Arsene Wenger believes one of the reasons Arsenal couldn’t find their rhythm against Manchester United on Sunday is because we were being constantly fouled.
The boss talked through the game, which ended 3-2 to United, afterwards and explained where he thought we went wrong, as well as what else he thought contributed to the loss.
“We have to show that we are at the level of this fight,” Wenger said to Arsenal Player after the match.
“Things can change quickly. We need to bounce back quickly on Wednesday night.
“We put ourselves on a bad foot by giving two goals away on crosses. After that, it became difficult.
“But we gave a lot. We came back to 2-1 but then gave them the third goal. It was a difficult game for us but I cannot fault our commitment, our energy.
“Unfortunately, at the moment, in the final third we didn’t create enough and they defended well.
“They defended well and made many fouls in the middle of the park that stopped our flow. I think that’s a little problem in the modern game.”
Admittedly, I don’t actually particularly remember United fouling us that much. I was too busy wondering what happened to Alexis Sanchez, who seems to have forgotten how to track back and shoot. I was too busy worrying about when Mesut Ozil will decide to leave us. Too busy being frustrated that Theo Walcott isn’t currently the player we need him to be.
I was embarrassed and I’m still angry. We didn’t lose because we were being fouled in midfield – that’s a weak excuse.
Instead of explaining away the loss, we need to build upon it and turn this around because at this rate, we’re looking at another title-less season.