Okay I am sure I was not the only one that thought Arsenal was dead and buried at half-time, and when Liverpool scored the second goal I was ready to bury my head beneath the cushions, but I have to admit that I was mesmerised by the way we fought back and proved that we never give up even when we are two goals behind.
We proved it against Man United, although we didn’t manage to get back on level terms (we could blame the ref for that one), and we got our just rewards for our efforts today after going 2-0 down. I was extremely proud of the boys, and I think Wenger was too after our very dodgy first half.
But he was still upset that we couldn’t hold on to our 3-2 lead when we got it 7 minutes later. “Yes, that’s the frustration of the night,” he said. “but on the other hand to be completely honest it could have been game over at half-time as well because we had a nightmare first half.
“We played too far from each other, not compact enough, not composed enough and overall at half-time we could have ben punished more. Mane missed his chance just before half-time and I must give players the credit because even at 2-0 we didn’t show any weakness, we didn’t give in any weakness and we’ve shown great spirit again and come back.
“It’s true that I’m frustrated that at 3-2 we couldn’t keep the result but overall what can you say? It was a fantastic game with quality going forward for both sides, us more on quick combinations, them more on fantastic counter-attacking pace and that’s why it was always an interesting game.”
Wenger was then asked if he should have done a Mourinho, and “parked the bus” but that is not a tactic that Le Prof recognises. He replied: “I don’t know what you mean by parking the bus, I don’t know who created this expression, but it has not a lot to do with football. We defended well, but you know that with their quality going forward they can always score a goal.
“I hoped that we could score one as well and I think in the second half we were not so much in trouble, but they have quality everywhere going forward and it’s difficult to say that you guarantee that you don’t concede a goal.”
Would Arsenal fans go to games if Wenger just concentrated on defence and tried to stop the opponent from scoring? Or would you prefer an open attacking game where both teams actually try to win the game?
Going by tonight’s game I know which one I would choose.
Sam P (A very happy Arsenal fan despite only getting one point)