Wenger: It will be a difficult championship

Results

Date	Time	C	Opponent	F	A	R	S
27 Sep	5:30 PM	P	Hull City (H)	1	2	Lost

Manager Arsène Wenger says that he is looking forward to another challenging fight for the championship, after saying that the English league is one of the most unpredictable in world football.

The Frenchman also believes that with the quality of the teams being promoted, it's been more difficult for the big four in the league to stamp their dominance on the domestic league.

Arsenal take on Hull City today at the Emirates hoping to earn another vital three points to stay top of the league.

Wenger said: "It has not been like a classical Premier League competition for the last 10 years.

"The Championship is always so close. And with the play-offs even if you finish sixth you still have a chance to come up. That is why you always have different teams promoted.

"You must take your hat off to Hull. What they have done up to now is fantastic. They are the surprise package.

"They beat Fulham and were 2-0 up at Everton - those are both good sides. These results will be a good warning for us. We know this Arsenal side will have to be at their best to beat them.

"[To win it this season] would be a reward for a long-term job.

"And a long-term job in this career becomes more and more unusual and difficult now.

"Nobody has time to work and produce and nobody has patience. But I believe deeply that there are different ways to be successful in the job. And it is not only necessarily linked with the investment.

"Of course it's better you have money but it's not the only way. You can have a longer term plan and it can work."

User Comments

Tosin

Posted on 30 Sep, 2008 at 01:18 AM - Reply

Guys its another season of challenges that is enough to the get young bloods to the hall of fame. Wenger do not make abitrary decisions do things with the help of others who are willing to. By not the UEFA this season would mean that arsenal needs to do away with Arsene Wenger.

phader

Posted on 29 Sep, 2008 at 03:01 PM - Reply

nasri is another rosicky, i dont expect to see him until next year to be honest...

arsene wenger said his injury was not that serious but he said dat about rosicky's aswell .......

chaz

Posted on 29 Sep, 2008 at 01:28 PM - Reply

I think bringing henry back on the cheap would be good for morale and also for converting these wasted chances!!??

David

Posted on 29 Sep, 2008 at 12:10 PM - Reply

History repeats itself. We finished 3rd or 4th each time when we lost to the then newly promoted West Ham, C. Palace, West Brom, Sheff Utd, and now Hull City. As long as Wenger didn't change his buying policy, we will never win any major trophy under him. I started to believe what Platini said was right. Wenger always puts business before football. And tactically he is nowhere near AF or Mourihno, and that's why he had squandered so many EPL titles in the later part of the previous seasons, most famously the 2002-03 and 2007-08 season.

Goonnneeeerrrr

Posted on 28 Sep, 2008 at 01:22 PM - Reply

This is the most placid i have seen Arsenal fans think of the loss to hull city last night dont you realise WE ARE TOO BUSY PASS PASS PASS WITH NO FINISHING SHOT!!
THEY DONT KNOW WHAT A FINISHING SHOT IS BECAUSE THERE TO YOUNG AND EVEN ADEBAYOR OUR 30 goal + star DOES NOT SHOOOTTTT!!!

Frustrated Gunner!

Posted on 28 Sep, 2008 at 12:12 PM - Reply

I think this might be the end to our so called title campaign after we lost to Phil Brown's promoted Hull City.We never played well.We did create chances but were unable to convert any.Our goal was also scored by one of the Hull City's player. Out of the 4 goals we have conceded this season up till now 3 were on corners.This shows our inability to defend set pieces.Lastly we should not have left Giovanni open in front of goal like that as he had scored this type of goal against Fulham on 1st day of the season.

phader

Posted on 28 Sep, 2008 at 11:24 AM - Reply

I AM SOOOO PISSED OFF WE LOST TO HULL...
I HEARD GALLAS HAD A SHOCKER...I DIDNT EVEN WOTCH THE GAME BECAUSE I WAS SOO ANGERD...
IM STARTING TO DOUBT VAN PERSIE BECAUSE I THOUGHT HE WAs OUR MAIN MAN, BUT HE KEEPS CUTTING IN ONTO HIS LEFT FOOT, WHICH IS SOOO PREDICTIBLE NOW...

DENILSON CANT KEEP UP HIS GOOD FORM FOR 38 GAMES, THATS WHY WE NEED EXPERIENCED CENTER MID LIKE GILBERTO...

SERIOUSLY, WE HAVE LOST 2 GAMES ALREADY AND WE HAVENT EVEN PLAYED THE BIG TEAMS YET..

