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De Kat on winning start to Youth League

Chris Willock
Chris Willock

Frans de Kat spoke to Arsenal.com after the club's under-19 side began
their Uefa Youth League campaign with a 2-0 victory in Dortmund.

on the performance...
It was a tough game but we played quite well and we had a lot of
chances. We knew Borussia Dortmund very well - that they are strong in
the middle and when attacking, so we had to work very hard in defence. Now and
then we could press them high and succeed on that. [At times] we had to
drop and that was very tough for us because they played between the
lines. We scored some good goals in the first half, with Hinds scoring
twice, so that was very good, and we had some more chances as well.

on how pleased he was with the attacking performance...
At the end we had a lot of counter-attacks and I think, in the second
half, we have to do that better, because some were playing for themselves
instead of playing together and scoring the goals. It's all about scoring
goals.

on the defensive display...
They worked very hard and it was tough because they had good players, but
they did quite well so I'm pleased with that.

on how the younger lads have slotted in...
It's difficult for them, as a special event, playing in the European League. They did quite well and we worked as a team, we trained as a team and now we played as a team. I liked that very much.

on the Youth League...
I like it very much. The surroundings here are okay but I think they can
be better. But it's a special thing to play in the European League and
it's good for the players because they have other opponents, which is
good for the team and individual players.