Arsenal 6 – 1 Southampton – Match Reaction and Other News

Arsenal 6 – 1 Southampton – Wenger’s Thoughts
on the performance…
Especially in the first 45 minutes we had a high level. We had a good combination of pace, speed in our passing, quick combinations, and the movement was excellent. We were a bit lucky as well because they conceded two own goals, but overall I think it was a level of continuity with what we have shown at Liverpool and today. The game was very interesting to watch. In the second half we lost a bit of urgency, that is human, but we controlled the game and remained serious.
on a big month ahead…
We have a big week coming up because we go on Tuesday now to Montpellier. On Sunday we play at Man City and we have two interesting weeks coming up because we play Chelsea as well. We will know more about our team then but there is a positive energy in this team, a desire to play well together, and real team play. It is very exciting.
on Gervinho playing through the middle…
You know we transform all wingers into central strikers and all the strikers into wingers! I decided that during our tour of Asia when I tried to play Gervinho there against Man City in that position. I liked what he did and it was in the back of my mind. It is interesting because he is such a great mover and he is so quick so when he is central, once he gets ahead of the central defender it is difficult to catch him back.

on Santi Cazorla…
Cazorla is a player who is just a pleasure to watch. You want him to have the ball. He typifies what Spain’s midfielders are today – he is technically perfect, he has great vision and a great team attitude. We did fight with Malaga at the time [to get him last summer] and they were in Spain, they were quick to do the deal. But we remained on the ball, we were quite advanced with him last season.
on Lukas Podolski…
First of all Lukas has 101 caps for Germany. In our job, once you get the ball every time at the right moment, when you want it, with the right quality of the pass, it is easier to adapt. So when a team plays as well as it did today, the adaptation is easy. When you have to fight, and then you are exposed to the real English game, it is much more difficult. He is physically strong and he is a fantastic finisher. I had a little hesitation today to play him at centre forward because I had played him only once there. He gives us a balance on the left and I didn’t want to destroy that because he did well at Liverpool.
on Francis Coquelin…
I didn’t go on the [transfer] market because of him, because of Frimpong, because of Wilshere coming back – he is not far away now. Frimpong is joining in now on Monday in full training. Diaby as well, he plays in this position. We have no real defensive midfielder because we all go forward when we have the ball.
on leaving Giroud on the bench…
I felt that he is under much pressure at the moment and sometimes to get a little breather is good. What I will do on Tuesday I honestly don’t know. I just felt that the time has come for him to not be under too much pressure.
on Walcott through the centre…
Walcott can play up front as well. We work on it with him. He was sick the whole week, he only had one training session.
on Diaby’s fitness…
Diaby should be fit for Montpellier. He could even have played today, he had a good training session but we didn’t want to take a risk.
on Szczesny’s error for Southampton’s goal…
I think he was disappointed. That’s the negative of the day, that we conceded a goal, but we can swallow that. You have to concede at some stage but it happened like it happened.

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