Steve Gatting spoke to Arsenal.com after his under-19 side secured their place in the last 16 of the Uefa Youth League with a 4-1 victory over Galatasaray on Tuesday afternoon. Read on for a full transcript of what he said:
on securing qualification in a convincing way…
It was a tricky game. They were unbeaten at home and I was pleased with the way the boys reacted after going a goal down inside eight minutes. Once we got that first goal, we settled down and comfortably won.
"This has been a good experience for the team and hopefully they can produce again in the next round"
on playing on an artificial pitch…
Playing on an artificial pitch is something we’ve never done before. It’s different and it does give the home team an advantage, but I thought we adjusted really well.
on scoring two crucial goals just before half-time…
The first one was a massive one, because they were on top at the time, and who knows what might have happened had they scored a second goal. The first goal meant that they had to score five, and we got a lot of confidence after that. Then the second goal killed them off.
on his assessment of the group stages…
It’s been mixed. We didn’t win the group but we have put in some good results and performances. I think Anderlecht deserved to win the group but this has been a good experience for the team and hopefully they can produce again in the next round.
on missing players and those that came in performing well…
We were probably missing seven players but that gave some of the boys, who have been sub for much of the campaign, the experience to play. It’s about giving boys experience and they got that here.
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