Ipswich 2-4 Arsenal: What O'Neil said
- Published
Ipswich Town boss Gary O'Neil, speaking to BBC Radio Suffolk after Carabao Cup home defeat by Arsenal: "Heavily punished by a very clinical side. There wasn't loads in it and it felt like there was chasms in it because of their clinical nature.
"I think they didn't have loads of shots. They didn't have loads of chances, but when they did, it went in and it made it feel like we were a long way out of the game from very, very early. But then we were a threat throughout.
"We should've made more of our opportunities in the first half. We had loads and loads of opportunities around the box. They're a good side, they have good players. If you make a mistake, chances are it'll be a goal and it did.
"Good attitude from everyone. They kept plugging away. Important minutes in some players and we came out of it with a bit of credit in the end, which we deserved because it wasn't a 4-0 game. I'm not too big on stats and stuff but when you look at them, you think there wasn't too much in it.
"We fought back as hard as we could and we got a couple of goals, which we deserved."
On sticking to their philosophy, even when down two goals early: "You have to play. If you just boot the ball the whole game, you're going to spend a lot of time without the ball. You have to be good enough to do all of it.
"We made the mistake of making a square pass for the first goal, which has nothing to do with the style, just a mistake that can happen. It shouldn't end up in a goal. We should find a way to deflect it away from goal. The one from build-up is more disappointing.
"The two that we lost went in the goal which is the disappointing thing really. Look, if we abandoned the build-up, we wouldn't have made the 20 chances we had against a side that are excellent defensively. There's a balance to it. We have to get better at it."