"You are never No 1 forever and not on one game as well. Lukasz did well and you can only congratulate him."
Wenger refused to explain why Vermaelen, who has struggled for form and came under criticism for his performance in the 2-1 defeat against Tottenham, had been dropped.
"I don't want to explain too much," the manager said. "I don't know if he will play at Swansea. I believe the whole defence played well tonight. Koscielny, Mertesacker, Jenkinson, Gibbs and the keeper all played well.
"You cannot constrict a team like Bayern at home to no chances but we looked solid defensively. We have to see, tomorrow or Friday. I want to see how everybody recovers. We rotate a bit at the back and in midfield. We have a massive game on Saturday."
Wenger had said before last night's game that a winning performance could give this squad the confidence to realise their potential and he admitted to deep regret at how Bayern effectively won the tie with their third goal at the Emirates Stadium.
"We went close and I'm very proud of the performance of the team but as well very disappointed for everyone who follows Arsenal," Wenger said.
"When you look at our game we have many regrets about the first game. The tie is over 180 minutes. It was very feasible to knock Bayern out. We had a plan we respected.
"The ref was a bit difficult for us but it is like that. The regret we have is not this game but the first game at the Emirates when you play at home. You could see tonight the weight of that third goal that we gave away at home with four minutes to go. It's massive.
"We were under pressure. A bad performance tonight would have been terrible for the morale and the pride of the team. The regret I have is that there is potential in the team and we are out of the competition."
Jupp Heynckes, the Bayern Munich coach, said that he was not surprised by Arsenal's comeback and his team's first defeat in 2013.
"I think that I know European football – I've nearly had 150 games in European competition and I know a team like Arsenal has quality," he said. "They came here wounded from the first leg which was not good for them and really motivated them.
"They had a good game. Arsenal were better – they were the dominant team, we didn't manage to control the game for the whole match. You learn something out of games like this and you can see Bayern can also lose once in a while."
No comments:
Post a Comment