Read the transcript of Arsene Wenger’s press conference after Cologne beat Arsenal 1-0 in the Europa League in Germany on Thursday evening
Arsene how frustrating was that in light of how many chances you had?
I believe we had a lot of possession and we lost a game where Cologne had one shot on goal basically. It was a very ‘nice’ penalty we have to take on board.
Overall honestly it was not a penalty and we missed a little bit in the final third and a little bit of accuracy in our passing to score more goals. We had plenty of dangerous situations but we missed a little something to finish our chances.
I must say Cologne defended with spirit and with commitment and overall the crowd was absolutely fantastic for them.
What was with the situation with Danny Welbeck?
The situation was planned before the game that Danny Welbeck plays 45 minutes. He comes back from injury we have three more games, Sunday, Wednesday and Saturday again and medically the risk was a bit too high to play him for longer because he has been out for a while.
But he has no problem. He was ready to stay on and frustrated to come off but he’s in good shape.
Thoughts on Jack Wilshere’s performance and his improvement throughout the group stage?
I believe he was like everybody else and he created dangerous situations and was close to score [sic]. He and Welbeck and Giroud they looked all dangerous but we were missing a little bit something in their finishing.
Is it difficult to keep the intensity going knowing you’ve already qualified?
No I must say the attitude was good. It took us some time to get into the pace, to get the game pacey [sic]. The pitch was a little handicap tonight I felt and the players as well - but I cannot fault their preparation or the concentration of the players.
What does finishing top of the group mean to you?
I don’t know I will tell you after the draw. You feel you have done the job and finished top of the group and we play the final game against Borisov with not much at stake apart from the fact we want to win the game. But what does it really mean I don’t know – but that is what we wanted.
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