Arsenal manager Wenger calls for introspection after Everton loss

Liverpool, Dec 14 (IANS) Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has called on his team to introspect after the 1-2 loss to Everton in an English Premier League (EPL) match.

Tuesday evening's loss at the Goodison Park Stadium here stopped an unbeaten run of 15 matches for Arsenal. The former EPL champions, who started this season's campaign with a 3-4 loss at home to Liverpool, have lost only two of the 16 matches they have played so far and occupy the second spot on the league table with 34 points, three behind current leaders Chelsea.

Wenger however, is far from satisfied and asserted that his players need to make better use of their chances.

"I think we have to look at ourselves.

"We lost the game because I feel we started well and after that maybe we lost a bit of urgency because we were a bit too comfortable and then Everton made it very physical," Wenger was quoted as saying by Arsenal's official website on Wednesday.

"Overall, I believe that from then on it disturbed our game and we created less flow going forward. In the end, we unfortunately didn't take our chances or two. We didn't create too many but we had clear cut chances in the game that we didn't take. After that you can be caught away from home on a corner like that," the French coach added.

Praising his team for their good run of form, Wenger pointed out that playing most of their recent matches away from home has taken a toll on the Arsenal players while their Champions League engagements have added to the tough schedule.

"We have been nine months unbeaten away from home so you have to take that a little bit with a distance as well.

"You can lose football games, especially in an atmosphere like that and especially as well when you play so many games. We played five of the six games away from home, we had to play the Champions League on Tuesday, we had a difficult game on Saturday," the 67-year-old said.

"We have to come here straight away again on Tuesday, I think Champions League teams have a little bit of a more difficult schedule."

Wenger was also quick to praise Everton for their physical, defensive approach which made things difficult for Arsenal.

"A little bit, yes. They made the game very physical, they defended well -- you have to give them credit. They played a cup game here, that is a big difference with what I saw recently from them. So they did fight for every single ball. I don't think they can repeat that in every single game, but they did here," he said.

--IANS

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