Mikel Arteta labeled elements of Arsenal’s performance against Wolves as “unacceptable”, criticizing their “passive” and “terrible defensive habits” for allowing their visitors to equalize late on.
The Gunners eventually won 2-1 thanks to Wolves’ second own goal of the night. The win extended their lead at the top of the Premier League to five points, but it was far from a proper final against the club at the bottom of the division, with Wolves’ 90th-minute equalizer almost proving costly.
Arteta described his team as “passive” in the moments before Tolu Arokodare leveled Wolves at 1-1 and said that was more his focus than celebrating his side’s “resilience” to fight back through Jerson Mosquera’s own goal in the 94th minute. The Gunners benefited from the ball going to goalkeeper Sam Johnston earlier in the second half.
“We had a period of two or three minutes in the deep (block), completely passive with terrible defensive habits,” Arteta said of the closing stages. “That’s nowhere near the level needed against a team that didn’t have a shot. The first time they had a chance to do that, they scored. (The Wolves’ goal was their third shot.)
“We were drained because in the end we managed to score and win, but we have to improve in that sense, for sure.
“I’m not putting it down to ‘yeah, resilience (is good).’ We should have stopped the source earlier. That’s on us.
Arsenal captain Martin Odgaard and Declan Rice react after Arsenal conceded a late equalizer against Wolves. They would win 2-1.
“You have to give credit to Wolves. I knew it wasn’t going to be an easy game but we made it even harder with the way we conceded the goal. And that’s unacceptable.”
Arteta explained that he had no problem with dropping deep. Instead, he didn’t like their actions in that defensive line-up.
“We can defend deep because they commit a lot of players. There’s a point where you can’t press them. That’s fine. But the level of activity on that block has to be very different than what we’ve had.”
Arsenal players celebrate their last victory over Wolves
As well as being frustrated with how his side fared in the closing stages of the game, Arteta was also unimpressed with their failure to capitalize on promising positions during a first half in which the Gunners failed to score a single goal.
It is the first time in the Premier League this season that they have done so – when Gabriel Martinelli missed a golden opportunity from close range with a header.
“We had one big chance with Martinelli two yards out, completely free, and we didn’t score,” Arteta said. TNT Sports.
“But we struggled when we got into the danger zones to pick out the red shirts in the box. We had a lot of those situations. And then we didn’t create many clear chances. In the second half we did it a little better and then scored.”
Arsenal ‘buying tickets for another injury’ as White limps off
Ben White limped off during the first half and Arteta said the defender had suffered a hamstring injury that would be assessed in the coming days. The Arsenal boss went on to highlight how stretched his squad is.
The Gunners are already without a defender Gabriel Magalhaes and Christian mosquealthough William Saliba played 90 minutes after returning from injury.
“We had to risk Willy,” Arteta said. “It probably wasn’t the best call to play 90 minutes because we were buying tickets for another injury. But we don’t have anyone else. It’s dangerous, for sure.”