Beating Liverpool would have consolidated Arsene Wenger’s Arsenal side’s hold on a Champions League place
LIVERPOOL, United Kingdom, Mar 5- Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger said he does not regret his choice to start Alexis Sanchez from the bench in their defeat against Liverpool at Anfield on Saturday.
Sanchez was a surprising omission from the Gunners’ starting line-up as London club fell to 3-1 defeat that knocked them out of the top four the league standings.
Roberto Firmino, Sadio Mane and Georginio Wijnaldum scored for the hosts while Sanchez came on the second half and played a part in Danny Welbeck’s goal for Arsenal.
Wenger said after the game: “The regret is to have lost the game. The fact that we lacked pace in our first half was down, in my opinion, to the fact we had a lack of competition.
“The thinking was that we had to go more direct and I wanted to play two players who were strong in the air because we decided to go more direct.
“I believe in the second half it was easier for the strikers and you could see a different performance from Giroud and Welbeck because we dominated the midfield much more.”
“Everybody will come to the same conclusion, but I’m strong enough and lucid enough to analyse the impact, and I don’t deny that Alexis Sanchez is a great player. I bought him, I always played him. A decision like that is not easy to make, but you have to stand up for it.”
