Sport Unleashed

New Zealand's best all-round sports magazine (in our humble opinion). A-List contributors, stunning photography, interviews not found elsewhere, incredible competitions and giveaways ... it's all here! At only $48 a year for NZ delivery, can you afford to miss out?? www.sport-unleashed.com

Tuesday, January 27, 2009

Football : Wenger: We are confident we can go through at home

We could do without a replay in the FA Cup, that is for sure. But we will not be complaining because, if a replay is the price we pay to still be in the hat, then so be it.

I feel we started very well at Cardiff on Sunday, but overall they had a good committed game and created some chances. In the second half we were on top and it was the quality of Cardiff's defending and their commitment that stopped us scoring and kept the score at 0-0.

The pitch, too, was not easy, but it was a great cup game and showed what the FA Cup is about.

At 0-0 anything could have happened, but in the second half I wasn't so much worried as I had been in the first half. They created chances then on crosses but after half-time they didn't create. But their centre-backs had a great game and overall I think their whole team had a great day.

I think Cardiff wanted the replay in the end. I don't know why, maybe it is a chance at another big game for them, but I believe as a Premier League team coming to a Championship team at a ground like this, there can always be a draw - it has happened before. We are confident we can go through at home.

It is one more game for us and it makes it harder to rest players. We are very short of numbers at the moment and cannot rotate too much, so with two games coming up I could have rested more players than I did on Sunday.

I planned to take Robin van Persie off if possible at Cardiff but it didn't work out that way. It shows in football that you can try to plan but it never goes how you think it will.

Of course, having a replay means Aaron Ramsey may play against his former side again. I think he did well on Sunday.

It is always tricky to come back to your home town club for the first time because you can sometimes overplay. I think he showed that he can be a great player, but sometimes it got to him as it was an emotional day for him.

No comments: