Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger said that the defeat against Manchester United had affected his players and this is why they started poorly against Southampton. He said that the players were wary of making some mistakes and that they played with the handbrake on.
The French manager said that this is perfectly understandable given the manner they were beaten by Manchester United last week and that they did not want to make the same mistakes. He said that unfortunately for them Southampton was ready for this game and made their life difficult from the onset.
Arsene Wenger said that it is always difficult to play against Southampton especially away from home. He said that they have some excellent players in the team and they always try to make your life difficult by playing some direct football.
He said that Arsenal started the game poorly and was guilty of giving the ball away too easily. He believes that this is because some players were tired after the last game and that it might be necessary for him to rotate the players for the next game.
When asked whether Arsenal is still in the title race, he said that it is not realistic to talk about title race at the moment and that they are far from the top places. He said that they need to focus on becoming more consistent and make sure they win as many games as possible.
Arsene Wenger said that we are at the stage of the season where you can amass a lot of points and that it is essential that they remain focused. He believes that the players will recover from their poor game at Southampton and that they should perform better in the next game against West Ham in mid-week.
