I played too many senior players in cup defeat - Wenger
Arsenal Manager Arsene Wenger has admitted using “too many experienced players” after Alex OxladeChamberlain and Theo Walcott were injured in Arsenal’s 3-0 League Cup loss at Sheffield Wednesday.
Walcott replaced OxladeChamberlain but left the field on 18 minutes and both will have scans on muscular injuries.
The Gunners boss said the injuries to both forwards were a “big blow”.
“We are short now with the injuries,” added the 66-year-old Frenchman, who has six other first-team players out.
“I have to manage the workload of the players and at the end of the day I still think I maybe brought too many experienced players here.”
The FA Cup holders barely threatened as goals from Ross Wallace, Lucas Joao and Sam Hutchinson sent the Championship side into the quarter-finals.
Wenger said he would have “loved” to have won the tie but, referring to his growing injury list, he added: “With the squad we have got now, we cannot keep in all the competitions.”
Wenger made nine changes for the 3-0 defeat but still included Olivier Giroud, Per Mertesacker, Mathieu Flamini, Petr Cech, Mathieu Debuchy, Kieran Gibbs and Calum Chambers.
But Wenger said the level was “too high” for the younger players he selected.
Midfielder Glen Kamara and forward Alex Iwobi - both 19 - made full debuts in the last-16 tie, while 17-year-olds Ismael Bennacer and Kristian Bielik came off the bench.
“They are not ready to play at this level,” said Wenger. “We lost two players and after that I had Gabriel and Nacho Monreal on the bench but I couldn’t bring them on because I couldn’t afford to lose any more players.”