WE CAN FORGET ANY CHANCE OF WINNING THE LEAGUE NOW IM SORRY...CHELSEA DONT LOOK LIKE DERE GOIN TO LOSE A AGE. AND LIVERPOOL KEEP GRINDING OUT RESULTS..
AND WE ALL KNOW MAN UTD ARE GOING TO GO ON A WINNING STREAK SOON....WHEN BERBAOV AND RONALDO GET FIT AND IN FORM

elninio

Posted on 28 Sep, 2008 at 10:57 AM - Reply

I disliked the signing of Gallas from day 1. I am no great authority in football but I dont like players like Gallas. Over emotional and not in a good way like Wrighty or Henry... him and Eboue are bad luck for this squad.... I don't care how many good games we play and they play well in...we will never win anything whilst they remain on the books. Friends call me irrational but its just the way I feel about these 2. PISS POOR FINISHING ONCE AGAIN by the way. We could have won that 4-2. Just like last week except we got away with it then. And after the lesson in finishing from the young guns mid week....this was sub standard.

Grand Daddy

Posted on 28 Sep, 2008 at 10:10 AM - Reply

Van Persie played like shit...wasted so many chances, he was too selfish at many instances and sprayed the ball all over like a toddler missing the potty. Walcott was bullied on the ball by hull, couldn't do a thing. Gallas defends great at times for balls at the feet, but when it comes to bigger strikers and high balls he has not the size and height to control the situation. There were so many crosses coming in but nobody ran in on the near post to meet any of them, not even attempted, this is frustrating. Van Persie and Ade should be sticking their million dollar feet there instead of waiting for mistakes from defenders on the far post. Irratating to watch today.

gt

Posted on 28 Sep, 2008 at 10:04 AM - Reply

Oh yes, it will be a difficult Championship, and I am not even sure we'll be in the race.

Hats off to Hull who ran their hearts out and won deservedly. And to be fair to the team, they had more than chances to win, but they couldn't convert them. This Achilles heel is creeping on us again just like the last few years.

redflaree

Posted on 28 Sep, 2008 at 08:07 AM - Reply

i believe the players are taking such matches for granted. they had no sense of urgency whatsoever when playing against 'easier' sides like Hull or Fulham. i feel such matches shld be given to the younger team, Vela, Bendtner, Djourou. They wont take the match for granted as it's their chance to prove their worth and will hence have a stronger desire to score and play properly. Vela also has a much higher conversion rate compared to Ade.

Hope to see some silverware this season. =)

zohaib

Posted on 28 Sep, 2008 at 03:56 AM - Reply

the players we have do have some good qualities. but every season we have 2 or 3 important players injured for lengthy periods and our second team can only play a few matches at a high level. then they start to fade away.
after last night's defeat against hull, it seems like the team's performance against bolton, blackburn and newcastle was a stinging illusion to what might become of our season.
maybe wenger should have been a bit more sensible and made sure there was an experienced central midfielder next to cesc. maybe two even. maybe he should play rosicky centrally at his actual position. he's got nasri which should be a very good buy but there are no other wingers or players who play wide and provide width. eboue's season looks good but he's got limited ability and an attitude problem. walcott has only got pace at the moment. hopefully he'll learn some skills and tricks to pass people. diaby isnt a winger or wide player. up front adebayor is too lazy. doesnt have a decent work rate and often drifts into areas where he shudnt be. rarely is he in the box for the occasional cross or cutback which would reward us with an important goal. at the back we'v got th best fullbacks in europe but our central defenders need to improve their communication and physical presence.
back to the width issue. the cause of the width issue is the way we play and the way opponents defend against our strikers. during open play we rely on our fullbacks to provide width. we play the game at such a slow pace that by the time we want to attack the opponents have 8 or more players behind the ball. its quite naive to think that that is the best way to create chances and score goals and win matches. there is almost no space in the final third. how does wenger expect to play like that and not be disappointed against teams who park the bus in front of their goal and play for a draw. when we have 2 strikers and 3 midfielders fighting for space in the final third, its silly to think space will be available. yet we know no other way to play. wat it does is frustrate the people watching the match. it becomes annoying to keep watching them toying with th opponents and their own fans alike and create only half chances and waste them. these days arsenal plays a kind of football where the build up is too slow and becomes predictable. the one touch passing is gone. the one on one situation never arises because of the brainwashing emphasis on team play. pires ljungberg bergkamp viera henry would play as a team but they didnt need 5 men to make a move happen. with 2 or 3 one touch passes they could unlock a defence, create space and get the goal. but the passing was quick. another reason why there is no width is because our midfield plays too close together. they rely on short passes. hence the buildup becomes slower and the opponents fall back and get 8 or more players behind the ball. if they were further apart, they could move the ball many more yards in a shorter time frame and hence create more space. we need our team to not position themselves so close together. we should use our fullbacks intelligently rather than as a primary form of attack. also we need every player to produce more as an individual. all our emphasis is on a team game and thats killed off the desire to be great individually. thats a big loss. players need to have the heart and intelligence to adapt to the situation on the pitch as it changes. adapt to the movement of the opposition etc. we need to stop letting the opponents get 8 behind the ball. we need to make space for ourselves in the central area of the final third. this will happen when our wide midfield players or fullbacks (if theyr quick enough) attack their fullbacks and occupy the wide areas so that theyr a player light in the middle. our strikers need to attack their defender and go towards their goal rather than knocking the ball back for one of our midfield, and hence slow the pace down again. adebayor doesnt do that. i duno if he could. i'm beginning to have doubts about his quality. he's not very good in the air even though he can get up. he wastes an insane number of chances and someone please explain to him that theres a rule called offside. van persie would benefit a whole lot if we could play proper wide midfielders. he's not been doing well as a link up player. he'd do better as a striker attacking the defender in a 4 4 2. at present in a 4 4 1 1 he's not comfortable because he doesnt get the chance to run at the defenders, pass them and take a shot. other than that wenger sometimes should try and use his substitutions better. why does he need to wait until the second half to make a substitution when clearly the team's not doing well and when we'r at home and playing a team like hull, we should be at least 1 - 0 up at half time. murinho would have made the changes before halftime. thats bravery, heart and positive thinking. wenger needs to stop being stubborn and persistent and hopeful. he needs to adopt the theory of adaptability. the subs shudnt be made at fixed times as most are on 60 mins, 75 mins and so on. for the game against hull, maybe he should have started with bendtner and vela up front or bendtner and van persie up front with vela on one wing and eboue or walcott on another (neither of these two are good wide players either). they had a cracker in midweek and could have played with extra confidence. their partnership is doing well. and when adebayor and van persie isnt doing all that well, why can he not use bendtner vela instead. its still early in the season. its not all that big a risk. and if it doesnt work then he can always change to ade and van. wenger seems to be very intelligent but sometimes he makes himself look quite dumb.
hmmmmmmm....... life as an arsenal fan looks quite annoying.

