‘It was physical but we were fluent’

Arsene Wenger is in awe of Australia’s love for sport after another huge crowd watched us in action in Sydney on Saturday.

In his post-match press conference the boss also talked tactics and looked ahead to the China leg of our tour:

on the game from a tactical perspective…

I felt that we did very well in the first half against an opposition that made it physical for us. They left always something in, and they pushed us to go into the challenges. Overall the first half was very positive, we played at a good pace, very fluent, technically very good and with the right intensity. Our target was to maintain that as long as we could. We dropped a bit in the second half because most of the players have had five days’ training. It was quite amazing how well they did. When the other team came on we got an impulse again and dominated. Unfortunately we couldn’t score but we hit the post twice and created chances. It’s a bit similar to what we have seen against Sydney FC - they defend with heart. This team looks a bit more physical and a bit more ready, more advanced physically than the opposition we had the other night. 

on the support in Australia…

I must say tonight that 84,000 people… in two games we have over £160,000 people in Australia. It makes us realise how big the support is here in Australia, and how much people love football and sport here. It’s absolutely amazing. 

on his expectations of the China trip…

What I expect from China is that we play against opponents who are certainly as well in preparation, it will be less robust physically but as well of course you play against teams who have top quality going forward as well. We will have to share better our focus on defending and attacking. In the last two games we focused a lot on attacking. Apart from that we will play as well in a different climate. It will be very hot, so we have to adapt to that as well.