When Arsenal concede three goals in a game we really have to win you might think that Arsene Wenger would be having a word with his defensive players and trying to make sure that we do not make it so easy for opposing teams in the future, but Arsene Wenger seems to be laying most of the blame for the loss away to Chelsea at the feet of the attacking side of his team.
In a report on the Arsenal website the manager talks about how we made it easy for the home team because we never put them under pressure by taking one of the many chances that came our way. It was not just the finishing of Arsenal that was lacking at Stamford Bridge according to the Frenchman, but the creation of chances and opportunities to score.
Wenger said, “We didn’t create enough. We lacked a little bit of what makes our game efficient in the final third. We didn’t look really dangerous enough and that was difficult to watch from upstairs.
“They did not create a lot when they had the ball, they created all their chances on the counter-attack. If you analyse the game well, we were never in that position because they never needed to come out.
“We had to finish the game with five strikers on the pitch basically. Of course then you favour the counter-attack of the team, but they do that [sitting deep and frustrating us] well.
“I am disappointed and angry because we lost a very big game.”
The stats show that Arsenal actually fashioned three clear cut chances to Chelsea’s one and that we had only one fewer shot on target than their six, so it does support the idea that poor finishing cost us, but with Wenger talking about the creative side as well I wonder if he had our two best players, Ozil and Alexis, in mind.
He has a point but does the defensive side of the team not deserve just as much stick?
Bob.