Our under-19s head coach David Horseman felt his team deserved more from the first three UEFA Youth League fixtures, with the latest 4-3 defeat to Atletico Madrid representing another game that could have fallen our way on another day.
Fine margins meant our young Gunners narrowly lost out in a game where we were twice in front through goals from Harrison Dudziak and Max Dowman, before the latter scored again to equalise late on, but the result slipped away at the death.
"It was the most chaotic game I've been involved in for a long time, which was probably really exciting to watch.
"We got ourselves into really strong positions in the game, both score-wise and positionally at times. We just said in the changing rooms that today probably sums up our competition so far. We don’t feel like we've lost three games. In the games, I think we've kind of given them away, which is part of a young player's development.
"But we're sat here now and feel like we should have almost qualified, and yet we're on zero points. It's going to be a tough gig, to have to win three out of the last three matches and hope results go our way.
"The management, the learning from turning balls over is too easy. That was really our biggest problem today, and probably has been our in the whole competition, because we get ourselves in such strong positions and then just don't manage the territory of the ball well enough.
"We feel like it's another missed opportunity. We thought at Olympiacos, of course, we should have got something, and even Athletic Bilbao, but definitely Olympiacos, and of course, in this one too. We sit with zero points, and as exciting as it is to watch, I still think some individuals really showed up, as a team, I think we've just missed another one today."
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The Spanish side brought noise and aggression to their on-field performance, and within the away dugout, themes that were made known throughout the entire 90 minutes.
David highlighted the importance of subjecting his young players to these more hostile environments and further prepare them for the senior men's game. "If you want to play for Arsenal's first team from the youth system, this is what we have to expose our players to, and we probably have to expose it," he said. "I know the academy does a brilliant job all the way through, so they're not learning about that stuff now, because I think in other countries, culturally, that is how it is.
"Yet I still think we won it up. I think we could have put the game to bed. We had some big chances and big opportunities. Today was more about us managing the ball, and probably in technical errors is where we lost too many duels. The four goals are so individually disappointing.
"Again, our job as youth developers is to highlight it, work on it and train, and hopefully they learn. But if you want to do well in this competition, you've got to learn much quicker."
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Preparation begins ahead of the next UEFA Youth League fixture, when our under-19s travel abroad to Czech Republic outfit Slavia Prague at the beginning of November. With domestic games at various age levels set to take place before then, David feels there's time to communicate with the players individually and find solutions to earn a foothold in matchday four. "We won't miss the opportunity to sit with individuals and go through their individual clips.
"Most teams from other countries are used to an under-19 league. We don't have that here, so we go as under-18s, we do under-21s, and so actually the next time we'll probably see each other as a group will be the day before we play Salvia Prague.
"Therefore, what we have to do is go after the individual development. Nobody in five years will know how Myles Lewis-Skelly or Ethan Nwaneri got on. Nobody can tell me the result, but it's seeing them in the first team. Max Porter, our under-21s head coach, is in around the first team and so as much as we want to do well as a team, we have to make sure we're producing players for the seniors.
"That's the bit where we can never lose focus on. It's not that we want to win every game. I'm gutted that I'm talking to you after a loss, because I think it's a game we probably should win, but we have to go after it.
"To get better, we have to improve the individuals. We didn't manage the five minutes after half time well enough. We're dribbling inside, and then it becomes transitional again. So we'll look at that, educate them in training sessions where they have the opportunity to come inside or outside and then start to develop better technical skills, better tactical understanding.
"I think physically we've looked really strong and quick, but we've had to because we give the ball away too cheaply, and then we have to run so much. So, that's the process we'll go through. It will never change based on a youth team result. It's got to be about the individual development, but we do need to learn quicker."
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