Alexandre Lacazette revealed that Unai Emery called on his team to ‘play higher and quicker’ after the first half against Brentford in the Carabao Cup on Wednesday night.
The Frenchman was a second-half substitute and although he initially looked to have arrived at the Emirates wearing Nicklas Bendtner’s boots, he soon found his own to seal Arsenal’s win with the third goal late on in the game.
“We spoke a lot,” Laca said after the game. “The coach asked certain players to play higher and quicker, to improve technically, because in the first half we made many mistakes. When we are at that level we are much harder to beat. The opponents’ fatigue also helped us out.”
Arsenal finished the game with 51% possession but they certainly had to survive a number of scares from the visitors.
3 – Danny Welbeck is the first @premierleague player to score in three different club competitions this season (League, Europa League and #CarabaoCup). Spread. #ARSBRE
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) September 26, 2018
Another interesting stat from the game is that Arsenal finished with 10 fouls while Brentford only had six. From that, it’s easy to tell Mike Dean, who denied Arsenal a clear penalty even with the assistance of VAR that he wasn’t that bothered with, was in charge.
Arsenal getting lectured about being annoyed they're being trodden on. Standard Mike Dean.
— Daily Cannon (@DailyCannon) September 26, 2018