In Round 34 of the English Premier League, Arsenal earned a difficult but important 1:0 home victory over Newcastle United. After the match, head coach Mikel Arteta shared his thoughts on the game.
The Spanish specialist particularly highlighted the opponent's active substitutions during the match. According to him, although Newcastle changed their lineup several times, the effect was like ten changes. "They kept maintaining pressure with fresh players. We had to win in any case, and we achieved that," Arteta said.
The coach highly praised the team's disciplined and strong-willed play in defense. However, he also openly admitted that there are shortcomings in attack. In his opinion, Arsenal must move better with the ball and especially improve accuracy in finishing attacks.
"There were some situations in both halves. We showed disciplined, strong-willed and smart play in defense, but if we want to dominate during the game we need to move better with the ball," Arteta said.
According to Arteta, despite the team reaching good positions in many cases, errors in decisive strikes or final decisions cost the chance to settle the game earlier.
"This concerns many other aspects too, for example the fact that we don't finish attacks, how many times we should finish an attack, situations where we should take a favorable position in the final third and continue the episode, but the attacks were broken off," Arteta said.
At the same time, the coach emphasized as the most important aspect the team's reaction to such situations. In his opinion, it was the right mental approach and discipline that became the main factor providing the victory.
"But the most important thing is to react correctly to such moments," Sky Sports quotes Arteta.
In short, Arsenal took an important three points, but there are still plenty of aspects in the team that need improvement. Now the "Gunners" face even more responsible matches ahead.
