Wenger: 'We put ourselves in trouble'

Arsenal 1-1 Middlesbrough
Barclays Premiership
Emirates Stadium
Sat, Sep 9, 2006, 3pm


on a poor start to the season:

"I feel it was a game where it looks a little bit like Villa and Man City, where we had always the ball. The teams refuse to come out and play and we put ourselves in trouble because we are one-nil down, every time. That gave ourselves a mountain to climb, every time we made a defensive mistake, from then on it's the usual game where you have always the ball, they are a bit luck, have a good keeper, and we lack sharpness because half the team has been away."

on reasons for Arsenal's current form:

"I still feel at the moment we are playing better in every game but we just cannot finish off the teams. For one reason - the main reason - is maybe a little bit physical. The second is we give the other team confidence by being one goal down, and the third reason is we are not completely used to how to use our pitch."

on William Gallas:

"Overall, [he did] well. You could see that sometimes he was in trouble, he used well his experience, but sometimes he was a bit hesitating to cross the ball with his left foot. But overall I think he played well, he's not completely ready to play in this position - centre-back would suit him better because he has physically he lacks a few games."

on the visit to Manchester United:

"I believe at the moment, let's focus on Europe, if we do a good result in Hamburg we'll go in good condition to Man Utd."

From : Arsenal.com