Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta has admitted he is \u201cdisappointed\u201d by the club\u2019s failure to sign a new striker before the transfer window closed on Monday.<\/p>\n
Arsenal were unable to lure England forward Ollie Watkins away from Aston Villa after their \u00a360 million ($75 million) bid was rejected last week.<\/p>\n
Having failed to pivot to another deal after the Watkins snub, the Gunners ended the January window with questions about a forward line weakened by long-term injuries to Gabriel Jesus and Bukayo Saka.<\/p>\n
Ahead of Wednesday\u2019s League Cup semi-final second leg at Newcastle, Arteta conceded the lack of transfer activity was frustrating.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe talked very openly about the intention to improve the squad if we had the capacity. With players with injuries, we\u2019ve been impacted and we haven\u2019t achieved it,\u201d Arteta told reporters on Tuesday.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are disappointed in that sense but as well we are very aware that we only want to bring certain kinds of players.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe couldn\u2019t do it for certain reasons and we have to accept it. It was a combination of things. We have to be very disciplined with that as well.\u201d<\/p>\n
Arsenal operated in the window without their former sporting director Edu, who resigned in November after playing a key role in their transfer policy.<\/p>\n
Edu was a close ally of Arteta but the Spaniard insisted he had no complaints about Arsenal\u2019s recruitment process despite their unsuccessful striker hunt.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen you try your best and do things with the right process, and after you don\u2019t achieve it, OK. For sure there are things to learn from it but now we have to move on,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u2013 \u2018Have to be flexible\u2019 \u2013
\nWhile Arsenal have to cope with an under-strength attack for now, they showed no signs of being affected in Sunday\u2019s 5-1 demolition of Manchester City.<\/p>\n
German forward Kai Havertz and teenage attacking midfielder Ethan Nwaneri both netted against City and Arteta remains confident in the players at his disposal.<\/p>\n
\u201cFrom now there is no discussion on it and we focus on improving the group we have. It is remarkable what the team has done. I have full faith in them,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are going to have to be flexible in the front line. We have to make sure they stay fit, contributing, and can play that position. At some point we will have to try something different.\u201d<\/p>\n
Arsenal have a mountain to climb at St James\u2019 Park on Wednesday after losing the first leg 2-0 at home in January.<\/p>\n
Newcastle also beat the Gunners 1-0 in the Premier League in November.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey are a very difficult team to play against. Obviously this season two very different games,\u201d Arteta said.<\/p>\n
He hopes the rout of City will be a confidence boost for his team as they chase a first League Cup final appearance since 2018.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen you compare the emotional state of the team after the first leg and now after Man City it is very different. Next stop is the final. We know how big that is,\u201d said Arteta, whose club have not won the League Cup since 1993.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe buzz the City game gave us and the manner we did it. It is momentum. It is time for full gas and go for it.\u201d<\/p>\n
The post Arteta \u2018disappointed\u2019 by Arsenal\u2019s failure to sign a new striker<\/a> first appeared on KBC<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta has admitted he is \u201cdisappointed\u201d by the club\u2019s failure to sign a new striker before the transfer window closed on Monday. Arsenal were unable to lure England forward Ollie Watkins away from Aston Villa after their \u00a360 million ($75 million) bid was rejected last week. Having failed to pivot to another […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-109572","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","entry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/109572","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=109572"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/109572\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=109572"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=109572"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=109572"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}