Arsenal threw away a first half 2-0 lead in Munich to lose 3-2 away at Bayern in the Champions League on Wednesday night. Emily Fox and Mariona put Arsenal into a commanding lead before a quick fire Bayern treble in the second half stunned the holders. Renee Slegers spoke to the press post-match, the first question is from Arseblog News.
On how she makes sense of the last 25 minutes of the game…
If we take the whole game, I think that the last two games against Bayern were really challenging games for both sides and we knew it was going to be challenging tonight. We came off a game against Chelsea with positive belief and I think we showed that in the first half. We do a lot of things really well in the first half and our pressing game and how we force them into mistakes and they don’t get out of their half and we play really, really well on the ball. I think we maybe could have even scored one more in the first half and that’s of course, really strong going away against Bayern. The second half is another half. I think we dominate first half, second half is Bayern and what they start to do, especially after they make it 2-1 they start to play in behind and they start to play a long, second ball game and they stack numbers high and we don’t deal with it well enough. So we’re not happy, it’s not good enough to give away three goals so late in the game against Bayern.
On how she lifts the players for Sunday’s North London derby…
You have to feel how you feel about it. Then it’s going to demand a lot of self management for players and staff to turn things around, but I think having something new to look forward to is actually a good thing. So there is no other option. We have to be in the here and now, we can’t think about the past or what’s happened, we have to be in the here and now, we have to start preparing for Spurs.
On whether this game represents a turning point…
It should be a big event, a big happening, now we need to use it as fuel and I think any sports team would do that and for us it’s the same. We know that we need points now in the Champions League and so this was a big hit, especially as we were leading 2-0 first half. So it’s a big hit but we have to get back. We will get back.
14.van Domselaar; 2.Fox, 3.Wubben-Moy, 7.Catley, 11.McCabe (24.Hinds ‘74); 21.Pelova (32.Cooney-Cross ‘74), 8.Mariona; 9.Mead (15.Smith ‘82), 23.Russp, 19.Foord (18.Kelly ‘59); 25.Blackstenius (12.L.Maanum ‘58)
Unused: 5.L.Codina, 22.Nighswonger, 28.Borbe, 44.Harwood, 53.Liddiard