Arsenal dropped crucial points against Anderlecht in a champions league game after surrendering a 3-0 lead. The Gunners were at their attacking best for most part of the game, but lack of defensive discipline and concentration during the closing stages of the game allowed the visitors to comeback and steal a point away from Emirates.
Now, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain has blamed his teammates (wingers and fullbacks) who lacked the required level of defensive work-rate to neutralize Anderlecht’s wing play.
Ox said,
‘The goals were disappointing that we conceded, they were goals that we would liked to have been able to stop at source,’
‘They were simple goals, we need to stop crosses. We failed to do that and to be fair they managed to put some good balls in and get on the end of them.
‘It is hard to put our finger on what went wrong, maybe a bit of complacency there. When you are 3-0 up you can’t afford to have any complacency at this level because you get punished.
‘We were at Anderlecht a couple of weeks ago in a similar position to what they are now so we should know better than anyone that the game is not over until the final whistle.
‘To be 3-0 up at home and with the way we were playing, we felt we had the game under control. You should be able to see the game out at this level, so we are very disappointed that we weren’t able to do that.
‘This is a hard lesson that we can’t be complacent and we have to go into those games with full focus for the 90 minutes and get the job done.’
Arsenal are still the favorites to finish second in the group and qualify for the knock-out stages, but next two games will be crucial. One point should do the trick for North-Londoners.