Arsene Wenger has said that the criticism that came his way following the Bayern Munich game was unjust after Arsenal defeated Lincoln to advance in FA Cup.
After a humiliating Champions League exit, courtesy of a 10-2 aggregate defeat against Bayern Munich, Arsene Wenger’s men got back to winning ways, albeit against a non-league team in Lincoln City in the quarter finals of the FA Cup.
Speaking to the press after the game, Sky Sports quoted the Arsenal boss as saying:
” I think the team was unjustifiably criticised for our last game against Bayern Munich because we had an outstanding game.”
” Our game was killed not by the fault of the players. But we have to take a distance with that and have a look at a bigger perspective than people want to do.”
Wenger then turned his attention to their opponents on the day, and heaped huge amount of praise on them.
“ It was difficult, you could see in the first half they had a very direct game but they had clarity about what they wanted to do and they did that very well. Overall it was important for us not to make a mistake. They had a big crowd behind them as well – they had a chance,” he said, as per Guardian.
The visitors were expected to make things as difficult as they could for the Gunners and they kept things compact and tidy at the back for the first 45 minutes without shipping in a single goal. However, on the stroke of half-time, Theo Walcott opened the scoring and what followed was an onslaught by Arsenal.
They dominated proceedings for the entire second half and went on to add another four goals to run out 5-0 winners on the day. Olivier Giroud scored a decent goal from close range to make it two before Lincoln captain Luke Waterfall turned Kieran Gibbs’ cross into his own net, to put the game beyond all doubt.
Alexis Sanchez then scored the pick of the bunch with a deftly executed strike after dribbling past two defenders. Aaron Ramsey completed the drubbing as he walked into the goal after Sanchez’s low cross was made a mess of by the Lincoln defenders.
With this win on Saturday, Arsenal are now on course to win yet another FA Cup. If the Gunners manage to triumph this season, it will be the seventh time that Arsene Wenger will have lifted the coveted trophy.
However, it wasn’t all sunshine and rainbows for the Arsenal boss as a number of fans held protests before the game, asking for the 67-year-old to part ways with the club. “Wexit” banners were in place, and despite the result, the fans appear to have lost patience with the Frenchman.
