Arsenal’s manager Mikel Arteta said his forwards must stop chasing the perfect goal amid the attacking struggles. The Gunners registered a 1-0 win against Hull City as Martin Ødegaard scored in the 72th minute after a goalless first half.
Earlier in the month, Arteta’s team had secured a 1-0 win against Liverpool. After 10 matches in the Premier League, Arsenal have scored 15 goals, which is the second-lowest among the top five teams.
“[We need to] be more efficient,” Arteta said. “We are one against one against the keeper. That’s happened twice today. There is a penalty there, there is another situation inside the box where the ball is bouncing. So many shots that have been deflected, blocked. We need to find ways to be more efficient, sometimes even more pragmatic.
“Sometimes my feeling is that we are trying to score a perfect goal against these low blocks. We need to be much more chaotic than that, and that’s it. And open, I think, the scoreline much earlier because obviously that’s going to change the course of the game.
“We had enough chances to make the scoreline much bigger. We weren’t efficient enough to do that. And then we have to rely on generating volume, generating a lot of situations in and around the box, insisting, insisting and insisting until we are able to break them down. And this is exactly how we won the game.”
The Spaniard was surprised by the VAR’s decision not to award the Gunners a first-half penalty for a challenge on Kai Havertz.
“I haven’t watched it back and I didn’t watch it back so I don’t have to lie to you guys,” Arteta said. “I was surprised because when they sent the referee to the monitor, Benji [analyst Ben Chadwick] was telling me it’s a clear penalty.
“So I heard now that they decided not to because of the starting position of Kai that he was offside. I don’t know what the interpretation is. I’m sure they will make that clear to understand it.”
Arsenal will next face Newcastle United on 21st November.
