Arsene Wenger savaged his Arsenal team and blamed
‘suicidal defending’ after they crashed to a 3-1 defeat
against Monaco at the Emirates in the Champions
League.
The furious Arsenal manager claimed his players were
not mentally prepared for the first-leg as goals from
Geoffrey Kondogbia, Dimitar Berbatov and substitute
Yannick Ferreira-Carrasco condemned them.
Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain had scored a spectacular
goal for Arsenal to bring it back to 2-1, but Arsenal will
need at least three in the return leg on March 17 to
progress.
Wenger said: ‘We missed the chances and we were a
bit suicidal defensively. We were not at the level we
want to be.
‘The second and the third goals are suicidal. We came
back to 2-1 and we have no right to let them score as
third. ‘It makes our task difficult in the second leg. We
lost our nerves and rationality on the pitch, and the
heart took over the head.
‘At this level it doesn’t work. Mentally we were not
ready, we were not sharp enough to get into this
game. We paid for it.
‘In the first 20 minutes there was enough room to win
it. If you look at the chances we could have won.
Arsene Wenger: We missed chances and were suicidal
defensively
‘Football is not down to paper it is down to
performance. The players wanted to come back from
2-1 to 2-2 and forgot the elementary cautiousness
needed.
‘We have a smaller chance to win but we will go for it.
We have to recover from that.’ Wenger claimed his
team were naive in the first leg and they face a
massive battle to reach the quarter-final after losing
this first leg in these circumstances.
Oxlade-Chamberlain had brought Arsenal back into the
tie after coming on as a substitute, but his mistake
allowed Monaco to score a breakaway third.
Sportsmail's Big Match Stats: Mesut Ozil vs Joao
Moutinho
The Arsenal manager added: ‘We had a lot of
possession and defensively we were not at the level
we need to be.
‘But our weakness was mental more than anything. We
rushed our game, we knew it was bad at half time and
were too impatient. This is a 180 minute game and if
you look at the second and third goal it is difficult to
explain how this happened.
‘Oxlade-Chamberlain is very disappointed. How can can
it happen if you lose a ball 70 metres away from goal?’
Monaco coach Leonardo Jardim said: ‘Football is an
art, defending and attacking. It is difficult to score a
lot of goals in the Champions League, but we were
able to take advantage of the space Arsenal gave us.
‘Berbatov played a terrific match in terms of his
positional play, he was our first target when we tried
to build our play. He had a great game.’
‘suicidal defending’ after they crashed to a 3-1 defeat
against Monaco at the Emirates in the Champions
League.
The furious Arsenal manager claimed his players were
not mentally prepared for the first-leg as goals from
Geoffrey Kondogbia, Dimitar Berbatov and substitute
Yannick Ferreira-Carrasco condemned them.
Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain had scored a spectacular
goal for Arsenal to bring it back to 2-1, but Arsenal will
need at least three in the return leg on March 17 to
progress.
Wenger said: ‘We missed the chances and we were a
bit suicidal defensively. We were not at the level we
want to be.
‘The second and the third goals are suicidal. We came
back to 2-1 and we have no right to let them score as
third. ‘It makes our task difficult in the second leg. We
lost our nerves and rationality on the pitch, and the
heart took over the head.
‘At this level it doesn’t work. Mentally we were not
ready, we were not sharp enough to get into this
game. We paid for it.
‘In the first 20 minutes there was enough room to win
it. If you look at the chances we could have won.
Arsene Wenger: We missed chances and were suicidal
defensively
‘Football is not down to paper it is down to
performance. The players wanted to come back from
2-1 to 2-2 and forgot the elementary cautiousness
needed.
‘We have a smaller chance to win but we will go for it.
We have to recover from that.’ Wenger claimed his
team were naive in the first leg and they face a
massive battle to reach the quarter-final after losing
this first leg in these circumstances.
Oxlade-Chamberlain had brought Arsenal back into the
tie after coming on as a substitute, but his mistake
allowed Monaco to score a breakaway third.
Sportsmail's Big Match Stats: Mesut Ozil vs Joao
Moutinho
The Arsenal manager added: ‘We had a lot of
possession and defensively we were not at the level
we need to be.
‘But our weakness was mental more than anything. We
rushed our game, we knew it was bad at half time and
were too impatient. This is a 180 minute game and if
you look at the second and third goal it is difficult to
explain how this happened.
‘Oxlade-Chamberlain is very disappointed. How can can
it happen if you lose a ball 70 metres away from goal?’
Monaco coach Leonardo Jardim said: ‘Football is an
art, defending and attacking. It is difficult to score a
lot of goals in the Champions League, but we were
able to take advantage of the space Arsenal gave us.
‘Berbatov played a terrific match in terms of his
positional play, he was our first target when we tried
to build our play. He had a great game.’
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