Post by Arsene Wenger on Oct 28, 2003 7:13:08 GMT
Dear Arsenal supporter,
It was hard work for us on Sunday and the decision to award Charlton a penalty in the first half made it even harder.
We had a difficult start and the penalty which put them 1-0 ahead certainly woke us up. After that we had the best period in the game until half-time and I thought if we could have sustained that pace we could have won the game.
We didn't manage that in the second half and I thought we looked a bit jaded physically. The players gave everything but Charlton were always in a position where they were happy with the score and they worked hard.
They are technically good in midfield, they played in a cautious way and we could not create the chances that would have made a difference. But I was happy with the 1-1 draw.
As for the penalty, if I was the manager of Charlton then I would be very happy. There was no contact by Lauren on Matt Holland.
In modern football it is difficult for a referee to decide whether it is a penalty or not because the game is so quick. When you see it again on TV you can see it differently and this was one of those occasions.
But having said that, you have to give Charlton credit. At the moment they are a very difficult team to beat and are technically good in the middle of the park.
A result which went our way at the weekend was Fulham's 3-1 win at Manchester United. People ask whether we failed to capitalise fully on that but for me it was important to win the game regardless of whether United won or lost.
We tried to win the game against Charlton but overall it is not a bad result to take a point at The Valley.
Thanks for your support.
awenger@arsenal.co.uk
It was hard work for us on Sunday and the decision to award Charlton a penalty in the first half made it even harder.
We had a difficult start and the penalty which put them 1-0 ahead certainly woke us up. After that we had the best period in the game until half-time and I thought if we could have sustained that pace we could have won the game.
We didn't manage that in the second half and I thought we looked a bit jaded physically. The players gave everything but Charlton were always in a position where they were happy with the score and they worked hard.
They are technically good in midfield, they played in a cautious way and we could not create the chances that would have made a difference. But I was happy with the 1-1 draw.
As for the penalty, if I was the manager of Charlton then I would be very happy. There was no contact by Lauren on Matt Holland.
In modern football it is difficult for a referee to decide whether it is a penalty or not because the game is so quick. When you see it again on TV you can see it differently and this was one of those occasions.
But having said that, you have to give Charlton credit. At the moment they are a very difficult team to beat and are technically good in the middle of the park.
A result which went our way at the weekend was Fulham's 3-1 win at Manchester United. People ask whether we failed to capitalise fully on that but for me it was important to win the game regardless of whether United won or lost.
We tried to win the game against Charlton but overall it is not a bad result to take a point at The Valley.
Thanks for your support.
awenger@arsenal.co.uk
