Wenger On Counter Attacking Threat

Manager Arsene Wenger has once again looked back at the fabulous victory over Manchester City at the weekend, and highlighted how our threat on the counter attack was key to our victory.

Playing slightly differently than normal, and nullifying City for large parts and keeping them contained in areas where they couldn’t do any damage, we made our chances count at the other end and were clinical.

Speaking to the Official Site the gaffer explained.

‘What was very pleasing was the manner in which we played because we were compact, disciplined and focused. We had a good defensive urgency and every time we won the ball we came out from the back with good pace. You could always see that when we won the ball, if the first two passes were right, we would be dangerous.’

Wenger says that this was especially on show during the second half performance where we created plenty of opportunities that could’ve seen us extend our lead, and he picks out the chances that fell Aaron Ramsey’s way, building on the opportunities we had in the first half.

‘Let’s take the positives from that result, the urgency and the confidence levels. It’s always difficult to get that mixture right between being focused, confident and relaxed without losing the needed desire. The only regret we had was that we didn’t take advantage of many dangerous situations to finish the game off earlier, but overall I think we did very well.’

A mix of playing styles and focus depending on the opposition has to be the way forward, less predictable but still utilises our strengths. Hopefully that result will certainly turn the tide of the season and we can can try and be less pleasing on the eye in some ways, but more pragmatic in dealing with some clubs, whilst playing when we can play, surely it can only have a positive affect on results that in recent times have gone against us.