Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta acknowledged that the squad must shoulder the blame for Saturday’s 2-0 loss to Bournemouth, citing too many costly mistakes during the game, Soccernet.football reports.
The north London giants suffered their first defeat of the season, with goals from Ryan Christie and Evanilson after William Saliba saw red in the first half for commiting a professional foul.
Saliba’s foul resulted from a misplaced pass by Leandro Trossard and at the other end, Arteta pointed out Gabriel Martinelli’s missed opportunity as another avoidable error that ultimately cost them the match.
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“We are obviously very disappointed with the result and gutted because we have to play again in that context [with ten players],” the Spaniard said as reported by 90Mins.
“This time was even more difficult than the previous two we faced this season.
“Playing for 65 or 68 minutes with ten men at this level is just an impossible task. It’s an accident waiting to happen, not to get the points.
“I cannot fault the team for their effort, their commitment, how intelligent they are to play in the way that we have to do it.
“There is a big moment obviously with 0-0 when we have a big opening, one against one with the ‘keeper. We don’t manage to score and at the other end we do that. We have to fault ourselves.
“Football is a sport where errors are part of that. Tonight we made two big errors that have cost us the game unfortunately.”
The on-field referee initially judged Saliba’s offense as a yellow card, but VAR upgraded it to a red after a review. Arteta confirmed after the game that the club would not be appealing the decision.
“That decision was changed and now the decision is not going to change twice. So, decision made. We have to accept it, move on and have that pain that we are feeling at the moment for Tuesday [against Shakhtar Donetsk].”
