adminafter a 1-1 draw in the League Cup quarter-finals.
Wenger’s side thought they had got out of jail when defender Thomas Vermaelen forced extra-time with an 88th minute equaliser after Garry Thompson’s shock 16th minute strike for the hosts at Valley Parade on Tuesday night.
But Arsenal couldn’t find the winner in extra-time and Bradford went on to book their place in the semi-finals for the first time after Vermaelen hit a post with the decisive spot-kick in the shootout following earlier misses from Santi Cazorla and Marouane Chamakh.
It was the latest in an increasingly long list of chastening defeats for Wenger this season and is sure to lead to more criticism of the Frenchman, yet he stuck by his players even though they had let him down yet again.
“In the second half and extra-time it was all us, but it’s an English cup game on a difficult pitch,” Wenger said.
“Overall I cannot fault the effort of the players. It was a traditional English cup game and Bradford got on top of us.
“The pitch was a bit slippery. Bradford defended very deep and played the ball forward. There was not much space.
“When it goes to penalties you know what can happen. When you miss the first penalty of course it is difficult.
“We played a very offensive team and for over an hour we played with five strikers and created many goal-scoring situations.
“But they defended very well and it was difficult to play this kind of game.
“We lost on penalties against a team who defended well. I cannot fault the effort of our team and you have to give credit to Bradford.
“I don’t think it was a lack of quality it’s just we could not convert our chances for different reasons.”
The lacklustre nature of Arsenal’s exit, combined with the team’s seven-year trophy drought, gave this defeat an even darker context for the struggling north London outfit.
But, with his club now in the midst of a full-blown crisis, Wenger still insisted he was not embarrassed by the manner of the loss.
“You feel embarrassed when you don’t give everything,” he said. “I think the players are more disappointed and frustrated.
“When you go out it is never good enough for Arsenal, but we’ll get over this. It’s part of our job.”
Meanwhile, Bradford manager Phil Parkinson insisted the result was just reward for his side’s heroic efforts.
“It’s a great night for the club,” he said. “We wanted to show we’re a decent side and we did that.
“I don’t want my comments to be about the penalties but the performance because we were three minutes away from beating them in normal time. We asked a lot of them but the real talking point was how we played overall.” Parkinson also saluted goalkeeper Matt Duke for his penalty save from Cazorla and for keeping Arsenal at bay on the few occasions they broke through the resolute Bradford defence. — AFP.
Online Reporter