London, Oct 28 (IANS) Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta urged his team to take their defeat to Fleetwood Town on the chin after the Gunners suffered a shock exit from the Carabao Cup, losing 5-3 on penalties in the fourth round.
Arsenal fought back from a goal down through Viktor Gyokeres in the second half after Aaron Loupalo-Bi had given the League Two side the lead in the 21st minute. However, the Gunners failed to capitalise on their chances in regulation time before Fleetwood prevailed in the penalty shootout.
Arteta acknowledged his team’s attacking shortcomings and said Arsenal had paid the price for failing to convert their opportunities.
“First of all, congratulations to Fleetwood for going into the next round. Obviously, a really sad day for us. There’s nothing to criticise the players for in terms of their attitude, their application, their determination to go and play the game that we had to play, but obviously we conceded that really poor goal to start with and gave them some belief,” Arteta told reporters after the match.
“After that, we started to attack, have many chances, and the volume of balls that we had, shots, and situations were clear-cut chances that we didn’t put away. If you don’t capitalise at this level, it’s the competition you are in and you are out; there are no margins for error,” he added.
Arsenal created several opportunities to take the lead after Gyokeres restored parity, with Kai Havertz and Myles Lewis-Skelly among those who came close to scoring. However, Fleetwood goalkeeper Jay Lynch made crucial saves to keep the hosts in the contest.
The defeat ended Arsenal’s Carabao Cup campaign and handed Fleetwood a place in the quarter-finals for the first time in the club’s history.
Arteta said the team must accept the disappointment and quickly turn their attention towards their upcoming Premier League fixture against Liverpool at Anfield on Sunday.
“We need to take it now on the chin. We are out of the competition; we’re very sad for all the people as well here who came to watch the game – I wanted to give them the victory. Now we need to recover and get ready for Anfield,” he said.
The Arsenal manager also thanked the travelling supporters who made the trip to the northwest to back the team, acknowledging their continued support despite the disappointing result.
“They are always with us. That’s unquestionable; after the game they showed their appreciation to the team, and we’ll try to make them very happy against Liverpool,” Arteta said.
–IANS
sds/vi