FA Cup round 3 replay – Arsenal 1-0 Swansea (Wilshere 87′)
Wenger post game quotes:
on the performance…
We had a better team balance tonight and created chance after chance, especially in the second half but even in the first half we created chances. It was unbelievable that we couldn’t score, but we got it in the end. We persevered and were rewarded and we had a good performance. It gives you a lot of regrets that we played with 10 men on Sunday when you see our second half and our game tonight. It is important that we continue to develop like that as a team.
on Jack Wilshere…
Yes, he was outstanding tonight. I felt many players played well. As a team we played well and he was in a different position, he was high up and it suits him well. I have no experience of player being out for 17 months in my whole career, but honestly I always said that if we got Jack on January 1, then we would have done well. But he is ahead of what I could imagine.
on whether he considered taking him off…
No, I did not envisage that at all. I would love to have done it, but I was never in a position to do it because you could feel he was a threat. Even as a left winger he was a threat. We combined well, Gibbs had a great second half on the left side, also on the right side – we were dangerous everywhere.
on whether No 10 is his true position…
He is at the complete midfielder, he can play anywhere. He is a guy who can dribble and give a final ball, so the closer he is to goal, the better it is. He has quality and enthusiasm, and love for the game. That is the most important thing to me.
on Coquelin and Diaby…
We try to put a but more power in to defend better and it looked tonight like it worked well. Diaby responded well, I should maybe have taken him off a bit earlier but he looked alright.
on missing many chances…
That is the negative of the night.
on whether he needs a striker…
I believe in Giroud. He is a threat and he creates chances. Let’s first try to finish the deal with Walcott and then we see what we can do from there.
on when the Walcott deal could be signed…
I hope it will be soon, very, very soon now. I cannot tell you much more.
on Guardiola going to Bayern Munich…
He has chosen Bayern, it came as a surprise to me as well.Only he can answer that question. So you see we need a good performance because we playa against two managers when we play against Bayern!
on the FA Cup’s importance…
I would not like to think the Premier League is less important, we have to fight very hard to get back into a better position there. But we are in a position where you lose at home to Manchester City your confidence drops very quickly. So no matter what competition it was tonight, we just wanted to win the game. We go to Brighton now, and we will play with full power but there was more at stake tonight than just the FA Cup. [The priority] was to win again after losing such a big game on Sunday it was important to come back and win straight away.
on staying in more than one competition…
Yes, that is important as well. Yes, it’s one of the reasons [why he fields stronger teams in the cups now]. We have tried to stay in as many competitions as possible. I took seriously as well, even if it didn’t work, at Bradford. The fact that you play difficult games in the Champions League against Bayern Munich, they are fantastic games in front of us but it is important to stay in as many competitions as possible.
