Arsenal ground out a workmanlike 1-0 victory on Saturday afternoon against a Newcastle side forced to play with 10 men after Aleksandar Mitrovic was shown a straight red for his 16th-minute challenge on Francis Coquelin. Despite only scoring a single goal against the undermanned Magpies, Arsene Wenger was happy with the overall team performance. Speaking to the media about the match, the boss noted:
Patience and nerves. I believe that we needed to not rush our game, to wait for our chances and to take one of them. I must say that Newcastle decided from the start to make the game quite physical and we had to keep our nerves and not become a little bit aggressive as well. I thought we did that well.
Wenger went on to credit both the home crowd as well as the Newcastle defence for the lack of space afforded to the Arsenal attackers.
You play away from home, 11 against 10, and you know that they will play 15 yards deeper, you play 10 against nine in the final third, the crowd is behind their team which puts pressure on the referee, and then it’s very difficult. We didn’t find the space. They defended well and they’ve shown why they didn’t concede at Manchester United as well.
It became clear very early on in the contest what Steve McLaren’s game plan consisted of, and it is one that Gooners have seen plenty of times before. Newcastle played a very physical contest and attempted to stop the flow of Arsenal’s free-flowing passing game, even after the red card. Despite a legitimate penalty shout in the first 10 minutes, the boss conceded that referee Andre Marriner handled the contest fairly well.
I think the referee did alright but Newcastle wanted to stop us from playing, from moving the ball quickly and to stop our game. They tried that from the start on. Mitrovic went a bit overboard maybe, and maybe a bit unlucky. Did he do it on purpose or not? I don’t know.
The red card, it seemed, also interfered with the Gunners’ overall game plan, as starting striker Theo Walcott found himself unable to find or create much space inside the very crowded Newcastle defensive third of the pitch.
I expected more space for Theo Walcott. At the start it looked quite promising but after 15 minutes it was a different problem for us. There was no space behind their defenders, the service through their lines was very difficult and they defended very well.
In all probability, the lack of space behind the Newcastle backline precipitated the introduction of Olivier Giroud at Walcott’s expense in the 70th minute, though Giroud found his going tough as well. Despite the lack of goals and typical Arsenal football from a stylistic standpoint, Wenger was very pleased with the team’s performance, particularly as it came away from the Emirates.
It was important. We know we’ll turn it round at home so it was important mathematically not to drop points today, not to be too far from the top teams. It was important mentally as well because we dropped points at home. We had two different away games at Newcastle and Crystal Palace but we’ve got six points. That is very good.
As this was the final Premier League game for Arsenal before the impending transfer deadline on Tuesday, Wenger was asked about potential incoming players. His response, as is typical for the tight-lipped Wenger, was vague.
We are open and we are in the transfer market. If we find an exceptional player in any sector, we will do it. At the moment I don’t know if something will happen or not.
Arsenal’s next fixture will be on 12th September at 5:00pm BST at the Emirates, where they will host Stoke City, who will be without both Ibrahim Afellay and Charlie Adam, who were both sent off in their contest this afternoon against West Bromwich Albion.
