Arsene Wenger says his side were caught cold by Ludogorets but praised the way his side maintained their composure to seal a 3-2 win that means they qualify for the knockout stages of the Champions League for a 17th consecutive season.
Here’s what he told BT Sport after the match.
On the key to victory…
Not to panic at two nil down and to keep our composure and to stick to our game. I believe overall, we were surprised by the speed of their start. We were caught cold.
After that we kept our composure and came back to 2-2 in the first half, which was quite positive. Second half we dropped a little bit physically and were less fluent than in the first. We tried still to have a go and finally we got the goal close to the end.
On how his side conceded twice so early…
Yes, it was [a harsh free-kick against Gibbs] but that doesn’t mean the free-kick a has to be a goal. Having watched it at half time, we didn’t drop off at the far post and they scored.
After that, on the cross, we were surprised as well. We lost the ball on the right and on a cross from the left we conceded a goal. After that, two nil down in the Champions League away from home with the crowd behind their team it becomes very difficult.
They [Ludogorets] maintained their intensity today, in the second half at the Emirates they dropped. Today they maintained it for 90 minutes so it was difficult.
On Ozil’s individual goal…
That’s the strength of the great players. They make the right decision. I thought for a while he took too long to score. At the end of the day when they score you have to say ‘Well done’.
Resilience character determination
When was the last time you could say that and mean it about an Arsenal team of late?
Ozil’s goal was better than Pogba’s Adidas advert.
Damn autocorrect! Don’t worry, we know you meant to type “Ozil is better than Pogba.”
Even better. I meant Ozil is even better than a fictional, hyperbolic representation of Pogba 😉
Sorry I was busy fetching Pogba’s jacket
A very Messi like goal. Just so chill under pressure.
Lucky PSG with the late winner.
Didn’t ever seem in doubt we would score 3 goals today. Team kept chipping away.
Problem was we also decided to make things interesting for ourselves and gift them a 2 goal handicap for the laugh.
Maybe its some sort of stress test before the matches coming up.;)
That was an awful watch for the most part.
Ramsey ruins the balance of the team, regardless of his quality.
A ‘desperate’ win….Ramsey and Giroud mean the same old story.
Iwobi and Alexis up front on Sunday, I hope!
Neither of them had played for a while before this match, they are hardly match fit. We also started Jenkinson who has been away over half a year. Not too much of a surprise that the team wasn’t playing as fluent as in recent matches. But agree would like to see Alexis as a striker on Saturday.
You and your 22 mates don’t even know what day we’re playing on, never mind WHO should play WHERE!
Fucken hell, just enjoy the win. We played against a decent attacking team at their homeground in the Champions League with a much changed side. We are top of our group and Ozil scored a dreamish goal to cap of the win. You do enjoy your coffee black without sugar I assume?
doesn’t even use water, just eats the beans.
What’s with the rage against black coffee lovers??
Definitely not our best game, but always tough going on the road in the Champions League and we got three points and kept out goal differential lead over PSG. Would have been nice to have seen them draw, but all we will have to do is draw or win at home to top the group (of course that would likely mean we would draw Barcelona I am sure). We definitely play a different more methodical style with Giroud up top vs Sanchez and not as free flowing, but sometimes that is the style needed to play. Personally I prefer the… Read more »
Does anyone else see us winning the group but being drawn with Bayern (currently 2nd in their group)?
I’ve already booked my ticket to Barca.
The composure in the face of some very irritating tactics combined with a very finicky referee showed maturity.
And Xhaka, tactical foul master. No one escapes our Xhakles.
Absolute class from the manager as well. Not a word on Gibbs letting that cross come in. I’m sure it will be assessed behind the scenes.
This present arsenal team shows Wenger knows what he’s been doing over the years. I remember him saying consistently “this team has cohesion,togetherness” and it will be destructive to offset the balance by bringing in transfers not needed. Then again, this season he’s kept on “this team has character,maturity and belief”
Bottomline,the Prof knows it all..#COYG