Interview

Coyle - I was very impressed with Mari

Trae Coyle was impressed with Pablo Mari’s first appearance in Arsenal colours.

Our Spanish defender played the first 45 minutes alongside Rob Holding at the heart of defence for our under-23s on Monday night, but was unable to prevent us slipping to a 2-1 defeat to Chelsea.

We spoke to Coyle post match and this is what he said:

on the performance…

We played well, it’s disappointing because I felt like we had the better chances so it’s a bit disappointing that we didn’t take any points. We’ll go again next week and hopefully we can put it right.

on playing 90 minutes…

The start of the year has been tough for me because I’ve been ill and had a few injuries. To play a full game today was good, I felt well and I felt good so hopefully I can kick on and keep improving.

on playing with first team players tonight…

We’ve played with Rob a lot of times and he’s always been good with us. Obviously he has so much ability and I was very impressed with Pablo as well. Playing with those two was definitely a big help today.

on his aims from now until the end of the season…

For the team, it’s just trying to win our last eight or so games. Personally I would like to score and assist as much as I can and stay fit and keep playing.

By Sam Cox