Steve Gatting gave his thoughts on Arsenal Under-21s' first defeat of the season at home to Sunderland on Monday.
Read a transcript of what he had to say below:
on the defeat...
I think it was a good game for us to be involved in. Obviously the result wasn't the right one. We played against a very good Sunderland side, I thought they had a lot of pace up front, their work-rate was good in midfield and they had defenders who wanted to defend. So it was tough for us.
on the lessons his team will learn...
I think we need to be a bit more penetrative. In the first half we had a bit of the ball and they closed us down well. We had no-one, barring perhaps Chuba Akpom, who was prepared to run behind defenders and stretch them.
on a good start to the season...
We've had a very good start. That was our first loss and we've had mixtures of teams, we've had younger sides and older sides. Tonight it was a bit of a mixed team but we can take a lot of things from the game.
on the importance of getting a quick response...
It is important. We've got players who will be involved on Friday in the FA Youth Cup and then we've got Napoli in the under-19s [Youth League] so there's lots of games coming up. The important thing now is to try and get back on track.
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