#JUSTICE4NOEL:
Aussie Rugby is in a bad place right now.
Unreal for the sport!! Makes the competition a whole lot more competitive! Will be interesting to see how far Argentina go at the WC.
@Aaron Tynan: Further than us, I fear.
@Bluepoolroad: draw kinder to them I think than Ireland – SA or NZ is a tough 1/4
The second semi just finished. Cracking game. 30-26 crusaders.
That jaguares kit is lovely
@Eoin Murphy: i wonder where one could buy it?
@Tony Stack: https://www.elverys.ie/elverys/en/search?text=jaguares
Great. When Argentina played in the November series against Ireland. Which i went too. It was the Jaguares team.
Jags play flat and pass wonderfully, it’s great to watch. The crowd was brilliant too.
I think the Crusaders will have too much for them at home, but I’d love to see the Jags win it.
Where’s the final taking place?
@Bluepoolroad: crusaders ground
@Bluepoolroad: Crusaders home stadium in Christchurch, super rugby needs to start playing them in neutral venues, even if it’s in the higher ranked clubs home country. Home stadium advantage is a bit much for a final.
@Con Al: The problem is distances. Say Cape Town was this year’s venue, how many Jaguares and Crusaders supporters are going to make it at a weeks notice? Stadium would be near empty. At least in the current system, one set of supporters see the final and home advantage is based on merit earned during the season. Not perfect, but understandable system