David

Posted on 28 Sep, 2008 at 02:53 AM - Reply

I have the same feelings that we are not going to win anything this season as you do, however i think the ones to blame are Toure, Adebayor and Cesc. It's so obvious that Toure is not an Arsenal type player that can show up for bigger matches, while Gallas at least has scored more crucial goals than anyone else especially when we were trailing. Another strange feeling is that I think the game last night was a fixed one, didn't you guys see those little details during the game when we had so many chance near their 6-yd box? or when Hull so recklessly gave up possession in our half as they had chances to kill the game off in the last 15 min? The biggest winner is the book makers. FA should investigate this game. This is just not right! Also, how many clear cut chances does Adebayor need to score one goal? Why Wenger didn't send on Vela and Bendtner earlier since Ade and RVP couldn't open the game up in the first half? I think both Vela and Bendtner deserved a starting role given their performance on Tuesday! Shame on Wenger!

Disillusioned Gooner

Posted on 27 Sep, 2008 at 08:46 PM - Reply

Well AW must have a crystal ball. After watching an uninspired & ambitionless FIRST TEAM SQUAD lose for the second time this season i am finally convinced that we will not be winning silverware of any sort this season. No disrespect to Hull City but this is a match that AFC should have won even if it was going to be difficult instead we ended up losing 2-1 to a team just promoted to the premiership and it hurt.
I have been quite critical over the buying of players issue, however, i came to accept the fact that the manager has great faith in the team and that the team has quality & potential, i even started to believe that they have a bigger hunger this time around and will put in commited performances to realise their ambitions, now i have come to realise that this is a team only capable of giving fly-by-night performances; to be crowned with silverware you need to have consistency in performance, something the team clearly lacks. Some people will say 'don't worry we are only 2 points adrift' and my response is why can't we be on top of the table? surely there is nothing wrong with that?Staying top of the table underlines our ambitions.
Chelsea turnout results whether they are playing well or not so why can't we? The team today had 15 corners & only managed to hit the bar once in the dying stages of the game, the opposition had 4 & scored their winning goal from one of them, that tells a lot about our team.
I now think that our problem is not a lack of strength in depth but a lack of tactics or tactical play, so Arsene what's next?

Damn you Gallas

Posted on 27 Sep, 2008 at 07:31 PM - Reply

This is what happens when arsenal tried to walk the ball into the net... a defeat to HULL CITY!!!!!

The culprit at fault for the second goal none other than our captain GALLAS!!!!.... he should be stripped of the captaincy and be replaced with immediate effect...

This is a lousy display.... 2 defeats in 6 games isnt going to get us anywhere... this arsenal team is not going to win anything this season... and never will be as long as gallas keeps making mistakes like this and our forwards with their fanciful flicks and passes but no goals!!!!!

Agoonered

Posted on 27 Sep, 2008 at 03:54 PM - Reply

where has nasri disappeared to ?

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