Arsene Wenger (as relayed to Stephen Spiro)
Saturday was a particularly good day for us. On Monday we had been to Old Trafford where we were unable to score, run fast, tackle or even look too interested because of the condition of the pitch. It is not reasonable to expect my players to stumble about on poor surfaces, although Sir Alex just couldn’t see the logic.
This Saturday, however, it was perfect. So smooth! In fact smoother than it has been for years. We played with a white ball and our triangles were perfect, in fact so perfect that I could stop the game at any time to trace them in the snow. There was no tackling, no need to risk losing the ball by pushing forward to needing to shoot; always so wasteful and wide, and delays our triangle making. We had most of the possession, good concentration and were able to focus our formations well within our own half. In fact we set a club record for consecutive passes within our own half, it was just so sad that there was no-one to witness our skill, commitment and technical ability. I was delighted that the pools panel gave us a late winner 1-0, which is just another example of our efficiency.
Next week it’s Chelsea and we will try hard to be focussed, not run too hard, show not too much passion and make the inevitable defensive error. It is nonsense to say we are so predictable, toothless, a training camp and happy to play on our own and try to ignore our opponents goal. I expect that nasty, thuggish M. Drogba will spend the whole match trying to get our ball off us and run hard and shoot too hard. He makes more technical errors than the whole of our team and that must never be forgotten.
Oh, and of course, I am sure we will win something this year, maybe in Barcelona?
Thanks for your support
Yours artfully, Arsene Wenger
