Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has said that the half time team talk did the trick in the weekend’s victory over Swansea City.
Hosting the side at the Emirates Stadium for the game this weekend, Arsenal fell behind to a Sam Clucas goal, but Sead Kolasinac and Aaron Ramsey found the net in the second half of the game to return all three points.
Speaking to the Official Site as Wenger met with the press for his post game press conference, he explained that the players responded perfectly to his words at the break.
‘At half-time, I could be worried because we were 1-0 down and I knew that Swansea had conceded only one away goal the whole season. For us it was important to play quicker, sharper, with more penetration, changing sides quicker and putting them more under pressure, which we did in the second half. In the first half, we looked dominating but a bit laboured, too slow in our game.’
With Wenger celebrating his 800th game in the Premier League for the club, he was asked for his memories on his first game in charge all those years ago.
‘My first one was at Blackburn, 2-0. When you`ve played 800 times, you have some deja vu!’
With Kolasinac continuing to show he was such a shrewd capture coming in as a free agent, Wenger went on to say about his performance on the day.
‘Kolasinac was decisive today, because he scored and made an assist. We had a bit more space on the left, we saw that and we wanted to take advantage of that in the second half because they blocked Hector a lot with Clucas on our right side. For us it was important to build up on the right and change quickly to the left and create some space for Kolasinac. He did that very well.’
Adding.
‘It`s just down to quality. I believe that since he has arrived, he has convinced everybody that he`s a good signing. When you see the quality of his performance again today, you see there are still some good deals to make out there.’
Wenger went on to confirm that Kolasinac had been carrying a thigh/hip injury going into the game but the substitution was forced late on as he’d picked up a tight hip muscle and he didn’t yet know if he’d be ready for the weekend.
With a great start to his Arsenal career, Wenger ended by saying.
‘Because he has the natural qualities that suit firstly his position as a wing-back and, secondly, because he has the absolute body power that is needed in the Premier League. His weight, I don`t know, but about 85 kilos. Not pounds.’
