Players Respond To Stoke Victory

A number of players have given their response to our three nil victory over Stoke earlier this afternoon, and it’d be fair to say, they were all happy.

Starting with substitute Theo Walcott, he explained to the Official Site that we started like the proverbial ‘house on fire’ and with us starting that brightly, we didn’t give Stoke a chance to get into the game and he didn’t feel the victory was ever in doubt as we increased our goal margin.

‘I’m not quite sharp enough yet but that will come. I’m just happy to be back and it’s the same with Mesut Ozil as well. From the start of the game we were on the front foot and that’s what the boss said to us. He wanted us to have a very positive start and we didn’t give them any rest at all and started like a house on fire. It gives a boost back to the whole squad when players who’ve been out long term are coming back, it lifts everyone’s spirit.’

Opening goalscorer Laurent Koscielny also spoke about our quick start in the game and how key it was for us to keep them on the back foot.

‘It was very important to start well, I remember the game at Stoke and after 20 seconds we had conceded. We were very focused on that and it’s important to score early. It’s very important that the three points are with us because we lost the last game, so it was important for us to come back and win. We played well, like a unit, defended and attacked well. It’s important to take this into the next game.’

Having found the net himself, he had specific praise for Alexis Sanchez as well.

‘Alexis is amazing because he’s played more than 25 games and he still runs like it’s his first game. It’s amazing and it’s not just in attack – he defends well. If he needs to run back to help us defend, he does, so he has a good mentality, which makes him a world class player.’

It’s a similar script from Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain as well, as he also talks about the importance of a quick start and getting the goal, and with our attacking players taking the praise following the game, he was quick to point out the boys at the back who put a shift in to keep the clean sheet as well and give us that solid base to play from.

Obviously Sanchez was mentioned.

‘He’s amazing. He shows it week in, week out and I think that’s the most important thing for top players to do. It’s about consistency and it’s not good enough to just be good one week. Alexis has done that all the way through the season. He was brilliant again, scoring two good goals and setting Laurent’s up as well. Hopefully it continues for him because he’s having a great season.’

Ox adds that for him there were a lot of good individual performances on show from the team, but clearly with a brace and assist, Sanchez will get the loudest cheer.

I could repeat the same things from Santi Cazorla’s little interview as well, but from his words I’ll cherry pick the following.

‘The team had a good spirit and we were aggressive because we knew the second ball was very important. The team concentrated for the whole game and it was a good performance. I hope we can do the same in the next game.’

With players returning from injury, he also commented that it was a big boost for everyone to see the likes of Ozil back out in training because everybody in the team wants your best players available as options as it can only increase your chances of winning games, and that’s what they all want to play their part in.