Van Persie
Arsene Wenger refused to blame Arsenal’s failure to find the net against Sunderland on the exit of Robin van Persie.
The Gunners created
numerous openings against the Black Cats but were unable to take their
chances and the first game of the post-Van Persie era finished goalless
at the Emirates Stadium.
Lukas Podolski struggled
to find space in attack as he feels his way back to fitness, while
fellow new boy Olivier Giroud missed a glaring chance to win it for
Arsenal late on.
But Wenger is confident things will soon click into place for his side.
“I feel that Podolski is
not ready yet, but he has the quality, and Giroud you could see has a
presence when he is on the pitch in this position,” said Wenger.
“We went for a different formula last year and the balance is not always right. In some games it works, in some not.
“Against Sunderland we maybe needed one more creative player to be a bit more accurate in the final third.
“There was not a lot of space left to our strikers, everything had to be created from our midfield.”
Wenger added, “It is always frustrating in the game when you have so much possession and so little points.
“You have to calculate
that you make a draw or two or three during a season, but you don’t want
to make it at the start in the first game.”
But Wenger is adamant Arsenal cannot use the departure of Van Persie as an excuse.
“When you are on the football pitch, you don’t think about the players who are not there,” said the Gunners boss.
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