Arsenal captain Mikel Arteta has said that his side have to improve considerably if they want to achieve anything this season, and he has questioned the rest of the team for their mistakes against Borussia Dortmund in the Champions League on Tuesday night, as reported by the Daily Star.
The Gunners fell to a 2-0 loss against Dortmund in Germany in Europe’s elite competition, and this has compounded a stuttering start to the league campaign which sees the north London club lacking in any fluidity in their performances.
Arteta, who was given the captain’s armband this summer after Thomas Vermaelen’s departure to Barcelona, has said that the side has to improve significantly or they stand no chance of competing for the Champions League this season.
He has also said that they were lucky to suffer the 2-0 loss, considering how much worse they were, and that they could have conceded far more goals.
Arteta said: “If you make the mistakes that we did, against top sides, we know that there is no chance to win the Champions League.
“We encouraged them to attack us by giving the ball away so many times. They exploit the spaces very well and they put us under pressure.
“We know this is one of the toughest places to come in Europe and we’ve seen Real Madrid get battered here as well, but we had a different game in mind before the start.
“I am very disappointed because we knew their strengths, what we had to avoid and what we did was encourage them to play their game.
“Right from the start, they broke on us five or six times in the first 10 minutes when we gave the ball away.
“It’s not good enough because when that situation comes, they are a really good team doing that and they put you in trouble.
“We have to react. We have to analyse what we have done wrong and try to improve.”