Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger demands his team learn from back to back home defeats
Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger demands his team learn from back to back home defeats
"We have to respond against Liverpool. We have to turn this round" warns manager after losses to Dortmund and Chelsea
Nothing stops this train: Wenger isn't about to let Arsenal's season break bad
Getty
Arsene Wenger has vowed to keep Arsenal's title campaign on the rails, writes Martin Lipton.
But the Gunners' manager admitted his men have to prove it by beating Liverpool at the Emirates on Saturday.
Tuesday's Capital One Cup defeat to Chelsea means the table toppers have lost two on the spin at home, as they were also beaten by Borussia Dortmund in the Champions League a week earlier.
Now,
Arsenal face eight critical days containing the visit of the in-form
Anfield giants, a return against the Germans and a trip to champions
Manchester United.
Wenger's side is badly missing the midfield balance provided by groin injury victim Mathieu Flamini, while the continued absences of Theo Walcott, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Lukas Podolski mean they also lack thrust out wide.
And
with Arsenal's other defeat this season having also come on home soil -
at the hands of Aston Villa on the opening day of the campaign - Wenger
conceded the bad run has to be ended before it becomes an issue.
He said: "We want to win every home game, so the home form is a concern - but not as big a concern as the statistics might show it.
"Against
Dortmund and Chelsea, we gave easy goals away. That is a positive and a
negative. The negative is that we gave the goals away, but the positive
is that neither of them created too many chances against us.
"It is down to how we get rid of those mistakes without losing the belief in our qualities. That is what is at stake."
The
danger which will be posed by Luiz Suarez and Daniel Sturridge, who
have already claimed 16 goals between them for Liverpool this season, is
obvious.
Suarez, of course, was linked with a controversial
transfer to Arsenal in the summer before Liverpool owner John W Henry
blocked the deal.
But Wenger insisted the issue for Saturday is how his own players respond to the situation they find themselves in. Broken home: Arsenal stars despair during Tuesday's cup loss to Chelsea
Kent Gavin
He added: "Walcott, Oxlade-Chamberlain and Podolski are three
players who have a big impact offensively. If you put them in, I
believe that it's a completely different position in the team.
"But
we have to learn from the last two home games. The goals we gave away
were the turning points and we have to make sure it doesn't happen in
the next game, without losing our drive going forward but being more
composed in the final third.
"It is true it is difficult to
swallow what has happened to us in the last week, but as well, the
mistakes were so big that it can be corrected.
View gallery
Jamie McDonald
"
"
"
"
"
"
"
"
"
"
Arsenal v Chelsea - 29/10/13
View gallery
"We have to keep the basis of our game and go into it with
that and get our mistakes out. Now we have to respond well against
Liverpool. We are in a strong position in the league and we have a good
opportunity at home.
"But we have to turn this round. Away from home we are very solid, but at home it is important - vital - to win the big games."
Defender
Thomas Vermaelen, who made a rare appearance against Chelsea after
falling behind Laurent Koscielny and Per Mertesacker in the centre-half
pecking order, agreed about the threat from his former Ajax team-mate
Suarez and his English strike partner. Red alert: Will 'Sturrez' inflict Arsenal's third straight home defeat?
Action Images
Vermaelen said: "We know them from the past. We played a lot
against Luis Suarez already, and of course I know him from my time in
Ajax.
"Sturridge we played against last season. We know them both,
they are playing well and quite dangerous. But now we need to keep
going like we did the last couple of weeks. We've had a lot of big games
and a defeat shouldn't take our confidence away.
"We need to
build on the results we had previously. We have won more games than we
lost. It's disappointing but we have a big game on Saturday and I am
quite confident we can win that game.
"It's really important to respond quickly. It's good the game is on Saturday, and we can respond to the defeat.
"We are top of the league. We should have a lot of confidence to beat Liverpool."
*
IGNASI MIQUEL has set his sights on returning to Arsenal in the summer –
but believes Leicester will be joining them in the Premier League next
term, writes Ian Baker.
The
Spanish centre-half, on a season-long loan from the Gunners, scored his
first Foxes goal on Tuesday to help knock Fulham out of the Capital One
Cup.
And the 21-year-old said: “I got lucky coming to Leicester as
you can see they like to play. I think we showed we can be in the
Premier League and if we can keep playing like this we have a great
chance of being there.
“Life
at Leicester is brilliant. I’ve got an apartment here and the lads have
been great to me. I could not ask for anything else. I have to focus on Leicester and be ready for next season at Arsenal.”
View gallery
"
"
"
"
"
"
"
"
"
"
No comments:
Post a Comment