Source: Telegraph
Arsene Wenger refuses to point finger of blame at Arsenal goalkeeper Manuel Almunia
After spending the summer locked in a protracted and ultimately unsuccessful courtship of Fulham keeper Mark Schwarzer, Wenger decided to stick with Almunia as the transfer window closed. [LNB]But Arsenal's failure to resolve their hunt for a world class No 1 came back to haunt them at the Emirates on Saturday as Almunia was at fault for two of the West Brom goals. [LNB]Wenger, however, refused to point the finger at Almunia. [LNB]"You can have question marks over many players if you look at the performance, especially defensively," he said. "Many players made massive mistakes. [LNB]"I do not want to come out about any one performance, we were collectively poor. [LNB]"You could single out many players. Overall it was a poor team performance and we have to analyse why and respond well." [LNB]Almunia gave away a first-half penalty when he tripped Peter Odemwingie but he saved Chris Brunt's spot-kick. [LNB]Odemwingie opened the scoring then Almunia allowed Gonzalo Zara's near-post shot past him, then he rushed out too soon for the third when Jerome Thomas tapped in against his old team. [LNB]Samir Nasri pulled two goals back but Wenger was disappointed with the performance. [LNB]He added: "I believe this game was an exception. Until we played West Brom we had good games. [LNB]"I didn't recognise my team. We have to sit down together to analyse what happened. Our performance was not right. It was unusual to see a team as flat was we were today." [LNB]West Bromwich Albion manager Roberto Di Matteo felt his team were worthy of maximum points. [LNB]"I would say we deserved it," said the former Italy international midfielder. "The way we played, we created chances, scored goals and played very well. [LNB]"We missed a penalty, I'm not sure about the yellow card for the goalkeeper. It's a question mark whether he should stay on or not. [LNB]"We pressed them very high. We managed not to let them play their usual way. [LNB]"And when we had the ball we passed it very well and created chances ourselves." [LNB]Di Matteo has earned a reputation of his teams playing attractive football, but he is also getting results. [LNB]"I don't want us just to be pretty, I want results at the end of the day," he said. [LNB]"We got a hammering at Chelsea and it wasn't a pretty week after that, but we've learned. [LNB]"We still have to improve but we tried to remove those mistakes because we gifted them the first three goals that day." [LNB]Di Matteo believes Arsenal will still have a chance in the title race this season under Wenger's leadership. [LNB]"Last year not many people gave them credit and they managed to stay at the top until three or four games before the end of the season," he said. [LNB]"I think it's similar this season. They have signed some fantastic players. Anybody can beat anybody and it's going to be competitive at the top." [LNB]As for West Brom staying at the top, he added: "We have the second lowest budget in the league, you have to be realistic." [LNB][LNB]
