Mikel Arteta has revealed that Arsenal's players were left "very upset" and "fuming" after their concerning pre-season defeat to Real Betis.
The Gunners lost 3-1 to the LaLiga side at Dublin's Aviva Stadium on Wednesday night, conceding all goals in a disappointing first half that included costly errors from Kepa Arrizabalaga and Kai Havertz. New signing Christos Tzolis provided an assist for Piero Hincapie's header.
Arteta on dressing room reaction
Asked about the mood in the dressing room after the first-half display, Arteta said: "Very upset, given a hard time. They are fuming, but this is good. That's what we need."
The Arsenal boss acknowledged the defeat but placed it in context, noting the team used 25 players across the match. "Well the important part is to win it and we didn't manage to win it so disappointed obviously for the result. It's true we used 25 players, so you need to give a bit of context to the game," he said.
Mixed performance and positives
Arteta reflected on the display: "In the first half, with more starters, two very different things: how we played and how we competed, because we had some fantastic moments in the time we played. By the way, we competed especially in and around our box in a number of standards that we are used to so there are things to improve obviously, some positives to take from the game and then a bad result sometimes it's good to create even more fire in the belly."
Injury and young talent
Arteta also revealed that Louie Copley's knee injury "did not look good" after the teenager was forced off 10 minutes into his second-half introduction. Further assessment is scheduled for Thursday.
He reserved praise for 18-year-old Ceadach O'Neill, who impressed in a late cameo. "I've been really impressed with him. What he says, he's really mature and really focused, and he has a tremendous quality to him," Arteta said.
