Arsenal were held to a drab 0-0 draw on the night
Although a magnitude of Arsenal’s listless and mundane performances have been down to the shambolic mistakes for their players, manager Mikel Arteta hasn’t been devoid of blame. Across the course of the ongoing season, the Spaniard has been lambasted for his gameplan and decision making on the pitch.
Increasingly growing out of favour with Arsenal supporters after scores of listless performances, Arteta was once again berated ensuing Arsenal’s 1-1 draw in the Europa League. And Ian Wright joined in the clamour to pin the blame on the Arsenal manager as he questioned Arteta’s delay in making substitutions.
Wright Hits Out At Arteta
“Take the chances! Make the subs earlier! Finish the tie,” tweeted Ian Wright in reference to Arteta’s decision to announce four substitutes at once.
Arteta was quizzed about his delay in brining on fresh legs with him going onto explain the reasoning behind his rationale.
“We knew that we have the possibility to change things with the five subs.
“We believed it was the right time for the setup that they had. It was the right moment to do it and they had a big impact.
“In this competition, the subs have a lot to say. They made the impact that we need, but unfortunately, we didn’t capitalise at the end with the result that we wanted.”
Meanwhile defender Hector Bellerin spoke about how the side was losing matches owing to its inability to see out contests.
“I have to say felt like we had the game under control the whole time but the last five minutes,” Bellerin told BT Sport. “We had chances to score but go to the 85th minute at 1-0. Then it’s about us controlling the game managing the game.
“We put ourselves in situations that we shouldn’t be in at that stage. It’s in our hands. And I’ve said it before teams aren’t beating us but it’s us losing the games.”
