'Score was an unfair reflection of the game'
On the score as a reflection of the game…
“The score is a very unfair reflection of the game, but it is the score and we cannot change it now. I believe that Chelsea had absolutely everything for them today and we can only deal with that now and respond in our next game. Because first shot on goal, they scored. Second cross, they score. And after it was difficult. After, it was a turning point by the referee that I personally believe is not a serious decision. Very unfair. How can he see Eduardo kicking Cech when it was a Chelsea player who stops him from controlling the ball? The 2-1 was a very important goal in this kind of game, and that was a big mistake by the referee.”
On the opinions of the TV specialists…
“I am used to definite conclusions from people who see the score and have great knowledge. But I believe, let people talk and let’s play tomorrow and go back to training and practice. And that’s always what you get in an excessive world. I personally believe from what I’ve seen, that was not the case. I never had the impression that we could not win this game we were quite on top for a lot of the game.”
On Chelsea’s physical strength…
“They are strong players, yes, physically strong players. But that is an impression as well. When a team is 2-0 up and just defending their half and play is on the break, it’s too easy to have that impression. I don’t share that point of view. I think they lost many balls today, where we couldn’t take advantage and made many technical mistakes where we couldn’t take advantage, and that has nothing to do with the physical impact of the game.”
On Chelsea’s title chances…
“I believe at the moment they are in a very strong position, but this team, for me, they can drop points. I’m convinced of that. That’s an impression I have.”
On Chelsea’s 11-point lead over Arsenal…
“Yeah, we are 11 points behind Chelsea. At the moment our title chase has gotten a big blow. Before we speak about ‘title’, we have to win games and you could see that the damage done at Sunderland was deeper, confidence-wise, than it should have been.”
On his impressions of how Arsenal played…
“If you come on Tuesday, I will give you an analysis of the game, physically, technically, and you will be surprised. But I cannot stop you from having your own conclusions. Because when Drogba pushes one away or Ivanovic makes three fouls and pushes people away against Villa, he looks much stronger. But you would be surprised if you see the final analysis of the game, they have an advantage in the impact, but that didn’t make them win the game today. In the play today, you will see them 60 percent behind the ball, and that has nothing to do with physical impact.”
On the potential penalty for Carlos Vela…
“I don’t know. On the penalty I think it was at least a foul on the edge of the box. If he gives a foul to Drogba when he scored, he cannot say it was not a foul on Vela. I just think that on the goal, he made a massive mistake, because you cannot say that one of our players kicked the ball out the hands of Cech. That means he has seen it, or he has not seen it. He can’t be wrong on the foul, but you cannot say to me that he saw Eduardo kicking the ball out of Cech when it’s not true. You see in the replay that Eduardo doesn’t even intervene. [The referee said] dangerous play, Eduardo kicked the ball out of Cech’s hand. ”
On the referee’s match experience…
“I do not want to talk too much about the referee. I think we make mistakes, and I just think the referee got the turning point of a game wrong. When you start a game in the second half and you are 2-1 instead of 2-0, it’s psychologically different. And he got that decision wrong. That does not mean that we don’t need to look at ourselves and ask why we conceded the goals.”
On possibly buying players in January…
“I believe I would rather have all of our players back. I am not in a mood tonight to say straight away after the game that I would buy players. We have to deal with the disappointment, and respond to that massive disappointment we had today and try to win our next game. It’s as simple as that.”
On Didier Drogba’s performances against Arsenal…
“He’s a good player. It’s funny because he doesn’t do a lot, but he’s efficient in what he does. You would be surprised by the number of balls he touched today. Jimmy Greaves was a great player, you still remember him. And Drogba is a great player, nobody can deny that. He’s very efficient. I think as well, at the moment he’s in a period where he kicks the ball and it goes in because you cannot tell me he wanted to kick the ball where he kicked the ball on the cross. He’s a good free-kick taker, but on the first goal, at the moment he has complete confidence and he doesn’t wonder ‘will I score or not?’. He just goes for it and he did very well. It’s a great goal, the first one, but it’s a goal of a striker in complete confidence.”
On Chelsea taking three points at Emirates Stadium…
“I feel today that the initiative they had to go home with 3-0… it’s well paid.”
On the idea that the title race is over…
“I do not think it’s over. I think we are fighters and we have to show that in the next game. The problem we have at the moment that we face is that people will not believe in us, so we have to make sure that lack of belief does not diminish our belief. And that’s where we have to be mentally stronger than we were until now. Because until now, we had some credit that we earned at the start of the season from the specialists, and then we a lose a game. And now it will be harder.”
arsenal.com
