WENGER HAILS SLICK ARSENAL EURO ROMP
GUNNERS BOSS REVELS IN ‘STYLISH’ PERFORMANCE TO SIGN OFF ON EUROPA GROUP STAGE
Arsene Wenger hailed a “stylish” win as his Arsenal side hammered Bate Borisov to wrack up his 700th victory as Gunners boss.
Arsenal were already assured of their place in Monday’s round of 32 draw after securing top spot in Group H ahead of an impressive 6-0 win over the Belarusian champions in front of a sparse Emirates Stadium crowd.
Mathieu Debuchy, Theo Walcott, Jack Wilshere and Mohamed Elneny all got on the score-sheet while Denis Polyakov scored an own goal and Olivier Giroud converted a penalty.
Arsenal, who could draw the likes of Borussia Dortmund, Napoli or Celtic in the draw for the knockout stages, were comfortable throughout as less than 30,000 fans watched on – a record low for the Emirates.
Wenger was pleased to toast his landmark win and felt his players delivered it in style.
“I believe that it was done in a stylish way and in a technically-high quality game from our side,” he said.
“You can say the opponent was not at the level of the Premier League and I would agree with you but you can only do your job and that’s what we did, in a convincing way with remarkable spirit and finished well the job in this group stage.”
Wenger said he respected those fans who stayed away from a game that carried little to no importance on Arsenal’s season and pointed to the kind of dead rubber games produced by groupstage competition.
“I think you forget about that once you are on the pitch,” he said when asked about the low attendance.
“It’s true that you prefer the ground to be full, but tonight there was not a lot at stake on the competitive side. No matter how many sit in the stands, you have to give them what they expect – and that’s what we did.
“You respect the decision of your fans.
“They knew we were top of the group anyway and you could basically expect that.
“You have looked around last night in the Champions League in game number six, I have seen many grounds not full, or half empty.
“That is a bit the problem of the group stage.”
Walcott hopes to have made an impression, saying: “We are doing our best to give the manager a headache. To get in the team, all we can do when called upon is be ready. The performance tonight was very professional and everyone did their jobs.”
“The boss told us to go out and enjoy ourselves.
“We’ve already qualified so we played with freedom, attacked very well and were defensively solid. There were so many smiles out there, the guys enjoying playing again and it was nice to get all those goals.”