2004年1月13日
All's fine on the home front says Wenger
The home comforts of Highbury have been self-evident this season. From the first 10 home games of their Premiership campaign, Arsenal have gained 26 points with only Fulham and Portsmouth avoiding defeat. (In fact the only loss at Highbury in any competition was that surprise 3-0 reverse to Inter in the Champions League back in September.)
Increasingly, visiting teams are arriving with a safety-first attitude, packing the midfield, defending deeply and hoping to grab what they can on the break. Arsène Wenger knows that, more often than not, it is up to his team to prise an opening.
"I accept every way of playing," he said. "It just means that we have to find a solution.
"If a team comes with five across the middle of the park and you don't win, the next team will do the exactly the same. That is why it is important to win and not let the system against us play on our minds."
The manager believes that a lot depends on the likes of Patrick Vieira and Gilberto in such circumstances.
"You are two versus three in the middle," he said. "So your two central midfielders need to keep working hard because that is where you could have trouble."
There was little problem on Saturday with both players turning in impressive performances.
"Middlesbrough tried to play football but, for me, we were sharper on the day," said Wenger.
"We have now beaten them and Blackburn, who played that way. Fulham got a draw playing like that but at the end of the game we had 24 shots and they had one. We were really unlucky and their keeper had a fantastic game. You know as long as you have 20-odd shots on goal and they have one you will win nine out of 10 but you may draw one."
[13 January 2004]
温格谈阿森纳主场
毫无疑问,海布里球场本赛季是阿森纳的福地。在英超前10场主场比赛中,阿森纳得到26分,只有富勒姆和朴茨矛斯逼平了阿森纳。(事实上,阿森纳在海布里球场仅输了一场,即9月在冠军联赛中0-3败给国米。)
久而久之,客队来到海布里都会保着保平的目标,他们会加强中场、退缩防守,希望可以保住一分。
温格明白,在这种情况下,往往是自己的球队采取主动进攻。
“我们可以排出各种打法,只要选择其中一种即可。”
“如果有一支球队在中场布置5名队员,而我们没有赢下比赛,那下一个对手就会仿效。所以,赢下比赛很重要,我们不能被对手的一种打法困住。”
主教练认为,这样的打法,维埃拉与吉尔伯托的表现将致关重要。
"在中路是二对三,所以我们的两个中卫一定好守住,因为往往就是那里容易形成缺口。”
在周六的比赛中,这两名队员都表现优异。
“米德尔斯堡试图打好比赛,但我们表现更好。”
“我们战胜了米德尔斯堡和布莱克本,而他们正是采用那样的打法。虽然我们被富勒姆逼平,但我们有24次射门,而他们只有一次。我们运气欠佳,对方门将表现太好。如果我们有20多次射门的机会而对手只有一次,那我们基本能赢得比赛,但有时候也会是平局。”