Arsene Wenger was obviously disappointed that his Arsenal team got beaten by a young Man United team yesterday, and he knows that it is important points lost, but we also know that this is a weird topsy-turvy season and there could still be many more twists and turns for every team in the race.
Le Prof said after the game: “I felt that we had a lot of the ball and a lot of possession. We favoured their game plan because we conceded two quick goals and at 2-0 down it is difficult. You have to take a gamble. I think the biggest regret was we had so much of the ball but we conceded three goals. It is difficult to win away from home after that.”
It certainly is hard to win after conceding three goals, that’s very astute of him! But many people thought that Wenger would go for the safe game like he did against Barcelona, but he went for an attacking formation. He was asked if he regretted that decision. “No” he replied. “Because I’m convinced Welbeck, Walcott and Alexis can defend well when it is needed. When you analyse the goals, we lost the ball in our own half for the first one but after that they were just crosses today.”
So what effect does Wenger think this game will have for the title race? “Nobody knows. We dropped three important points today. We have to have a better level of fight than that and have to bounce back on Wednesday night and not feel sorry for ourselves. That is what it means. After, mathematically what is means, we will know at the end of the season.”
So, in the end, are the Gunners still in the title race? “It is still possible. We will have to answer quick and strong.”
We keep saying those phrases, ‘answer quick’, ‘bounce back’ strong response’, but we are running out of time. Yesterday was a must-win game, but we lost. Every single game from now on is a must-win game. Can we ‘bounce back’ and win them all?