Wenger Bemused as Arsenal Salvage Draw in Kiev

Arsene Wenger, like most Arsenal fans, was confused last night at what happened in the Olympic Stadium in Kiev. It was quite an eventful match, Arsenal having to come from behind to salvage a draw two minutes from time.

The first goal came through a penalty in the 64th minute, which was dubious to say the least. Ognjen Vukojevic seemed to get his arms around Bacary Sagna, and as he pulled the latter down, he somehow managed to tumble to the ground. How the referee saw this as a penalty, I have no clue.

When Arsenal equalised in the 88th minute, Dynamo Kiev seemed to be out of the game physically. They had wasted as much time as they could. It was odd because the game had stopped in the 90th minute for a good minute and a half due to an injury and a substitution, and yet the referee gave only three minutes injury time.

Was Luis Medina Cantalejo so inept that he couldn't even figure out how much added time was needed, in a match where one team was hanging on for dear life and wasting time whenever they could?

Either way, Arsenal were profligate in the first half, where they missed a catalogue of chances and they might have rued this wastefulness had William Gallas not equalised late on.

After the game Arsene Wenger, speaking to Sky Sports, said, "My feelings are a mixture of disappointment and relief."

I suppose he summed up the sentiments of most Arsenal fans with that statement. He also added;

"I was not angry, I just wanted to understand how they calculate the extra time because it's a mystery to me how, in a game like that, with players going down and substitutes, you still only get three minutes of injury time. Even during injury time one player stays down and still it's only three minutes."

"The Boss" also felt that Arsenal lacked the "killer instinct" which would have allowed them to close out the match in the first half.

At the end of the day, it was a point well earned and in a certain sense, but also two points dropped. So I suppose that all Arsenal fans are "disappointed and relieved" at the same time.