Mikel Arteta was not entirely satisfied with what he saw from his Arsenal side despite their comfortable 3-0 win over Bodo/Glimt in the Europa League.
The Gunners were two goals up inside half an hour, as Eddie Nketiah made the most of his chance in the starting lineup to open the scoring before Rob Holding’s header doubled the lead to put the hosts in complete control at the Emirates.
Bodo/Glimt had some promising moments after the break, but a comeback never truly looked on the cards and Fabio Vieira ensured there would no late drama as he sealed a ninth win in ten matches this season for Arsenal, one that takes them to the top of Group A.
However Arteta, who made eight changes to the side that beat Tottenham in the north London derby, felt there was a understandable sloppiness from players who have not had much gametime so far this season.
“Really happy obviously with the win, six points now with a clean sheet,” Arteta told BT Sport.
“In general as well we lacked a little bit of connection between the players, too many simple things, too many giveaways and we weren’t that consistent and dominant throughout the game.
“Of course there are eight changes there, there’s a lot of players there that haven’t had a lot of minutes and you can feel that in the understanding of what to do and when to do it. That timing sometimes is missing and you can notice that.
“But attitude wise and everything else, no issues.”
When under pressure at the start of the second-half, Arteta was able to turn to his bench and make a star-studded triple substitution, as Bukayo Saka, Gabriel Jesus and Martin Odegaard were all introduced just before the hour mark.
The trio gave the Gunners more control in the match and helped those who Arteta believes were not quite up to the speed of the match once Bodo/Glimt pushed for a way back into the game.
“A few players you could notice that when the game takes a different intensity, they were suffering a little bit,” Arteta said.
“It’s normal, they haven’t had enough exposure and enough minutes. That’s why we had to plan to make the right subs at the right time.”
