Mikel Arteta praises team reaction after defeat to Real Betis

In a pre-season friendly played in Dublin, London club Arsenal lost 1:3 rather than 1:5 to Spanish side Real Betis. According to ESPN, the setback did not worry Arsenal head coach Mikel Arteta, while the players’ angry reaction in the dressing room pleased him. Goal.com reports .

Played in front of a packed crowd at the Aviva Stadium, the match proved costly for Arsenal because of its defensive errors. The Spanish side took a two-goal lead early on through well-taken strikes from Rodrigo Riquelme and Nelson Deossa. Piero Hincapié then scored to reduce the deficit, but former West Ham player Pablo Fornals restored Betis’ two-goal advantage before half-time.

Defensive errors and the half-time atmosphere

Although Mikel Arteta was disappointed by his players’ costly mistakes during the match, he praised the team’s emotional reaction at half-time. The Spanish coach stressed that it was a good sign that the players were upset and angry about their errors.

«They were very upset and spoke harshly to one another. They are angry, but that is good. That is exactly what we need», ESPN quotes Mikel Arteta as saying.

According to the coach, Arsenal used 25 players during the match, which also affected the team’s overall condition to some extent. Compared with the previous 4:1 win over Girona, the team lost its usual rhythm this time, despite making no changes to the starting lineup.

Future plans and positive conclusions

Arteta admitted that the team played well during certain spells in the first half, but lacked competitiveness around the penalty area. In his view, such negative results provide additional motivation for the players to work even harder on themselves.

This pre-season test is expected to provide Arsenal with an important lesson as they address weaknesses in defence and improve their performance ahead of the new season.