Joe Willock was understandably disappointed with our defeat to Chelsea - but stressed that we are at the start of a "long journey" under Mikel Arteta.
Our young midfielder came on in the second half at Emirates Stadium and, while unhappy to lose the match, he feels the evidence is already there of what our new head coach is trying to instil in the side.
This is what he told the media afterwards:
on the defeat…
We’re really disappointed because I think we played very well in the first half, and 20 minutes in the second half we played really well as well, but we pushed back and they got on top.
on the energy and the performance...
That’s what we tried to do from the start, we tried to give a lot of energy and tried to help each other out but unfortunately we lost.
on moving on to Manchester United…
We just need to keep positive, we all believe in each other and we know that we’re halfway through the season and we need to push on. We’re looking forward to the next game and hopefully we can show the energy for a full 90 minutes.
on playing against Chelsea…
When we play against Chelsea it’s always a big game. I thought we played well but we were unfortunate to lose this game today.
on working with Mikel Arteta…
He’s installed energy, he’s installed being there for each other and different tactics. I thought we did it in the first half and the first 15 minutes of the second half but we pushed back and they got on top of us so it’s really disappointing.
on Mikel’s potential impact…
We all believe in him, we all listen and we all try to put the tactics he does in training on to the pitch. It’s evident we tried to do it in the first half, but it’s a long journey, we’ve only had a week with him and we’re all looking forward to working with him.
on how we improve…
We need to win. Everyone knows we’re not at the best time that we’ve been in, but I feel as though if we get a win and we continue to work hard, we can push on from there. It all starts with a win and like today, if we play like we did in the first half any team will have a problem facing us.
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