Arsene Wenger says he was happy with Arsenal’s second half display after his side fought back to secure a 1-1 draw against Man United this afternoon.
While admitting the first half performance left something to be desired, the Arsenal manager was pleased that today’s result leaves the club needing just one point to secure an automatic qualification place for next season’s Champions League.
“I am pleased with the performance,” he said. “The only regret I have is that we didn’t take the three points in the second half. We started the first half slowly, Manchester United were sharper at the beginning, and we were a bit stretched as well width and length-wise.
“The second half we were more compact and we took over. We showed a great response and got a deserved point.”
Pressed on why Arsenal were so off the pace in the first period, he continued, “We were a bit too timid, too conservative in our possession and a bit too far from each other as well.
“In the second half we were more compact and we had good opportunities on the counter. We were quicker and we had enough chances to win the game in the end.”
And on finishing in third place (at least), he said, “It takes the pressure off the holidays and in the preparations because you always have that in mind when you prepare.
“It will be great when we do it, but it’s still to do. We have two home games so let’s focus on the next one and we can secure that on Wednesday against Sunderland.”
It’s still possible for us to finish second if we win both our games and Man City lose at home to Southampton next Sunday.
the substitutions worked today. he was able to change the setting of the team after a terrible first half.
Took way too long to make them, though.
Why is this getting th<mbs?
Wenger waits and waits for a player to get into the game just like he is patient with transfers. He is so obvious. A sub at 55-70 mark is usually enforced not planned.
Cazorla was shocking but played 70minuntes and finished the game vs Swansea where again he was shocking.
And at least he didn’t say handbrake!
Progress 🙂
Good options off the bench. Liking Jack particularly but Theo wasn’t bad at all.
Squad depth at last. Even if we keep them all together and don’t buy anyone I reckon we have a chance next season.
I don’t agree,the other teams will strengthen next season it would be foolish of us to think that we can win the title next season without a couple of quality additions.
Agreed, would be better, though still think we have a chance.
At least three or four top class additions. This current squad is simply not good enough to win the title. As a team, we have to aim for at least 90 points to win the title, even then it may not be enough – that means 28 wins and 6 draws and a maximum of 4 losses, for example. We lose too many 50-50 games at the moment. These games required a bit of magic, a bit of something special, a keeper to make a super save, an attacker to nick a goal and turn a draw into a win,… Read more »
Wenger should rather be pleased with the result than the performance. We were lucky Man U players run out of energy in the second half. Yes, we could have won the game but that would have been a steal if you put everything together. We did not deserve a win. Happy with the result. We do deserve to be third in the league.
Yes, we didn’t deserve to win. But neither did they back in November, and they did.
Lucky were fitter than them? Wenger meticulously drills our team making us probably the fittest in the league. Its common knowledge. Thats not luck, its just rewards.
Saints are on the back of an absolute violation of Aston Villa, it’d be nice if they could give the Other Mancs a spanking too 😉
Jack looking good, Ramsey more effective central , Santis least effective game in a long while. Ozil although not at his best quietly effective. The rest pretty average I thought.
Kos and Monreal were brilliant as well.
Kos is such a bad ass! I love how he intercepts any opposition pass that comes anywhere near him.
Strikers must really hate him How he pinches the ball off them must have them tearing out hair silently in their mansions after the game.
Monreal did well but was partially at fault for their goal. He didn’t jump just like against Swansea.
I think you’ll find he did jump. Gomis however is a big dude.
Ozil was not quietly effective. He was just quiet and a couple of situations drifted back to being his old timid self. Sanchez looks off the pace today. Feel a bit sorry for squad players like Rosicky. Someone who can give you a game in 3 or 4 and keep things fresh for the others too – like say against Swansea, giving others a bit of a breather before a game like today’s. Need to see a bit more of that… Arsene playing with a 13 instead of 16 man squad a bit too much.
Özil made some fine passes. I think he played quite well, but the entire team was a shambles. He is ineffective when the team is not putting passes together, moving nor getting into space, and, against Utd, we couldn’t hold onto the ball more than ten seconds at a time up until around 65-70 minutes.
I think Özil needs to run at defenders a lot more and be a bit more greedy and take shots. He should target 15-20 goals next season. He certainly has the ability.
We didn’t see Ozil today, we saw Zerozil. He might getting tired.
when ozil chooses to dribble it shows how less our players are moving to get free..
Wenger was every right to be angry at the half time. The team simply didn’t turn up in the first half but great response from team in second half. Ramsey is so vital specially when he plays in the middle. He just runs the show. A lit of fans sitting behind me during swan game kept bickering about Ramsey. The fact is that he is not fully fit but gives in all. He will be better if he can keep fit and will be play a major part next season.
A steal was united winning at the emerates early in the season. We played much better than them in 2nd half. They played Better than us in the first half. This season away beat city drew with Liverpool Everton and united, last season I think we lost them all. Me thinks that’s a decent improvement.
United were pressing all game. They had to run out of energy at the hour mark. If last week we’d have won against Swansea, this would’ve been a good result in the race for 2nd.
