By Lloyd Webb
Steve Gatting says Arsenal Under-21s were punished for not taking their chances against Aston Villa on Monday.
The Gunners had several opportunities to break the deadlock during a frustrating evening at Villa Park, but slipped to a 1-0 defeat courtesy of Jerell Sellars' second-half finish.
"We didn’t take our chances and we had plenty of them. If you are poor both ends of the pitch, you are going to lose"
Steve Gatting
The result ended Arsenal’s seven-game unbeaten streak and Gatting was not pleased with his side’s “second-best” performance in Birmingham.
“It was disappointing,” the manager told Arsenal Player. “Not for the result but for the performance. I thought we were very much second best when it came to defending because we didn’t do the basics right defensively. We didn’t defend from the front very well.
“The midfielders didn’t screen or tackle, we didn’t win any balls in the air or head the ball, and in our one against ones we were second best nearly every time. Saying that, we could have scored four or five goals and if you look at the other side of the game, in the final third we wasted too many chances.
"We hit the post right at the end and was a very good chance where we probably should have scored. We didn’t take our chances and we had plenty of them. If you are poor both ends of the pitch, you are going to lose.
“Hopefully we can show a better performance next time. We have a FA Youth Cup game on Friday which not many of these players will play in, then it is international week and then we start again against Blackburn Rovers on April 1. Hopefully we can work together to put a better performance in.”
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