'It was a spectacular first half at high pace'

Arsene Wenger was understandably happy after we beat CSKA Moscow 4-1 to take a big advantage into our second leg in Russia next week.

The Arsenal manager discussed the performance, how Mesut Ozil played and Aaron Ramsey's current form.

 

This is what he told the post-match press conference:

 

on a comfortable win…

It was a difficult game because they looked very good going forward and came out very quickly every time we lost the ball. They took advantage of every mistake we made to go forward. I felt that it was a spectacular first half played at a high pace, but also an uncomfortable one for me because they looked dangerous as well. I’d always hoped that we could score, but I was also worried that they could score as well. We played against a side who was technically very good, but we had scored some great goals in the first half and at half-time we were 4-1 up. Then the target was not to concede any more and, if possible, add another one. We did the first part of the job in the second half but not the second part of the job. On the other hand, it will help us to completely focus in the second game by not thinking it’s job done. We know it’s not over. We have to go there with the right focus and try to win the game.

 

on what he was thinking at 1-1…

That it’s unfortunate because it’s not what we wanted. I wanted to see how we responded to that. It was a good challenge, so it was good to see how we responded to it. I think we were in an uncomfortable position against Milan at home when they scored the first goal. Every time here, we found the answer in the game.

 

on Mesut Ozil…

Of course he enjoys it and I hope you enjoy it because we see a great football player. When you love football, that’s what you want to see.

 

on CSKA…

I think CSKA Moscow is a good team with a very good technical level, who are very quick going forward. Every time they won the ball, they gave us many problems in the first half. That’s all I can say. They have a very good technical level and are very mobile, very intelligent with their use of the ball as well. They played in a very offensive style. We are not used to seeing that at the Emirates in the Premier League. Teams come here, play in their half and wait for us. They had a go at us and it was uncomfortable.

 

on which players impressed for CSKA…

I think I’ve seen many good players in their side. Individually, I don’t want to give any names.

 

on whether he feels we’ve put our difficult period behind us…

We responded well. People forget that we lost three games in a week because the first game we lost was a final and it takes time to recover from that. The mentality is good in the side and that’s why we recovered. You’re always worried when you don’t win games that people expect you to win, but as I said many times there’s only one way to respond: with the quality of the performance on the pitch.

 

on whether we can win the Europa League...

We are in the quarter-final and it is a long way to go - we still have to finish the job. We are not qualified for the semi-finals, so it is too early to talk about that. we have suffered a lot recently, so that will help us to keep our feet on the ground and be humble and try to do our job well.

 

on Ramsey getting to his best level since 2013...

For Aaron it is always the same, if he can have a a consistent presence in the side without being stopped... I personally think he has overcome his problems, he has no injury problems at all anymore ore. When you can play game after game, you can see that he is involved a lot in the build up and also goes to the end of things. What has changed since 2013 is that he is a much better finisher nowadays, he is much calmer, he is composed. Before, he rushed a little bit his finishing.