Wenger - How I changed things at half-time

Arsene Wenger’s half-time team talk did the trick on Saturday.

One-nil down at the break with Swansea happy to camp in their own half, we had a job on our hands. But in the end it took just 12 second-half minutes to turn the match around.

Here’s what the boss said in his press conference:

on the game…

At half-time, I could be worried because we were 1-0 down and I knew that Swansea had conceded only one away goal the whole season. For us it was important to play quicker, sharper, with more penetration, changing sides quicker and putting them more under pressure, which we did in the second half. In the first half, we looked dominating but a bit laboured, too slow in our game.

on memories of his first Premier League game…

My first one was at Blackburn, [we won] 2-0. When you’ve played 800 times, you have some deja vu!

on England U-17s winning the World Cup…

I am so happy because I’m here for 20 years and for 20 years we didn’t do well with the youth. When you think that today they won the Under-17, they won the Under-20, it’s the first time since I am here. I think it shows as well that since they have restructured the academy, it dedicated a lot of work to that and they have the results. For once, we can all have the opportunity to congratulate The FA. It doesn’t happen a lot!