I think we could all tell from Arsene Wenger’s remarks that he was extyremely disappointed after Arsenal’s unbelievable draw with Atletico, where our defence gifted Antoine Griezmann an equaliser very close to the end of a game that we completely dominated.
The Boss said: “We produced a performance we wanted to produce, but the result is not in line with the performance. Against a team who defends well, we have not to give any chances away. Once we were 1-0 up, the task was clear for us: not to be caught on a long ball. They could not combine enough to come out and create a chance. The only chance they could have was on a long ball. We were a bit unlucky on the goal, because it was a foul on Welbeck.
“But we can only look at ourselves on tonight’s result because 1-0 is a perfect result at home. It was down to us after that not to make a mistake. We had 20 shots on goal, we have seen that against Manchester United, where we had 33 shots on goal and lost the game. It’s a story we’ve seen before.”
It certainly is the story of the season, and it looks like we have been undone again by our wastefulness in front of goal, and the seemingly inevitable defensive errors that seem to happen far too frequently in this campaign. Wenger went even further when quoted in the Mirror saying that he found the final score unbelievable. “Yes but I think looking at the performance we had and the way the game went it was the worst possible result for us.
“But we have to go there in a positive mood and qualify over there.
“Unfortunately we gave a goal away from nowhere and we have to recover from the disappointment in time for the next one.”
Next up is Man United on Sunday, and I wonder if Wenger will rotate to make sure he has a fresh team for next Thursday? Or will he risk losing yet another away game in this woeful season?
Darren N