On another home draw...
"I think we had some disappointing draws here
at the beginning of the season. But today I cannot even say it was
a disappointing draw because I get out of the game with a lot of
credit to the team, a lot of quality, a lot of character. For me
the team is taking off. We were punished today by dropping two
points. I feel first of all that Portsmouth started better than us
but we were a bit unlucky to be 2-0 down in fairness. We had
the best chances, even if in the first half we didn't find our
flow."
on going two behind...
"In the first half we were unlucky to be 1-0
down, then 2-0 straight away after half time. Then we have shown
great character, great response, played well and created chance
after chance. It's the kind of draw you have to accept
happening in the season. But of course with the number of points we
have already dropped it is much more difficult to take. Today I
cannot complain about the way we played. We had problems to start,
but when you look at the number of games these boys play, it is not
surprising that sometimes it takes a few minutes to get going - or
one half to get going."
on bringing Adebayor on earlier...
"Well, I'm not completely sure he would
have stopped the goals we conceded. I cannot disagree with you that
you can think - with the impact he made in the second half - that
you would have loved him to have been on in the first half. But I
still feel that in the first half we gave them too much room, we
were not aggressive enough, and that's more a mental problem
than a one-player problem. In the second half we would have shown a
response, with or without Adebayor. It was his fifth game in 12
days today. He has played 35 minutes and he has a groin
problem."
on the injury to Ljungberg...
"He had a hamstring [injury]. He will miss the
Christmas period."
on his half-time team-talk...
"We had to up the tempo of the game and put
them much more under pressure, and give them less room and let them
settle so much on the ball, and push the team higher up because we
played too deep, and I feel they've shown an admirable
response. "
on his team's development...
"You know I am an admirer of this team because
they have great character. What they give at the moment is
unbelievable because we have played Wednesday in Porto, we played
Sunday in Chelsea, Wednesday night in Wigan - today again, 2-0
down. I do not know, I've had a few teams in my life and I do
not know many teams who would have responded like that."
Copyright 2013 The Arsenal Football Club plc. Permission to use quotations from this article is granted subject to appropriate credit being given to www.arsenal.com as the source 16 Dec 2006