Arsenal were undone by a late Liverpool equalizer through Joe Allen after coming from behind twice at Anfield last night, but with Man City also being held to a draw the Gunners haven’t lost much in the race for the title. Although our failure to hold on the lead could be considered to be two points lost, Arsene Wenger thinks that the team must only be looking at the positives from the night.
Wenger said after the game: “I’m frustrated by the result but not by the performance even if we were a bit apprehensive. I feel in the first 20 minutes we were a bit on the back foot and we came back in a convincing way. At 2-1 down we have shown character and scored after 2-2 and 3-2. Frustration comes from the fact that I think at 3-2, we had three situations where we should have made it 4-2 and we made a bad decision.
“That is the frustration tonight and the fact we conceded a goal in the last minute. That can happen in England but it was a game played with two teams that gave absolutely everything and we have shown again great character tonight and come away with a point, and if you look at the recent results it shows you that everywhere it is very even and very difficult for everybody.”
“They need to transform the frustration they have in the dressing room at the moment to even more motivation for the next game. There is a lot of positives in the game and there is more positives than negatives in the game. I think what happened tonight should strengthen their belief that they have a big part to play in this league.”
Giroud was credited with two of the goals (although really the second was an own goal by Mignolet) and he had a host of other chances to put the ball in the net, but Wenger was more than pleased with the French striker’s performance against a strong physical Liverpool defence. “He had more chances but it was a positive performance overall. It was not easy for him many times and he was exposed to a very physical battle up front and had to protect the ball and fight against the centre backs at long balls. He was very precious for us tonight.”
Well that is the first of three tough away games and we are still top of the League (only just!) so lets hope the players continue feeling positive and make up for the lost points against Stoke at the weekend….
Onwards and Upwards!
Listen to Wenger express his frustration in the after-match interview….
Interview courtesy of AudioBoom