Arsenal under-18s head coach, Jack Wilshere, encouraged his side to show more personality after their 1-0 defeat to Fulham in the under-18s Premier League.
Oliver Gifford’s goal on the hour mark saw us fall to a narrow loss, but Wilshere believes his side could have shown more to get something out of the game.
“It was a performance that reminded me of what we were like at the start of the season,” said Wilshere. “I thought the game was there for us but we lacked quality. What hurts me a lot is that their energy beat us.
“When you play for Arsenal, it is a club built on pride and passion, being hard to play against, and you hear Mikel Arteta talking about earning the right to play, and we didn’t do that today.”
Wilshere thought his players were flat and emphasized that it happens in football now and again.
“It was quite a flat performance, which we need to look at and try to help the players do better.
“It can happen in football. I’ve played in teams and against teams where the performance can be flat, but I always say that we can play against opposition who may be tactically or technically better than us, but when you cross that white line, you’ve got to be willing to run harder than the opposition and win duels.
“We have players who can break teams down; it’s about taking that responsibility and making things happen through either a pass or driving at the defence. We were close at times but just not quite good enough today.”
Wilshere concluded by saying he hopes for a better performance next week against Crystal Palace.
“Palace is another game where we have to have personality, win duels, and be hard to play against.
The Palace teams I’ve played against over the years are committed, strong, and passionate, so we have to match that and hopefully have more understanding in possession to win the game.”
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