Chuba Akpom found the net as Arsenal Under-23s lost 3-1 to Liverpool at Emirates Stadium on Friday evening.
Here's what he had to say when he spoke to ArsenalPlayer post-match:
on taking positives…
Obviously we lost so we can’t take many positives, but the only thing is match fitness. That’s my first 90 in a long time so that’s the only positive I can take out of it really. I just tried to run around and cover as much distance as I could and help the team. Unfortunately it didn’t happen today, but yeah, just game fitness.
on the half-time team talk…
The manager wasn’t happy you know. We started slowly. Three defensive errors and stuff and he told us that we need to show a bit more fight and I think we started the second half better, got a goal back but we still didn’t get the win.
on experience…
I think that obviously reserve football and first team football is a big difference. The Championship is tough, playing games week in week out and experiencing it is a good experience. I think that any player, if you go out on loan and get as many games as possible you’re going to come back experienced and I think I have.
on the mindset for U23 games…
I know some people look at it and think it’s under-23s and it’s not competitive and stuff but I think it starts from here, you know. Games here, you’ve got to want to win every game and when you get chosen to play in the first team you’ve got to grab that opportunity. Important people are here watching these kind of games, so I think for all young players I would just say you’ve got to take every game seriously and give it 100 per cent.
Chuba Akpom in action for Arsenal-Under 23s against Liverpool
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