Arsene Wenger admits he is worried by Arsenal's defensive anxiety
But the Arsenal manager was at least happy to win a point at St Mary's
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Your support makes all the difference.Arsene Wenger admitted that his defence was afflicted by the same anxiety that it showed against Manchester United against Southampton today.
Last Saturday Arsenal lost 3-1 to United after giving away two simple goals in the first 11 minutes. Here at St Mary’s they went 1-0 down after two minutes, conceding plenty of early chances before eventually settling into the game they eventually drew 1-1.
Wenger was very critical of his team’s defensive ”inefficiency” after the United defeat and conceded this afternoon that the issue was still in the minds of his error-prone defenders, which is why they repeated the same mistakes.
“I felt that the Man United game played a bit of a part in the heads of our defenders,” Wenger admitted afterwards. “It was a bit in their head, and [they were] a bit apprehensive, to start well again. That’s why sometimes it’s not too good to talk about a problem, because you create even a bigger one.”
Wenger said he was satisfied enough with the point Arsenal took given they had been behind for so long. “I’m not happy with the point because I wanted three points,” he said.
“But overall when you cannot win it, don’t lose it. We kept going, we were relentless. It was difficult, it was important not to concede a second goal. And in the end Olivier Giroud helped us at least to rescue the point. Which considering the quality of the team we faced is not so bad.”
Giroud is open to a January departure for his chances of World Cup football but Wenger said he wanted to keep the French veteran. “Why should we lose an important player,” Wenger said, adding that him and Giroud would decide on his future together.
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