Arsene Wenger says ‘nervous’ Arsenal’s EFL Cup final defeat by Manchester City was ‘self-inflicted’
The manager admitted that Arsenal made a ‘big mistake’ for the first goal, as a Shkodran Mustafi step-up allowed Sergio Aguero through to score
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Your support makes all the difference.Arsene Wenger said a “nervous” Arsenal’s 3-0 League Cup final defeat was self-inflicted on a day when “everything went against us”, but argued it was a mystery that Manchester City’s second goal was not ruled out for offside.
Leroy Sane had been near goalkeeper David Ospina and ahead of the last City defender when Vincent Kompany scored but, even if that had been debatable, the reality was that Arsenal caved. The manager did admit that they made a “big mistake” for the first goal, as a Shkodran Mustafi step-up allowed Sergio Aguero through on goal.
“Congratulations to City, they will go home happy. We are very disappointed,” Wenger said. “A little bit of everything went against us, we self-inflicted our punishment, we had an unbelievable chance at 0-0 and gave them a goal. a bit unlucky in the second half, didn’t start well at all but the second goal is offside. It’s a mystery how it can not be given offside. After that they controlled the game and well done to them. We conceded quickly for 3-0 before I could make the change and it was game over.
“You can never say you are not disappointed when you concede goals like that,” Wenger said when pressed on what he meant by self-inflicted. “There’s no need for the corner on the second goal, you take the good and the bad, that’s part of the game.”
Wenger said Mustafi might have felt there had been a foul for the first goal. “He thought yes, I haven’t seen it again, the push was not obvious. I don’t know if he’d been pushed or not but he expected a free-kick.
“When you lose a game like that everything is questioned by TV personalities, every time you don’t win a game. We played a good side, they dominate the Premier League and some of those [former] players [working as pundits] have not always played at 200% – at 3-0 it’s difficult to come back.”
As regards how Arsenal can now save the season, Wenger said: “Let’s win the next [game] and leave the conclusions to you.”
That, however, comes against City at the Emirates on Thursday. “We have to win the next game. It doesn’t help, they’ll be on a high and we have to recover, they have the advantage.”
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