Arsenal 2-2 Liverpool
Coach Wenger reacts:
on a positive response to going 2-0 down…
I believe that first of all, it was a great football game where both teams really went for it and you could see that it was top level entertainment overall. We could have lost the game or won the game by three or four goals difference. That shows that we have created many chances going forward, but we were nervous defensively. The two goals we have conceded today have shown that we were nervous from the start at the back, but overall we have shown great quality and tremendous spirit.
on the defensive performance…
I think first of all, we were caught on the counter attack and we didn’t adjust very well. Liverpool are good going forward as well. We didn’t give out big security tonight defensively but on the other hand, when you see what the spirit is in the team, and what the quality [is] going forward, you smell that something can always happen at any moment when you combine like we do. In the second half, we have put a fantastic effort in. We know what we can improve, and we want to keep the positives that we have shown tonight in the game.
on starting slowly…
I believe that recent history has an impact on the way we started the game tonight. We have to get that out of our minds and just focus on what we do well – playing football, and focus on what you want to do in your position. I believe that the quality is there, so we have to trust our quality and just forget what happened in the past because you could see that what happened in the past played in our heads at the start of the game.
on why his defenders are nervous…
Because they want to do well and they want to win games. The games have massive importance for them and that’s why – because they want to do so well.
on Walcott…
He’s absolutely moving forward. You can see he’s a man now when he plays football. He takes responsibility, always creates danger and he played against a top full back today and that’s where you see the quality in the big games like that.
on Walcott proving himself at international level…
I think he’s ready [to do that].
on Gibbs’ injury…
It is a thigh strain and that rules him out for the next three weeks. It’s a blow for us.
on playing well in the second half of games…
There is not always a rational explanation. Sometimes you have wait until the other teams drop a little bit to get complete domination of the game. If you look at us against Manchester City we had a lot of the ball even with 10 men. Sometimes you think it is not bad for us to go into half-time at 0-0.
on his group of players…
The squad is top, top level for me and I think we have to learn to trust these players and keep faith in them. We have signed a bunch of top English players who have committed to the club for the next five years. We have to keep faith in them
on doing business on deadline day…
I cannot promise that but we will work on it.
on the atmosphere in the dressing room…
They are frustrated because we have not won the game. But we came back and there is a certain feeling that they did their job and have given everything. But at the same time you want to win football games so they are frustrated.
Coach Rodgers reacts for Liverpool:
“It’s a game we should have won – we didn’t but we showed great resilience and quality and had other chances to get other goals. I’m very proud of the team.
“I think we probably didn’t keep it at 2-0 for long enough. I was trying to get Jose Enrique on down the left because Luis had ran out of steam a little bit.
“He has a great capacity to work but that was his first time playing in that role. But Jose couldn’t get his boots on and all that sort of stuff, and within five minutes it was two each.
“It’s just something that can happen – Arsenal are a wonderful team. We’re disappointed it went to 2-2 but we showed great resilience and actually could have even won it.”
