Wenger’s thoughts on Arsenal’s defeat

Arsene Wenger admitted Arsenal paid for their lack of defensive cover after they were booed off by their own supporters following a 4-3 Premier League defeat to Liverpool.

A brace from Philippe Coutinho and goals from Adam Lallana and debutant Sadio Mane put the visitors in complete control at the Emirates after Gunners forward Theo Walcott had missed a penalty and then put the home side ahead.

Sloppy defending from the Reds allowed Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Calum Chambers to bring the hosts back in to contention but Liverpool held on in the final 15 minutes.

Wenger was without experienced defensive trio Per Mertesacker, Gabriel and Laurent Koscielny due to injury and fitness problems, leaving him to pick young English pair Chambers and Rob Holding in central defense.

He told Sky Sports: “We played a very good first half and I think we were unlucky just before half-time to concede the goal because the free-kick (scored by Coutinho) looked very, very harsh. We didn’t recover really from that and after that we paid for our lack of experience at the back and the fact that some players are not ready physically to last 90 minutes at that level.

“Overall, it’s disappointing because in the first half you think you should come out with at least a one goal (lead) for us and 10 minutes later you are 3-1 down and it was difficult to recover. We did try until the end but we lacked a bit of stability.

“When you’re 4-1 down at home it is always very difficult when you have so many young players. At the back you feel that we lack a little bit of maturity but you know that before you go into the game.

“It’s not pleasant but we have shown in the past that we have the mental strength to deal with that and bounce back.”

Category: Football