One-nil down and two-one down, but strong responses on both occasions.
We weren’t at our free-flowing best against Manchester City but the tenacity and character shown to get back into the game - twice - bodes well.
- 'I'm happy with attitude, not score'
- Welbeck - My take on the City game
- Wenger on Alexis, fans and injuries
Here’s what Arsene Wenger thought of Sunday’s game:
on the result…
Overall, we started with quite a high level of anxiety. We were punished straight away, so it was a mental test. You could see that the team were touched on the confidence front and that the fluency in our game suffered. We have shown great mental resources because we went a goal down twice and one time it was at the worst moment in a game, just before half-time. On top of that, we lost Koscielny at half-time. In the second half we came back to 2-2, so it will help us to rebuild confidence because we have certainly shown some mental strength. That will help us to come back to our natural fluency. Mathematically, for both teams it’s not the best operation, not for City, not for us. We can think about mathematics when the confidence is there again, but hopefully that will help us restart now.
on whether we have to win our last 10 games to finish in the top four…
I don’t know. If you look at yesterday’s results, it’s very difficult to predict what will happen in the last 10 games. What we want is to come back to win our games. How many do we need to win to finish in the top four? I don’t know.
on whether he was feeling anxious as well…
I care about my team. When you have the experience I have, you have a good measure of the level of the anxiety in the team. We were under pressure. It’s difficult because you are more mentally tested than anything else, and I think we coped with that in a united and strong way.
on whether Manchester City should have had a penalty…
Honestly, I don’t know. I haven’t seen a handball. Their bench complained, but was it handball or not? I don’t know.
on whether multiple games in a short space of time is a good thing…
Yes, we need now to prepare well and focus on Wednesday. We are professional and at our level you want to perform in the next game. Hopefully a point today, I am confident that will help us to rebuild confidence.
on whether it can help to build momentum…
It depends, we cannot lose many more players now.
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