Wenger: We lacked maturity again

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Date	Time	C	Opponent	F	A	R	S
22 Nov	3:00 PM	P	Manchester City (A)	0	3	Lost

Manager Arsène Wenger bemoaned the lack of maturity from his young Arsenal side in making the most of their dominance against Manchester City today.

The Gunners slumped to their fifth defeat of the season, and their title hopes are now almost certainly over.

Coming off a turbulent week in which captain William Gallas was dropped from the squad and then stripped of the captaincy, all eyes were on the Gunners to see if they could reignite their faltering season.

Wenger said: "We had a good focus and I believe it is a flattering victory for Manchester City today.

"We conceded in stoppage time [at the end of the first half] and before that they had not created much.

"We were quite in control but after the goal the game turned and they played on the counter-attack. We played into their hands.

"We lacked the maturity to deal with being in a dominant situation and not getting caught; it was a free-kick to us, then a goal for them.

"After that the third goal was a soft penalty.

"It is a defeat but I feel in the game it was a 0-0 with whoever scored first gaining the advantage. I believe in good passing rather than putting a man up there waving his hands in the air."

User Comments

allan ball

Posted on 24 Nov, 2008 at 02:53 AM - Reply

We lacked Maturity ....when you sell your players just because they get past 30 ..this leaves you with youngsters that lack maturity , normally have big egos and have spirits like egg shells.
When the opposition doesnt want to play beautiful football and tackles hard but fair the egg shells break and you go into meltdown ,Robert Van Persie.
What needs to happen is a good kick up the arse, people who are honest, tell them if you dont want to die on the pitch for our club, then you are of no use to Arsenal.
If you think it will be easy go play in Spain and play maybe every 3rd game, collecting heaps of money.
What Gallas has said is obviously true, some of the players at Arsenal need to look at themselves and make honest judgements on their efforts.
Another course of action is like Brisbane Broncos ( rugby league ) the coach paid them handsomely when they won ,but lose and you recived a $5.00 note ...needlless to say they won many more games than they lost and won many championships as well.

Mannix,kenya.

Posted on 23 Nov, 2008 at 11:45 PM - Reply

I love Prof Wenger. Bt he fails me coz he alwys knw our problems & fail to address them properly. Yes we luck maturity bt who's fault? He's the one who buy players,why didn't he buy matured players into the team bt instead he released the players @ their highest pick of their carrier. Wenger stop being stubborn & buy world class who will rescue us frm this predicament & bring back our past glory.

valsenal

Posted on 23 Nov, 2008 at 12:24 PM - Reply

Justification words of a manager out of touch with reality.
Stop giving us excuses and pick the wright team, which is an attacking one. Arsenal football is based on attacking, scoring the early goal and wait for opponents to come at us so that we finish them on the counter.
We are loosing and drawing games because we are playing defensive football and don't have natural finishers in the first team. Maybe its time to give Vela his deserved space in the first team. He is the only natural finisher but is not given enough opportunities to showcase his skills.
If I was the manager for the game against Man City, i would play Sylvestre at left back, Djourou & Song Center-backs, Denilson Right back, Clichy mid left, Ramsey & Diaby in the middle, Nasri mid right. Vela & RvP up front.

Disillusioned Gooner

Posted on 23 Nov, 2008 at 11:52 AM - Reply

Arsene something tells me you will run out of excuses this season, bear in mind we face Chelsea next week were we are sure to meet with 6th defeat of the season. I'm sure the lack of maturity has something to do with the young players;you talk of being dominant, can you please tell the whole world how many clear cut chances we created yesterday? In fact our 1st shot on goal in the 1st half came at about 33 mins. Thanks to you Wenger we shall continue in this poor form cos the psyche of these young inexperienced boys has been scarred & i would not be surprised if some of them decide to leave at the end of the season....Fabregas being one of them, unless you make him captain.

Gunnerz

Posted on 23 Nov, 2008 at 05:04 AM - Reply

Metalhead AW seems never learn from mistake, I reckon losing more & fall out of top 4 might open AW & the board's eyes!!! We are constantly make our life hard & having never ending transition period by selling out top performers!!! Sad to see how a world top 10 soccer club can act like those minorities in transfer market!! If this situation prolong, we might need to bid farewell to Cesc etc. Can't blame them though, cos HE HAD SEEN ENOUGH HOW AMBITIOUS IS OUR CURRENT BOARD!!! By the way, where is our big mouth PHW??? It is best for him to come out & boast how AMBITIOUS we are....

steve

Posted on 22 Nov, 2008 at 11:54 PM - Reply

How can he say the score flattered City? Arsenal could have and should have conceded 4 or 5.

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