Kommentarer efter matchen mot West Ham
Wenger och Curbishley
Om fem år skall de olympiska spelen gå i de östra delarna av London. I helgen fick den delen av London en liten försmak av hur det känns när en massa nationaliteter kommer och vinner. Man kunde dela ut guldmedaljerna direkt till Gunners glada skara, där man inte vann på skönspel utan enligt syftet: minimal insats för maximal utdelning. Arséne Wenger sammanfattade matchen:"West Ham tried to lift the ball and go for the direct way. We were a little bit cautious. We had a little apprehension because we lost last year. At the start we played with the handbrake a little bit. Then we scored the goal and in the second half we put the ball down. We did not make the mistake we made at Blackburn. We continued to play and try to go forward. We tried to score the second goal. Unfortunately it never came."
Wenger tror att det finns en möjlighet att gå för titeln detta år. Förbättringar, ja visst. "We are young, but we play". Säger fransosen.
Wenger ansåg att West Ham hade mycket bollar i luften, så att det var viktigt att hålla uppe tempot. Sedan ansåg han att Robert Green gjorde en bra match. Men han var inte nöjd med Alex Hlebs skada."If it was an accident, it is a very bad accident, because if you see his leg it is unbelievable. It is red and bruised from the knee down to the toes. We are quite optimistic because, for me, Noble is usually a fair player. I don't know if it was an accident or not, but he caught him very well." Wenger anser inte att Hleb spelar mot Steaua Bukarest i veckan. Däremot ser det bättre ut för Emmanuel Adebayor.
Wenger avslutar med att konstatera att laget växer med insatsen. "Everywhere we go we try and grow and improve - today we dealt with a bit different problem because West Ham made it hard for us to do that. We are young so it is normal that in October 2007 we are better than in September 2006."
Vi avslutar med att skicka in Alan Curbishley, som var lite bitter efter Gunners-matchen.
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Should it have been 1-1 ? Well they're telling me that Freddie wasn't offside, but what can you do. Dean had a real chance with his header. If Arsenal get that lead and go 1-0 up away from home they are very difficult to beat, and it was obvious that they were going to try and get us on the break and could we get back in the game. My half-time talk I told them we were giving Arsenal too much respect, we were allowing them yards on the ball to take quick free-kicks and throw ins. If you let them pass and move you're gonna be chasing. We were disappointed by the goal, because the ball's gone up to Deano and we're coming out to support him, and it looks like he's gonna retain the ball but we lose it. Then it's flicked in, and Van Persie 's got up at the far post. It wasn't the best challenge on him but we had a problem last week where we didn't stop the cross, and this was another one we could have done a bit better on. When you play Arsenal you need a few things to go for you. The injuries are coming back to us again, we got another couple today so we're doubly disappointed. The Noble challenge ? Well, although it was near us I thought we'd lost the ball, so I was looking to the back four to see what was going to happen there so I've not seen any replays or anything, you might want to have a look at the tackle on Parker as well. He's tweaked his knee again I think, and it's the same knee as he's been having trouble with. Anton's done his hamstring, but the squad's just gonna have to cope with it. Bellamy pulled out after training yesterday, and we thought he was in for the last two days; the injuries are a bit disappointing for us at the moment. I think they worked as hard as they could second half, they tried to get us back in it. The two chances, one we took but was taken away from us, and the other we didn't take. Ashton's was a great ball from Bowyer and we saw him setting himself up to get some power on it yeah we're all disappointed it didn't go in. It's a tough old game."
Lite långt kanske från Curbs, men så får det vara.
Källor: www.arsenal.com och www.westhamunited.rivals.net