I feel like Ramsey is gonna be better when played centrally because of all the time he has spent on the wing recently. He really looked imposing with the room he had to roam around centrally alongside Wilshere. I can also see that it might take time for Walcott to return to his best, and with Gnabry and the Ox around, we can wait. I really enjoyed the directness Walcott brought into our game today, but he still needed Coquelin covering for him as he is a liability defensively, but he can always work on that.
Not too many shout outs for BFG but I thought he played well today. Sign of Man Utd decline that we were off our game and still earned a point and could have won. Still “you can only beat (draw with) what’s put in front of you”
Wilshere looked really sharp today,I hope he starts against sunderland and can stay injury free for next season,those driving runs from midfield are a good counter act for teams that sit deep trying to frustrate our midfield.
Fab played like a terminally ill slug against city today. And was fecking superb against us. Cheers chief.
And that’s exactly why we let him go…
If he’d brought Jack on at half time we would have won this!
Why is it always after 70 minutes before he changes something that isnt working?
Just wondering if Jack and Rambo together against “weaker” teams is an option? Hold the coq blocker back until we have a lead to protect.
Jack made a difference on Monday as well so if we give teams too much to cope with offensively then we could have the old invincible so trick of having the game effectively over in the first twenty five minutes.
Before Coq was in the team we were conceding the first goal all over the place (often from the first shot on target) because Jack and Aaron were la-de-daing on the edge of the opposition penalty box. It didn’t work. It COULD work if one or both of them is willing to be more disciplined positionally but it most certainly didn’t work early in the season.
Wilshere has looked great since his latest comeback… if he can stay fit blablabla I think he can/should take over Cazorla’s role from next season onwards. We HAVE to find a way to play Jack and Rambo in the same midfield if we really want to go for the big trophies.
Sanchez tries to pass the ball through a stack of players after hesitating for about 5 seconds. Also the player he intends to pass to is sorrounded and even if the ball gets to him he is way too sorrounded to do anything with it.
Note: The player is sorrounded is due to Alexis kicking the turf 5 times before actually passing.
Also 3 times out of 10 he will ty a chip inside the box to a player be it Santi or Giroud, he don’t mind.
HOW MANY TIMES HAVE YOU SEEN THIS.??
But its a game of two halves just as it is a season with two halves. We look a bit tired. I think there is merit in the ethos if it isn’t broken don’t fix it but we needed an injection of vigour. Would have started either of Jack, Walcott or Rosicky at very least to provide a bit more impetus. This should be in many ways an audition for the FA cup final. Opportunity missed. United played well attacking from the flanks but half of it was because we turn in a flaccid performance.First half was abysmal, not a… Read more »
I am not a soccer manager but Young was given time and space to cross.In the Everton game
he was completely neutralized.
I am inclined to agree with Piers Morgan who said Wenger is a manager and not an architect.
If Arsenal cannot get the better of AV tactically,WEnger has lost the plot. Imho.Sherwood
will be encouraged by Swansea who neutralized Arsenal and won.
If Wenger aint careful,Arsenal could lose the cf and calls for his head will reverberate around the ES.
Do you mean the Sherwood who tried to neutralize Southampton and ended up getting a 7 goal thriller? He sure sounds like a threat; exceeding expectations and all that.
We were all over them in the second half and fully deserved to come away with a point. It would have been great to steal a winner and Giroud had a couple of opportunities to do just that. Anyway, I am happy with the draw. Hope we win the last two games of the season and City lose to Southampton.
Ozil setup Giroud twice…inside the penalty box, just outside the 6-yard box. The outcome….One a total miss and the other a weak shot with his right. Absolutely disappointing!!
One break during first half by Sanchez, Ozil break with him and open up space on the left….what happen next? Sanchez tried to hand on to the ball to long and tried to dribble through and totally lost possession of the ball and a counter attack followed. Totally disappointing!!
If i am Ozil I too will be fed-up with the situation.
Giroud sucks at times. He needs competition, period. Comment about sanchez is spot on…..even Wenger got impatient and subbed him. I love ozil and imho, he is top top quality. Maybe arseblog shud do one on how many goal scoring chances…..potential assists ozil has managed all season. He gets all the stick for lack of a finisher. Does any one have an idea what it takes to create a chance……for smn to rush, mistime and waste it???? Truth be told
Arsenal had a legitimate shout for a spot kick when Smalling pulled Giroud’s shirt. As far a s I know contact of this kind results in a penalty. This shows you the obstacles facing Arsenal winning games and the epl. I have said thousand times until the FA cracks down on under performing refs,soccer will be the loser. Incidentally Red Face hopes that another mu boss can dominate like him.He has forgotten the football landscape has changed.From 1993 he won 8 titles. From 2004 to 2105 he won 5. For the first period he had a monopoly in the transfer… Read more »
Don’t call it soccer please.
It is just fantastic to have depth, now if we do well with a Gabriel/Chambers partnership for the final 2 games and get the maximum 6 points, I will trust Le Prof that we do not need defensive reinforcements, still think we need a back-up for Coquelin and a ruthless finisher
not sure what Wenger said at half time against Swansea but 2nd half was a different team as was with man u in the 2nd half can he not give them the bollocking at the start of the match, at times before we struggled because of so many games and so many injuries we have neither at the moment but refuses to change the line up with fresher players we have at hand, this squad is definately better than last year but as of years before always 2 or 3 players short in the squad mainly because of financial restrictions… Read more »