Extra: Wenger on attacking balance

Read extra quotes from Arsene Wenger and Olivier Giroud’s press conference ahead of Tuesday’s game against Barcelona:

on staying focused…
AW: You sum up well our last experiences. It is a good opportunity to show we have learned because it is true we have given ourselves a difficult task after the first home leg and maybe after we have been a bit too keen to make the difference in the first game. We need to find the right balance between being audacious because that is what you will need to be against Barcelona. We need to be strong defensively as a unit and not put ourselves in front of a very difficult task in the second leg.

on being better equipped…
AW: We are better equipped in the way we have assembled experience now. I believe all the players I have are intelligent and it is a good opportunity to show we have learned.

on FA Cup replays…
AW: I’m still exactly of the same opinion. We all have big squads and personally when I select my team, I have a difficult problem to leave some players out with top quality. I cannot complain. We are equipped for these competitions. When the season starts, we know the rules and we will compete in all competitions and we will continue to do that.

on coin throwing…
AW: I feel that for years people in the stands feel they can get away with everything. The media played a little part in that. You are regularly insulted by people in the stands and without people having the feeling they could get punished. It will always go one step further and the incidents, for me, are a disgrace and unacceptable. Even if you pay your ticket, you can still respect people. I believe that is just not acceptable.

on prioritising the Champions League…
OG: As the boss says, we want to play in every competition and we want to keep the FA Cup for us, a record of winning three times in a row. For the title race, we are still in a strong position and we want to keep it up but we have big games to come so we will have time to focus on the Premier League. The Champions league is always the big time for players, especially against Barcelona so we will enjoy it and give the maximum to give pleasure to our fans and take a lot of pleasure on the pitch. Why not win this game, because we have he quality for that.

on challenging on three fronts…
OG: Obviously [Barcelona] are favourites, its the Champion league against barcelona but we have good quality this year, even if we had a lot of injuries, but we did well during a tough moment in the Autumn and we have our players back, so we are very happy with that. For example Danny made the difference against Leicester, and I was very pleased for him. We will need everybody, we have a strong squad and that is why we can play in every competition.