Arsenal tightened up at the back following last week’s 4-3 defeat to Liverpool but were unable to find a way through during a game of few clear chances. “I’m very, very happy for the effort, the spirit and the union of the team”. Wenger said: “Why do you say I’m reluctant [to spend]?”
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“Unfortunately no one speaks about the performance of Rob Holding”. But I’m sorry, he didn’t cost 55 million, so he can’t be good.
“That is, for me, what is most disappointing – we don’t speak about the performances of the players anymore”.
Arsene Wenger has revealed that Arsenal “hope” to complete the signing of Valencia defender Shkodran Mustafi soon.
Asked if he is reluctant to spend money, the manager replied: “Why do you say I’m reluctant?”
“If I buy you tomorrow for 45 million, I’ve spent 45 million”.
“I would spend £300m on a player – if I had £300m”. We are a club with 600 employees who we need to have a responsible attitude [towards] as well.
“It’s a bit surprising that you come out of football games, you don’t speak about football”. You have to speak about money. If we find the players to strengthen our team then we are not reluctant to spend the money.
“They are highly influenced by the media, and so that’s part of the process today”, Wenger said, trying to explain away why the fans vociferously expressed dissatisfaction. “We try to make the right decisions, it’s as simple as that”.
Rob Holding and the Arsenal defence prevented Leicester City from scoring on Saturday.
The Premier League champions were first left disappointed when referee Mark Clattenburg didn’t point to the spot after Danny Drinkwater went down in the area following a lunging challenge by Koscielny in the first half of the game at the King Power Stadium.
“We wanted to win the game”, he told BT Sport. Their pace on the wings was undeniable, and indeed the wide quartet of Hector Bellerin, Theo Walcott, Nacho Monreal and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain got in behind the Leicester rearguard a number of times.
“We gave absolutely everything to win the game”. We could have lost or won it in the last 20 minutes.
“I believe that you have to respect the players who have played, the performance that has been done today by those teams”.
Arsenal’s attacking performance was a lot less convincing, though, as Alexis Sanchez struggled to create chances in his role as the central striker. “They are a team who are very organised and it’s very hard to create chances”. We are ready to do that.
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The fact that Wenger sat at a podium that read “Leicester City Football Club” made the comments sound even more absurd.
