I was never really nervous. Worried yes, because you cannot say you don't worry when it is 1-1. But I felt we had the resources to score and in the last 20 minutes they would drop physically. I was always confident that we would qualify but you never know.
On being below-par...
Yes, it was a bit of a low-key game because we didn't find our pace in the game. We couldn't find openings in their defence. They defended very well, they were focused on closing us down everywhere. We were just below our normal pace. You have to give them credit, they defended very well and on every single ball they closed us down. I felt our speed of passing was not incisive enough and it was a bit nervous as well.
On potential opponents in the last 16...
The potential opponents are there is a 50 per cent chance of travelling to Spain and a 50 per cent chance of travelling to Germany. If you ask me where would you like to go? I don't know. You [the journalists] might prefer to go to Spain, for us not necessarily.
On whether any team should be feared...
No. Let's be realistic, Barcelona are the super-favourite at the moment but we take what we get and if it is Barcelona it is Barcelona. We have played them already last year and we'll see.
On whether Arsenal will improve by the next round...
Overall we are in a strong position in the league, we are qualified in the Champions League, we are in the Semi-Final of the League Cup and we start the FA Cup in January. There are plenty of exciting challenges in front of us but there is room for improvement and I am confident we will improve.
On whether tonight's display would be enough to beat the Spanish sides...
Every game is different. You cannot transpose our game tonight into a Real Madrid or Barcelona game. Every game has its own difficultes and its own shape. What I know is that we qualified for 11 years on the trot out of the group stage and let's go further now.
On not hitting top gear yet...
We have played some great games since the start of the season but tonight was certainly not our best. But what is extremely important for a group like ours is that we are still in the competitions and when we play now in the last 16 hopefully we have done well in the Premier League and the League Cup and we can have a high level of confidence because that will be needed.
On Robin van Persie's central role behind Chamakh...
I was not completely happy with our offensive game tonight. But I will have to watch that again. Maybe it was down to the quality of Partizan's defending because I felt they defended in a very intelligent way and very well. I will have to analyse that a bit better.
On Sagna's red card...
It was very harsh.
Source: Arsenal.com on 8 Dec 10
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