November 2nd 2023.
Mikel Arteta was disappointed with the performance of his Arsenal players following their Carabao Cup exit at the hands of West Ham. While Ben White's own goal put Arsenal ahead, the Gunners lacked the cutting edge and physicality they needed to compete with the hosts, and they eventually succumbed to goals from Mohammed Kudus and Jarrod Bowen. Martin Odegaard scored a consolation goal for the Gunners, but it wasn't enough to salvage the game.
Speaking after the game, Arteta admitted that he takes responsibility for the defeat, but said he had warned his players about the need to 'compete' with West Ham. He said:
"I tried to warn them for 48 hours that today was about how you're going to compete in these games, and in the Carabao Cup away from home, we haven't done that well enough. Obviously, the game started pretty well for us, we had total control, but the goal changes a lot of things, and even though I didn't think it was a goal, it's not an excuse for the rest of the performance."
When asked if the absence of Declan Rice and William Saliba had a big impact on Arsenal's lack of physicality, Arteta said: "It's not about that, it's about a lot of simple things that we didn't do well at all today. Some of them were competing, some were duels, 50-50s, but a lot of giveaways we have in areas that we didn't allow us in any moment to be a threat in the final third and that's something we have to improve dramatically from today."
The Arsenal boss also spoke about whether Arsenal's fringe players had suffered a missed opportunity by struggling against West Ham. He said: "You have to be fair on the players. Some players haven't had that many minutes, it wasn't to do it straight away in the first game. But that's something that is further from the assessment is about doing certain things that have to be required to win a football match, especially when you play away from home against West Ham, and today we haven't done that good enough."
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