October 22nd 2023.
Mikel Arteta admits he was disappointed with his Arsenal players following their 2-2 draw with Chelsea on Saturday. Despite two very late goals from Declan Rice and Leandro Trossard, the Gunners found themselves two goals down after Cole Palmer's penalty and Mykhailo Mudryk's strike.
Arteta believes his team lacked the purpose and clarity needed when in possession, which allowed Chelsea to attack the open spaces and gain the upper hand. The Arsenal manager also criticised his players for losing too many individual battles.
“I think what went wrong was the start of the game. We didn’t play with enough purpose and clarity,” Arteta said. “We were just moving the ball without the intention to threaten them. That’s a really dangerous thing to do against teams like Chelsea. Then we didn’t win enough duels and in tight areas when we had them they escaped from that and they attacked open spaces and they are really dangerous things to do. Credit to them as well because they are a top side full of top players and you have to acknowledge that. If we don’t have those two things then we’re an average team.”
Despite the disappointment, Arteta was pleased with how his players reacted to going two goals down. He was also proud of the way the team was so quiet in the dressing room after the draw, as it was clear they felt they could have done more.
“When we changed that and we changed the level after 20, 25 minutes, especially in the second half then it’s a different game. We became a much better team even though we conceded the second goal and it’s a disappointment,” he said. “The way the team reacted to the second goal is phenomenal from the players on the pitch and the players on the bench thinking how the hell am I going to change this game. I loved that. I really liked as well going into the dressing room and it’s really quiet, after drawing 2-2 with Chelsea and coming back from 2-0 down, because I know that they wanted more. That’s the positive.”
[This article has been trending online recently and has been generated with AI. Your feed is customized.]
[Generative AI is experimental.]
