I’m very happy with the performance. I feel defensively we were very good, we gave a lot physically [but] we lacked a bit [of] creativity. Overall, we didn’t manage to score. What is frustrating [is] that we have given everything in the end but we lacked a little but of sharpness in the final third. We had two decisions go against us today that punished us severely, especially the offside [against Andrey Arshavin]. To win this game 1-0 today was important.
On the offside decision against Andrey Arshavin…
What can you do? If you say to me it was offside, the only thing I can say is that if he is not offside.
On missing the chance to close the gap on Manchester United…
It’s a disappointment, yes. Today was the kind of game you want to win 1-0. We do not want to have things going against you, it happened. What we have to do now is focus on Tuesday night. We played our 46th game since the start of the season. I cannot fault the players' attitude. It’s true that we had problems to find our fluency today [and] I put it down to the quality of their defending, they marked us man-to-man and it was difficult. We missed some offensive players who [could] have an impact.
I think we have now played 11 games - eight wins, three draws - so we are quite consistent with our results. Today’s result comes at a bad moment, I agree with you. Is it because psychologically that is such an impact on the championship? I don’t think so. I feel we lacked a little bit of sharpness and technical quality in the final third.
On whether Arshavin should have gone down from Bramble’s challenge….
If he had gone down, you would have said he had dived. You cannot say on one side that the players do not have to dive and then if they do not go down, ‘why did you not go down?’. I think he did right to stay up, but you do not need to know that Bramble is beaten. I do not need to be a specialist to know that Bramble is beaten at the moment he comes back.
On Szczesny and Koscielny’s first performance after the Carling Cup Final…
They had a good performance. Defensively we were strong and good.
On Theo Walcott or the other injured players having any chance of playing at Barcelona…
No [on Walcott]. No Van Persie. Fabregas has a chance.
On the condition of Jack Wilshere after the game…
He has an ankle problem but we will see how he responds to treatment tomorrow. He’ll be out of training maybe one or two days. Monday [he will] maybe be back. We’ll see.
Source: Arsenal.com on 5 Mar 11
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