Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta encouraged his goal shy side to keep shooting after their shock home defeat by West Ham.
Arsenal recorded 30 shots to West Ham’s six, but a Bukayo Saka effort against a post and a couple of world class Alphonse Areola saves were all they had to show for their efforts.
A deflated Arteta said afterwards: “They had two shots, with the missed penalty, three. We had 30, I don’t know how many touches in the box, how many situations, how many opportunities to score and we haven’t done it.
“In football you have to do that better if you want to win. We haven’t won because of that because for the rest I think the came kept trying and had an incredible attitude again.
“If we don’t score with 30 shots, then we have to do 50 or 60 to try to score. That’s the only thing. I can’t imagine a game where we have more touches in the box, more dominance and less situations for the opponent against a really good West Ham side.”
The Spanish coach conceded the defeat and manner of the match represented one of the most frustrating nights in his short managerial career.
he added: “It is. But it’s football. Normally when the team generates so much it’s going to win games. That’s the way we’ve done it. Against Brighton, we generated so much and against Liverpool as well, but we score goals in different ways. We have to make another step in that area to win games more comfortably that’s for sure because today the team deserves to win the game. There’s no question about that.”
Arsenal looked flat after conceding a controversial goal that was not overtturned after VAR ruled the bakll had not gone out of play in the build-up to a Tomas Soucek finish.
Arteta was calm and commented: “I haven’t seen it. They’re saying it’s not conclusive. It’s a shame that with the technology that we have, that it’s not that clear so that we can say whether it’s out or in. It’s done. It’s gone. There’s nothing we can do about it now.”
Asked if he needed to sign players in January, he responded: “All we have is the players we have, the players I love the most. What we have to do is try to get better situations, more training, raise the confidence and that’s it. They’ve done it.
“I don’t think it’s confidence. We have to put the ball in the net and win it. The two situations we have to defend the box, we didn’t defend it well enough. They are a team that is really good in the box with their timing, with the quality they have in their front players arriving. That’s what made the difference today. It’s a very disappointing night for us because I think we should have got more from the game.”
