Steve Gatting spoke to Arsenal.com following the under-21s' 5-3 victory against West Ham United on Monday. This is what he had to say:
on the game…
It was an exciting match. Attacking-wise I thought we were excellent at times, especially in the second half. We created chances with good movement and good awareness. On the defensive side of things, we gave them three sloppy goals.
on how to cut those goals out…
You work on defensive things during the week all the time. I guess it comes down to focus, people taking responsibility and people seeing dangerous situations and acting on them.
"Credit to the team for keeping going, playing good football and making the movement to score the two goals at the end"
Steve Gatting
on scoring twice late on…
We showed a lot of character. We got ourselves in the lead three times, and in the end we were deserved winners. Credit to the team for keeping going, playing good football and making the movement to score the two goals at the end.
on Chuba Akpom’s hat trick…
He’s a real handful at this level. He’s come back from Coventry now and he showed what he is all about. The other forward players were very good as well; Thomas [Eisfeld] and Jon Toral were very good. Alex Iwobi played for the youth team on Saturday and had to play here because of numbers, and again he did very well.
on Zak Ansah’s comeback goal…
I am pleased for Zak. He’s had a couple of long-term injuries and that is the first 20 minutes he has played this year. He came on and scored the goal, and took it very well. He really showed his class going forward.
on the overall performance…
I am generally happy. It has been a long time since we have won in the league and I was very pleased with the attacking side of our game. The defensive side needs a bit more work on.
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