Barclays Premier League day 6 – Arsenal 1-1 Tottenham
Coach Wenger speaks after the game:
on whether Arsenal deserved to win…
I think, if you look at the shots on goal Tottenham had and the amount of time they had the ball, they can say they have got a great result today.
on whether it was frustrating…
Yes, it’s the kind of game that you win if you don’t give a goal away. They waited for us, defended deep to catch us on the break, and we had about 70 per cent possession. You have to be patient without making the mistake. We also had a handicap because we lost two players early in the game and we were restricted to just one change when we had complete control of the game in the final 30 minutes. I had only one option to bring on going forward and that is not enough in a game like that.
on Tottenham’s goal…
Yes, we lost the ball in our half. But I must give credit to my team because once again we came back and we put a huge effort in with a high workrate all together. It’s one of the few times that we’ve had so much possession against a Tottenham team since I’ve been here, but they defended well. You have to give them credit. Younes Kaboul and Jan Vertonghen did well, as well as Hugo Lloris. They took every second they could again, to make the game last as little as possible. I would like to see the referee deal with that in the proper way for once.
on why Alexis Sanchez didn’t start…
It was selection of the day. There was no medical reasons.
on whether Arsenal should have been given a penalty…
I think it was [a penalty] but the referee decided it wasn’t, so you should ask him why.
on whether Spurs wasted time…
They tried to make it as simple as possible – they tried to gain time. Slowing the game down is normal and I understand it completely. But the referee’s there to make the flow of the game respected and I would like an English referee to do it for once. People pay money in the stands to watch football. It’s as simple as that. It’s only a respect of the people who pay money to watch football.
on whether the referee should book players for time-wasting…
Book them straight away. When the keeper gets the ball and walks from one side of the goal to the other side to keep the ball out, give him a yellow card and then the next time he’ll take it where the ball is.
on whether he spoke to the referee about it…
No, they are professional referees.
on the injuries…
I don’t know how long they’ll be out.
on what the injuries are…
I think Ramsey is a hamstring and Arteta is a calf. Wilshere [has] an ankle [problem].
on whether he’s concerned about Wilshere and Ramsey being injured…
Not constantly. Wilshere, if you look at the incident again, has been tackled and turned his ankle over. Ramsey is a concern that he did his hamstring. I don’t understand because he had a good rest this week, I didn’t play him against Southampton on Tuesday night. It’s a surprise because he’s usually a resistant boy.
on whether Arsenal should have appealed more for the penalty…
The penalties in the rule book are not decided on the intensity of the appeal. It can influence.
on the start to the league season…
It’s frustrating. I think the positive is that we are unbeaten but the negative is that we’ve missed four points from the quality of the games we’ve played. Somewhere we have to keep that unbeaten record and I think at some stage we will win the games instead of drawing. I think today we would have won had we not conceded the first goal.
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