Arsène Wenger has vowed to make wholesale
changes to his side for tomorrow’s Champions League tie against
Porto after condemning a performance that he claims left him
feeling physically sick. The Arsenal manager was as angry as he has
been in 12 years at the club after Saturday’s shock 2-1 home defeat
by Hull City and took the highly unusual step of publicly
criticising his players.
Wenger stopped short of naming individuals, but left his side in
no doubt that they had underperformed after subjecting them to an
hour-long dressing-down after the final whistle.
“There will be changes on Tuesday, certainly,” Wenger said. “I
will see how many, but there will be changes. There were enough
ingredients today to make me physically sick.
“What we delivered today was not good enough and we know that.
What was the most disappointing is that we were 1-0 in front and
still lost the game, after having struggled in the first half to
score.”
Arsenal missed the chance to return to the top of the Barclays
Premier League by losing their second match of the season, leading
Wenger to question his players’ commitment. “We were not at the
level we should have been,” he said. “I believe that’s more down to
the mental side than anything technical. If we had had the same
level of commitment as Hull, we would have won the game, as the
technical advantage is with us.
“I don’t know if they were complacent, it’s difficult to say.
Are they subconsciously thinking, ‘It’s OK, we will do it.’ It can
happen. But where we are guilty is after a difficult first half, we
went 1-0 up and then let it go again.”
Gallas denied accusations of complacency, but conceded that a
dramatic improvement is needed if Arsenal are to achieve anything
this season. “I don’t think we were complacent and I hope not
because if we think like this, we will not go anywhere,” he said.
“The players were ready to play a strong game, we were not lucky
and we have to work more and try to stay in the fourth
position.
“We didn’t know them Hull very well, but they showed the
character, they showed they can play football. They were very
strong and we were not strong enough, so we have to forget that
game and think about the next game on Tuesday.”
