Koeman happy with goalless draw against Arsenal

Ajax Amsterdam coach Ronald Koeman defended his side's tactics in their goalless draw with Arsenal on Wednesday, saying he was delighted to have secured a "mutual" second stalemate with the English double winners.

Ajax showed little attacking inclination on their own ground and Arsenal goalkeeper David Seaman did not have to make a save.

But with Valencia surprisingly beaten 3-0 at home by AS Roma, Ajax find themselves top of Group B on six points, the same as Arsenal. They will go through to the quarter-finals if they beat Valencia in their next match.

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger criticised the hosts for their cautious approach to the game but Koeman was unconcerned.

"When people say we play negative, let them say it," he told reporters. I prefer to say that we were not naive, like Manchester City were, we were smart," he said.

Arsenal beat City 5-1 in the premier league at Maine Road on Saturday after being 4-0 up inside 20 minutes.

"I am very satisfied with the way we played, especially considering who we were playing against," said Koeman. "To draw both matches says something about where my young team is standing right now."

Koeman said that with Roma leading Valencia 3-0 at halftime he did not want to take any risks.

"I was very surprised at the Valencia score," he said. "But I thought we could then have a 'mutual result' here."

"I thought Arsenal were more careful than at home too, they didn't take any risks, you could see it with their substitutions."

Arsenal captain Patrick Vieira agreed that the draw, which looked increasingly likely the longer the game went on, suited everyone.

"I think the draw was okay for both teams," the Frenchman told ITV. "They put us under pressure in the second half but we worked really hard and deserved the draw."

"It's still open, it is a very difficult group where anyone can beat anyone and we now have a very important game against Roma."

Victory in that match at Highbury would send Arsenal through but Wenger, though happy with Wednesday's point, was unimpressed with the Dutch side's approach to the match.

"They were very tight at the back," the Frenchman said.

"We had a lot of the game in the first half and as long as we didn't score they didn't come out. They have a tradition of playing, but tonight they had a very negative attitude."

"We tried. Sometimes you score four goals in 20 minutes and sometimes none," he added, in reference to the Manchester City match.

"The second half was more difficult physically for us and the game became a bit flat."