“They had to experience how hard and tough it was going to be. I watched a lot of Leeds games and they battered every team every three days. It was good for my players to learn and to suffer on the pitch.”
Mikel Arteta explains how Arsenal bounced back from shocking first-half vs Leeds
Reiss Nelson celebrates Arsenal's winner
Arsenal secured a narrow 1-0 win over Leeds to advance into the 4th round of the Emirates FA Cup.
After a dominant victory over Manchester United on New Year’s Day, new boss Mikel Arteta would have been disappointed to see his side so outplayed by the Championship team in Monday night’s first-half.
The Whites recorded a staggering 15 attempts in the first period to Arsenal’s 3.
Fortunately for Arsenal, the Yorkshire side were wasteful which ultimately led to their demise. It finished 1-0 at the Emirates Stadium, thanks to Reiss Nelson’s bundled effort in the second-half.
The Gunners are through to the #EmiratesFACup fourth round thanks to a strong second-half performance and Reiss Nelson being in the right place at the right time 👏 pic.twitter.com/HartH8O5P1
— Emirates FA Cup (@EmiratesFACup) January 6, 2020
The Gunners significantly improved in the second period and after the game the boss revealed just how his side turned things around.
“Now I’m really pleased but we saw two different teams from the first to second half,” said Arteta (via (The Mirror)
“I tried to tell them exactly what they were going to face and after 32 minutes we had won one duel, I think.
“We changed our attitude, desire and organisation at half-time and then we were completely different.