On his assessment of the game…
We had good control of the game. Manchester United had very few chances, they scored with almost their first attempt on goal. After that, we put them in a position they like to be [in] - on the counter attack. They are strong and they are clinical in front of goal. In the second half we had a good opportunity to come back to 1-1 and two minutes later it was 2-0. As long as you cannot come back to 2-1, they are comfortable. In the end, I cannot fault our effort. Things do not go our way at the moment. We have to keep going, support each other and come back strong. It was a strange game, we put a lot of effort in. At the moment, every goalkeeper against us is Man of the Match. I still believe, subconsciously, the disappointment of Tuesday night has played a part today. You could see something has gone, not in our effort or our attitude, but confidence wise.
On his belief that Arsenal can win the Premier League…
I believe that we can do it. It is a good test for us now, to show that we can regroup, show our mental strength and respond quickly. We have a week without a midweek game, that is the first time for a long time. Unfortunately, we lost Johan Djourou for the rest of the season. It will be difficult. We have a good opportunity to show that we are solid.
On whether the season is slipping away…
No. I am very disappointed. We lost three challenges in a strange way. We were not outplayed today but we were punished by a team who were more clinical than us.
On Johan Djourou’s injury…
[He has a] dislocated should. His season is over.
On Paul Scholes’ tackles today…
The pitch was good, the referee was good and the tackles of Paul Scholes were bad.
On his team’s mental strength…
You will find out. We will have to [answer] this type of question in the next few weeks. We have to show that we have an answer to that. We are used to being questioned by our environment, we have to show we are strong enough to deal with that.
On the Premier League title race…
It will strengthen our resolve at home. The Manchester United game [in the Premier League] is only important if we win our games before that. I am convinced that if that game is decisive, we have a good chance to do it at home. Before that, it’s important we respond very quickly. We go to West Brom on Saturday, we will see the first signs of how we recover.
On how the Barcelona defeat affected him…
I was very disappointed but I was not affected. I thought we would qualify today. They are always very efficient and if you do not take your chances you don’t win the games against them.
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