Steve Gatting has admitted his frustration at his side for not taking their chances, as the Arsenal under-21’s were defeated by Aston Villa, with the Midlands side leaping them in the second division, behind top placed Derby County.
The under-21s fell to Villa through Jerell Sellers’ second half effort, losing only their third game of the campaign and their first in seven fixtures, ending their stunning unbeaten run which saw them without loss since December – incidentally when they lost to the Midlands side at London Colney.
Arsenal dominated large parts of the game on Monday evening but were unable to take their chances, with Donyell Malen’s effort late in injury time striking the post.
The under-21s’ manager, lamented the missed chances, as reported by the club’s official website.as reported by the club’s official website.
It was disappointing.
Not for the result but for the performance. I thought we were very much second best when it came to defending because we didn’t do the basics right defensively. We didn’t defend from the front very well.
The midfielders didn’t screen or tackle, we didn’t win any balls in the air or head the ball, and in our one against ones we were second best nearly every time. Saying that, we could have scored four or five goals and if you look at the other side of the game, in the final third we wasted too many chances.
We hit the post right at the end and was a very good chance where we probably should have scored. We didn’t take our chances and we had plenty of them. If you are poor both ends of the pitch, you are going to lose.
Hopefully we can show a better performance next time. We have a FA Youth Cup game on Friday which not many of these players will play in, then it is international week and then we start again against Blackburn Rovers on April 1. Hopefully we can work together to put a better performance in.
Gatting’s side have three games in hand over Derby and should they win them all, would find themselves climb to the top of the second division, with the opportunity to gain promotion.
