Arsene Wenger gave an honest assessment of his side’s performance in their Carabao Cup third-round win against Doncaster - admitting they lost some cohesion in the second half.
Theo Walcott’s goal put us in front at the interval, but we could not add to the scoreline and had to soak up some late pressure from the visitors.
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Afterwards, Wenger had this to say in his post-match press conference:
on the performance…
I would agree with you, I believe that we started well and in the first 25 minutes had a good pace in our game and good flow and slowly lost a bit our cohesion and our speed in our passing and decreased our level and after that I think we did the job even if we had not anymore the style we want to play and the flair to kill the game off.
on his relationship with Sir Alex…
I invited him tonight, you know! Sport is good for that. You fight against each other and with respect.
on whether he misses him from the Premier League…
I think he was a big personality in the Premier League of course, but I still meet him sometimes in the European meetings.
on whether Darren is a chip off the old block…
Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, oh sorry yes.
on Theo Walcott’s injury…
He had a kick behind his knee at half-time and in the second half he got another kick. I don’t think it’s big, it looks to me a kick - not more than that.
on giving Alexis 90 minutes…
For me he needs competition and that’s why I left him on the pitch as well.
on whether Alexis will be ready for Monday night…
Yes, he should be ready now.
on Doncaster Rovers…
I would say that they played well, very well and that has changed in the lower divisions now, first of all everybody is super fit. They had absolute total fitness, they were well organised, they came they gave us a tough time, they never have shown any weakness mentally, they kept going until the end - they could have scored a goal as well. I must say I was surprised by their quality and their level, so they shouldn’t be too concerned to stay in the league. I think they need to adapt because they just came up, but they have enough to stay in the league for me.
on Calum Chambers…
Chambers is injured again on the hip, yes.
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