Mehmet Ali said that lessons will need to be learned from Wednesday’s 2-0 defeat to RC Lens in the UEFA Youth League.
Goals from Rayan Fofana and Oscar Lenne succumbed our Under-19s to our fourth defeat in the competition.
“We’re very disappointed,” Mehmet said after the match. “At the end of the day our performance wasn’t good enough today. I can’t fault the boys’ effort, intent and application, but our quality, our decision-making wasn’t at the level. We didn’t deserve to win the game.
“Having said that, we had more of the ball than our opponents, we had more final third entries, but they had a lot more shots at our goal. I feel that they deserved to win the game, so very disappointed, but a great shock to our boys’ system because at this level we’ve not been good enough and it’s a good lesson for our boys to see and feel that but they’ve got to learn from it and we’ve got to be better.”
From a defensive point of view, there were positives to note from the first half, but Mehmet expects and demands more from his players.
“We’re Arsenal and we don’t want to just be keeping it at 0-0. I think we did do that and there were some really good defending actions and some good unit defending when we were compact and organised, but the level we’re trying to aspire to, we’ve got to be able to dominate our opponents and suffocate them in their area of the pitch. Again, we didn’t have thew quality to do that today.”
Thankfully, there is now a quick turnaround for our Under-21s, who have the chance to put things right with Friday night’s trip to West Bromwich Albion.
“Very quick turnaround so we go again Friday and that’s the best thing after a defeat. When you’re feeling low, it’s to get back on the training pitch, on the grass and go again and we’re looking forward to the West Brom game on Friday.”
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