on whether Rooney was the difference between the
sides...
"I don't think so. I feel we had early
chances in the first half which we didn't take and after that I
believe United were sharper than us physically after the first half
hour, that made a big difference I believe. On the first goal we
lost the ball in our half and after it was 1-0 we missed two great
chances, one came to Van Persie and one to Adebayor. I feel overall
it was down to a lack of physical sharpness as the game went on. We
were focused today but we were not as sharp as we could be. You
could see that when we were 1-0 down because we lacked a bit of
combination in the final third."
on omitting Henry from the starting line-up...
"He had not recovered from Wednesday night but
he was not injured or I would not have put him on the teamsheet. He
has played more games than the other players and he played on his
own up front against Juventus twice, it is different for a striker
than a defender. But overall I think we lost because we lacked a
little bit of sharpness. In a big game you must score first,
basically, if you want to win. You cannot lose a goal like we lost
the first one."
on whether Henry's absence contributed to the
result...
"I don't think it was a major factor. The
game is not about those who sit on the bench, we have lost [at Old
Trafford] with Thierry Henry on the pitch as well. I think it is
important to do the right things in the game, we did not concede a
goal because Thierry was sitting on the bench. It is always easy to
look at the game like that but you have to analyse it like it
happened, and United deserved to win because they were
sharper."
on Arsenal's hopes of a top-four finish...
"We are jaded today, certainly, our chances
diminished today, but it is still in our hands mathematically. Our
problem is that we have fixture congestion with the Champions
League games and we paid the price a little bit today. We are in a
worse league position than in other years so at the moment we
cannot afford to drop points. But mathematically we are five points
behind Tottenham with a game in hand, we play them at home and they
have some difficult games. It is open but of course we want to win
every game and today we lost."
