I don’t have to explain why I picked Ospina – Asene Wenger

• Posted on September 30, 2015September 30, 2015
• by Nana Kwesi Coomson
• Comment

Arsene Wenger has refused to explain his decision to choose David Ospina over Petr Cech after the Arsenal goalkeeper’s blunder in the 3-2 defeat to Olympiacos.

The Colombian dropped the ball over the line to gift the Greek side a 2-1 lead as they went on to win 3-2, condemning the Gunners to a second consecutive Champions League loss.

Wenger, though, defended his choice to pick Ospina and leave Cech on the bench but refused to explain his selection.

“I do not have to sit here and give you an explanation about every decision I make,” he told reporters.

“That is always the simple thing. Ospina kept 14 clean sheets in 19 games last season and was fantastic against Tottenham last week. No goalkeeper is mistake-free.

“I make the decisions and selections for the team and I am responsible. I know many things that you don’t know or you ignore. You can’t select a team by taking a poll before the game and taking everyone’s opinion.

“Honestly, I don’t want to go into the conversation about regrets with you.”

The result leaves Arsenal bottom of Group F with two games against Bayern Munich, who have won all of their matches in the Bundesliga and Champions League so far next, but Wenger says his side still have a chance.

“It leaves us in a bad position but we are still in it. We have to get a result in our next game against Bayern at home,” he added.

“Some aspects of our game were quite good but we lacked quality in our defensive concentration. I believe we had a bit of bad luck as well – they had four shots on target and scored three goals.

“The turning point was at 2-2. We got back in the game and then gave them 3-2 straight away. We feel guilty because we gave easy goals away.”

Arsenal suffered a further blow with defender Laurent Koscielny forced off due to injury with Wenger unclear how long he may be out for.

He added: “It looks to be a hamstring. We play many games. We rotate the team and other teams do as well. You can’t play every three days without rotating your players.”

-Goal