The Arsenal manager was content with his club’s goalless draw against Manchester United, after the 5-1 defeat to Liverpool, and suggested that Arsenal were still in a strong position despite recent struggles.
Wenger spoke in the post match conference, that he felt that Arsenal could have had a victory in the match. However he also brought fore the fact that the Gunners were more focused on not conceding goals and the defensive aspect of the game, after leaking in five goals against Liverpool:
“If you look at the domination we had then yes [we should have won it] but Man United restricted us to very few chances and the few we had we couldn’t take. On top of that, the quality they have going forward, when we lost the ball in their half they were dangerous, not always, but on one or two situations. When you have Van Persie, Mata, Januzaj – they are all players who can be dangerous on the counter. On the other hand you felt our team was highly focused not to concede, and that maybe restricted our game going forward a little bit because we were certainly hit by the five goals we conceded on Saturday. You could feel that here”.
Arsenal missed out on the chance of going back on the table with a win, as Chelsea were held to a draw against West Brom. Wenger spoke about it:
“No, we lost two points and we missed an opportunity to go top of the league again but a point keeps us in the race. We had difficult games just now, Liverpool and Man United, and from now on it is important we come back and win our games again”
When asked as to what the Frenchman thought would be the way to regain top form, the Arsenal boss answered thatnot losing the match to United was a crucial step towards it:
“Firstly by not losing tonight, then come back to our normal level offensively”.
Arsenal were playing with a lot of defensive caution and Wenger was pitched the question of ‘playing with the handbrake’. He answered:
“Yes, tonight it was on, but I think it will [come off]. When you are hit like we were on Saturday, the players want not to lose the game and we could have lost it in the last five minutes”
Wenger also talked about the lack of goals and said that the team misses the likes of Ramsey and Walcott. He said:
“We are a bit short of goals at the moment, you are right. Mathematically we have lost goalscorers with Walcott and Ramsey. At the moment in games like that, you see that”
When asked about Giroud’s lack of goals, the Arsenal boss said:
He fights very hard. If he keeps that attitude he will score.
Arsenal now host Liverpool in the FA Cup fifth round on Sunday and then face Bayern Munich in the last 16 of the Champions League. Wenger reiterated that Arsenal were still in a strong position, inspite a list of tough fixtures
“We have come out of two difficult games and are still in a strong position, that is the only positive.We had two bad results, but we are still in a position where we can do it”
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