Arteta pulls no punches after Arsenal shambles at Brighton

Arteta pulls no punches after Arsenal shambles at Brighton Mikel Arteta delivered a stark assessment after Arsenal’s nine-match Premier League winning run ended with a 3-0 defeat at Brighton. Photo by Clive Rose/Getty Images Arsenal delivered a disaster performance at Brighton , losing 3-0 at the Amex as their nine-match Premier League winning run came to an abrupt end at the Ammex. Two long-range goals, poor defending from a corner and a blunt attacking display combined to punish a side who never found their usual rhythm. The stats may suggest a more even contest than the scoreline, but Arsenal never looked in control and capable of taking anything from this game. Mikel Arteta made no attempt to disguise his frustration afterwards. “Extremely disappointed,” said Arteta after the match . “But first of all, I think we have to congratulate Brighton for the victory. I think they deserve it. I think they were the better team. And from our side, there were certain basics that you need to accomplish in football, especially in the Premier League, that we were very far from. “[We didn’t] win the first duel or every second ball. That put the game, especially how direct they were, in a really difficult place for us. “On top of that, when we did regain the ball, especially in our half, the amount of technical errors that we did, we didn’t respect any principle of play that you have to, to get out of that man-to-man situation, so that put us always in the back foot, so it was very difficult to control the game. “When we had moments of dominance and control, then we opened them up, but we didn’t as well finish those actions with the quality that is required to compensate all the other things that you have done. So at the end of the day, I think they deserve to win the game, and it’s a big lesson for us. “Well, the first one, it was Brighton; they were really good, and they had another bite, and their timing was better. “There are a lot of moments when the ball is fifty-fifty, and it changes hands, and most of the time it was for them. Sometimes there were some technical errors very much involved that opened us up in a really difficult way, but that’s something to learn. Photo by Mike Hewitt/Getty Images “That’s not going to take away what the team has done, and the boys have done in the last six or seven weeks since coming back from the World Cup. “Because with 18 players coming back, what we’ve done and the way we’ve competed and the amount of games that we won has been remarkable, but this is a big lesson for all of us to understand what it takes to win at this level.” Arteta’s assessment was difficult to dispute. Arsenal were second best in the areas he identified, losing too many duels and second balls while repeatedly surrendering possession as Brighton pressed. There were periods when the Gunners managed to push Brighton back and create openings, but they lacked the quality required to turn those moments into goals. For Arsenal, the task now is to ensure a dreadful afternoon on the south coast remains exactly that, a single bad performance rather than the start of something more damaging. Photo by Clive Rose/Getty Images