"We are conceding too many simple goals", says Arteta after Arsenal's draw with Sporting
Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta admits is team must improve their defending and avoid conceding cheap goals.
was held to a 2-2 draw against Sporting Lisbon in the first leg of the Europa League last 16 round in Lisbon on Thursday.
After the game,
Artetaadmitted that his team must improve defensively after they conceded twice for the second successive game.
"We are conceding too many simple goals,"
he told reporters.
"We spoke about the importance of boxes, especially in a competition where you're in or out. [On Thursday], we didn't defend that well enough, and we have to be better at threatening the opponents as well.
"But of course, you have an opponent there. We've played some really emotional games recently.
"We made a lot of changes and sometimes that takes time to get that cohesion, and you could feel it in the first 15 minutes that it needed some time to adapt and click.
"If we don't expose them, though, that's never going to happen."
He added:
"When you concede two poor goals like we did away from home in Europe, it's very difficult to get a positive result.
"The game had different phases because we gave too many simple balls away in our own half and gave them the capacity to [exploit] transition moments, which they are good at.
"In other moments we had total control of the game and we lost a little bit of threat, especially with the four players we are missing in our frontline.
"There were some positives because we showed a lot of resilience to get back into the game, but we need to defend our box much better and be better on Sunday.”
who joined Arsenal last summer, started for the 13th time this season and provided his sixth assist of the season.
Arteta said he is happy for Vieira and praised his performance.
"I'm really happy with him,"
he added.
"I think he deserves more minutes than he's had, especially in the last two months.
"Obviously he had a difficult start because he was injured for two months after a surgery, and wasn't at the level that we want.
"You saw tonight he was probably our most dangerous player. He was always making things happen. He's a player that I absolutely love.”
Arsenal will face Fulham in the Premier League on Sunday.
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