Arsene Wenger says he’s disappointed his team didn’t score more goals despite winning 4-1 against CSKA Moscow on Thursday night, but says it’ll be a reminder to his players that the job is not yet complete.
The Gunners travel to Russia next week for the second leg with a healthy advantage, looking to build on what was a positive performance overall.
Speaking after the game, the manager gave his thoughts on the display and the relative profligacy – particularly in the second half.
“It was a difficult game because they looked very good going forward and came out very quickly every time we lost the ball,” he said.
“They took advantage of every mistake we made to go forward. I felt that it was a spectacular first half played at a high pace, but also an uncomfortable one for me because they looked dangerous as well.
“I’d always hoped that we could score, but I was also worried that they could score as well. We played against a side who was technically very good, but we had scored some great goals in the first half and at half-time we were 4-1 up.
“Then the target was not to concede any more and, if possible, add another one. We did the first part of the job in the second half but not the second part of the job.
“On the other hand, it will help us to completely focus in the second game by not thinking it’s job done. We know it’s not over.
“We have to go there with the right focus and try to win the game.”
And the Frenchman believes the recent poor form will ensure nobody gets carried away as we start to dream of a final in Lyon in May.
“We are in the quarter-final and it is a long way to go,” he said. “We still have to finish the job. We are not qualified for the semi-finals, so it is too early to talk about that.
“We have suffered a lot recently, so that will help us to keep our feet on the ground and be humble and try to do our job well.”
I so hope mhkitaryan plays some part in semi’s if we go through.He reminds me of rosicky and is not afraid to shoot from distance as well.
I also hope mhiki gets a semi
Agreed. I felt the same too. He is like a Rosicky, experienced player with silky skills for the middle who can unlock defenses with quick passes.
We should do it, they are like a lower half of the PL team.
Zz. What about Swansea
We beat them 4-1. Where does that place them in the PL.
To be fair I think they are better than that. They tried to go toe to toe with us, which was a mistake.
They were very poor. At points in the first half the defense was sieve like. As great as we were I think it was largely down to hapless defending more than our brilliance. All they had to do for a stretch was play it first time behind the defense. It was that simple.
You’re saying that Ramsey’s brilliant flick was down to hapless defending? How about Laca’s great touch and left foot volley? We actually cut them open with clever movement and passing.
Let’s give credit where it’s due.
It was enjoyable to watch us slice them apart, but it has to be put in perspective. Their defenders are ancient and left acres of space for Arsenal players to run into. There was maybe 15 minutes in the first half where it was laughably bad defending.
I’m normally one to always praise the performance over the opponent’s poor quality, but in the case CSKA were shockingly bad at times. Worse defensively even than Ostersund.
Sensible advise.
We are at half time and should treat the tie as 0-0.
Get a couple of goals in Moscow before we relax our guard.
Complacency has seen us squander against lesser opponents in Ostersund before.
One thing to note if they persist with a 3 man defense with a combine age of 107 is we should load up with players who can counter at pace.
Iwobi could be useful but we have fewer options in this regard at the moment.
Give us A. Madrid in the semi final…… Let us get them out of the way as soon as possible
Random question that may have been answered before: Why are all of our April league games on Sunday?
probably because we play on a Thursday in the Europa…