Arsene Wenger was delighted to come away with a crucial three points against a Bayern Munich side who had previously been unbeaten all season, after their clash at the Emirates on Tuesday night.
Despite Bayern dominating both halfs with the majority of possession, it was the Gunners who took all three points thanks to Oliver Giroud who benefited from a Manuel Neuer error to put Arsenal ahead, with Mesut Ozil securing all three points as the game neared its conclusion.
Speaking to the media post-match, Wenger offered his thoughts on Petr Cech’s importance, as well as the difficult night suffered by Hector Bellerin, who had a very tough opponent in Douglas Costa.
Wenger was quick to praise Petr Cech, who was making his debut for Arsenal in the UEFA Champions League, after being sidelined by David Ospina in the opening two games.
He was important. I think he kept us in the game and you can say the same for Neuer. We had two top, top, top world-class keepers on the pitch today and that of course was vital on both sides.
Wenger also discussed his change in tactics for tonight’s game.
It can strengthen our belief and strengthen the belief of people of around us, that means out fans, our supporters. We won 3-0 against Manchester United, 3-0 against Watford and 2-0 tonight so it is important we have a good balance between defending well and attacking well.
He was also quick to praise Oliver Giroud, who came on as a substitute for Theo Walcott and scored the game’s opening goal.
I would give him some credit because it is not easy, he has always played and he had a bit of a dip in form. I have seen that in the last two weeks that he is coming back to his best but the focus he brings and the spirit he shows is he is a winner.
He gives us a different option when it does not work on the ground he gives us options in the air and both Walcott and Giroud I like. I just have to use both of them in the right way.
Wenger also admitted that Aaron Ramsey had suffered a hamstring injury and would be out for an unspecified length of time.
The Gunners boss also discussed Alexis Sanchez and the fact he appeared to be quite jaded towards the end of the game, due to the amount of travelling and game’s he has been involved in recently.
You could see he was a bit jaded physically tonight and he still pushes himself so much but he finished exhausted. The two games with Chile, plus travelling, plus Watford, plus tonight, it is too much.
Hector Bellerin suffered a difficult night at right-back as he was left to deal with the extremely tricky Douglas Costa on his own and subsequently struggled to stop getting beat by the Brazilian time and time again.
Arsene admitted that it had been a tough night for the Spanish full-back, but was adamant that he would bounce back.
I think Costa is a top-class player. What I like is two top-level players, in the end Hector found always the resources in the last 10-15 minutes to get on top of him and that is fantastic to see from a boy of 20 years old.
He also maintained his focus was on securing a result against Everton at the weekend before he would think about the return game in Munich in two weeks time.
We need a result at Bayern. Now let’s focus on Everton.
