Arsenal captain Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang has revealed that Mikel Arteta was upbeat in his first half-time team talk with his new team, encouraging them to keep playing their own style against Bournemouth.
The Gunners went behind in the first period to Dan Gosling’s strike but gave a much better showing in the second half, with Aubameyang grabbing a deserved equaliser.
Arsenal had chances to win the game, though ultimately had to settle for a 1-1 draw in Arteta’s first game in charge, and star striker Aubameyang believes the squad have already shown promising signs under their new boss.
Asked what Arteta said at half-time to spark a response after the restart, Aubameyang told Amazon Prime Video: ‘He just said to continue with the same engagement and to try to play and to respect our plan and that was working in the second half, and that’s it.’
Arteta had encouraged his players to play at a quicker tempo and with more aggression before the match, working on those qualities in training, and Aubameyang feels the side did exactly that.
Asked if Arsenal had done what Arteta asked, Aubameyang continued: ‘Yeah I think so. As I said, everybody was working hard, was aggressive, and trying to play as he likes – and as we like.
‘I think we are on a good way and hopefully we will try to improve. We know our next games are quite hard but we are confident.
‘We missed a lot of chances in the second half. We should get the three points today but that can happen. I think the attitude of the boys was great but we have to improve our chances.’
Arteta echoed the thoughts of his skipper after the match and felt his side showed some promising signs against Bournemouth.
Asked about Aubameyang’s remarks, he agreed, saying: ‘Absolutely. In terms of attitude, desire, creation and commitment it was better than I expected, to be fair. They are not used to playing at this rhythm but a lot of things that I saw in terms of attitude were terrific.’
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