"We weren't a team": Arteta reacts to dismal Aston Villa display

 

"We weren't a team": Mikel Arteta shouldered the blame as Arsenal went down 3-0 to Aston Villa in the Premier League on Sunday

By Adam Le Roux

Mikel Arteta, like most of us, was left bewildered by Arsenal’s lacklustre performance on Sunday as the Gunners went down 3-0 to Aston Villa at the Emirates.  

A brace from Ollie Watkins and a Bukayo Saka own goal condemned Arteta’s side to a humbling defeat at home to the Villans, in a match where the whole side looked disjointed from first whistle to last.  

That makes it three defeats in four Premier League matches, and leaves the Gunners scrambling around in mid-table before a much-needed fortnight off for the international break.  

The trials and tribulations of the last few weeks of nonstop football seemed to have finally caught up with the hosts, with Villa hounding them throughout the game, and played with an intensity that Arteta wants to see from his side. 

“They wanted it more than us,” he said. “I’m struggling to find the reason, but obviously there was something there.  

“If you can’t defend your box, it’s a really complicated way to win matches. We haven’t been scoring a lot of goals and today we looked open in transition, and if you don’t put chances away you have no chance to win. I take full responsibility. 

“My job is to get the best out of the players and put them in the best possible scenario. We performed below our standards and I have to say it's the first time I've seen us play and we weren't a team." 

The Gunners were up against it right from the first whistle at the Emirates, with John McGinn firing in after just 48 seconds as it looked like Dean Smith’s side were off to the perfect start, only for VAR to dig us out of that hole.  

Arsenal didn’t heed that warning though, and continued to be pressed all over the park by the visiting side, who didn’t give them the time and space to play their own game.  

And Villa were rewarded for their tenacity midway through the first half, as Saka inadvertently played Matt Targett’s cross into his own net under pressure from Trezeguet, to give them a deserved lead.  

Falling behind kicked Arsenal into gear for a while, and Alexandre Lacazette should have done better when he met Kieran Tierney’s cross, but his header flew over the bar.  

A quick-fire double from Watkins soon wrapped the points up for the visitors, who took all three points home from the Emirates for the first time since 2013 after an impressive away performance.  

Compared to the magnificent display at Old Trafford a week earlier, it was chalk and cheese, and Arteta took much of the flack for repugnant display, but is determined to stick to his philosophy and longer-term objectives.   

“Unfortunately you cannot take anything for granted and things change very quickly,” he said.  

"I'm a very positive person and when things happen like this you get to learn the players and where we are in a much deeper way. 

“I want to see the reaction from myself first because it's the first time I've seen my team perform at that level since I arrived here and obviously it hurts big time.  

"I take full responsibility. I am responsible to make the team perform on the pitch and today we were not a team and it is my job. It is why I am standing here. 

“It is a frustration. It takes a lot to build momentum, to build a way of being, living and performing and when something like that comes up it's a hard one to take but in a hard moment you learn more than in a positive moment and I want to see how we react.”