Mikel Arteta Supports Lacazette’s ‘Naive’ Comments Ahead Of Chelsea Tie

Alexandre Lacazette called Arsenal “naive” after their 1-1 draw against Sheffield United and Mikel Arteta agreed with his sentiments.

The French striker urged his teammates to be ruthless ahead of their must-win fixture against Chelsea.

“Yes, I think it’s part of the game management,” Arteta said of Lacazette’s comments. “I think there were things we could have done better to put more pressure on the opponent, to bring the ball into certain areas where we could rest with the ball and control the game better. That will come. It’s a good process for us to learn about those situations.”

The Gunners lost 2-1 to Chelsea the last time these sides met in December. Since then, Arteta has had more time with the team to implement his philosophy better. He added, “It’s very important if we want to have the aim to fight for that. The game at home could have made a big difference as well and we were very close to it, so Tuesday, we need a win.”

When asked if he is finding it hard to get his message across to players as results continue to dissappoint, the Spaniard replied, “I don’t have that feeling. The feedback I’m getting from them is very positive, they know when we haven’t won the reasons why and there are many different aspects to that.

“Some aspects we can influence, some we cannot influence, but they are there, and they are very aware of that. A lot of things have happened, and it feels longer than a month to be fair. The amount of games, the amount we’ve trained, the amount of things that happened.

“Yes, a lot of things changed, a lot of positives in terms of reactions and the things they are taking on board, the way we have managed to change the energy, atmosphere, relationship and chemistry with our fans was massively important for us. So yes, in terms of results it could have been a little bit different. I think we have been very unlucky and other aspects have influenced that.”