Mikel Arteta did not hide his frustration with Arsenal's performance in Thursday's 2-2 draw with Sporting CP, but Fabio Vieira's display brought him a degree of pleasure.
The Gunners took the lead in the first half when William Saliba headed in from Vieira's corner, only for their hosts to level in similar circumstances just past the half-hour mark at the Jose Alvalade.
Paulinho put Sporting in front after the break with a tap-in, but Hidemasa Morita's own goal seven minutes later ultimately secured Arsenal a draw to take back to Emirates Stadium for the return leg of their Europa League last-16 tie.
The draw puts Arsenal – who have only lost at home twice all season – in a decent position ahead of the second leg, but Arteta feels they can do better, even considering the somewhat unfamiliar look to his starting XI.
"We are conceding too many simple goals," he told reporters.
"We spoke about the importance of boxes, especially in a competition where you're in or out. [On Thursday], we didn't defend that well enough, and we have to be better at threatening the opponents as well.
"But of course, you have an opponent there. We've played some really emotional games recently.
"We made a lot of changes and sometimes that takes time to get that cohesion, and you could feel it in the first 15 minutes that it needed some time to adapt and click.
"If we don't expose them, though, that's never going to happen."
He added: "When you concede two poor goals like we did away from home in Europe, it's very difficult to get a positive result.
"The game had different phases because we gave too many simple balls away in our own half and gave them the capacity to [exploit] transition moments, which they are good at.
"In other moments we had total control of the game and we lost a little bit of threat, especially with the four players we are missing in our frontline.
"There were some positives because we showed a lot of resilience to get back into the game, but we need to defend our box much better and be better on Sunday."
Vieira's performance was a surely one of those positives.
The Portugal international was given only his 13th start of the season, but his delivery for Saliba's opener was his sixth assist already – only Bukayo Saka (nine) has more for the Gunners this term, and he has played almost 1,600 minutes more than Vieira.
Arteta clearly values the former Porto midfielder.
"I'm really happy with him," he added. "I think he deserves more minutes than he's had, especially in the last two months.
"Obviously he had a difficult start because he was injured for two months after a surgery, and wasn't at the level that we want.
"You saw tonight he was probably our most dangerous player. He was always making things happen. He's a player that I absolutely love."
Aston Villa super-sub Duran signs new deal
Aston Villa have tied down Jhon Duran to a new contract after the Colombian's fantastic start to the campaign.
Duran has netted four times in the Premier League this term, with all of those goals coming from the bench.
Last week, he grabbed his first Champions League goal, converting with an audacious lob over Manuel Neuer to hand Villa a memorable 1-0 win over Bayern Munich.
No player to have scored at least three goals in the Premier League this season has a better minutes-per-goal ratio than Duran (46), who has also overperformed his 2.06 expected goals (xG).
Duran was on the verge of leaving Villa over the summer, with both Chelsea and West Ham interested, but he ultimately stayed put.
The club have now moved to secure the 20-year-old's future, and Duran has signed a deal to keep him at Villa Park until 2030.
Duran was unable to wield his usual influence from the bench as Villa drew 0-0 with Manchester United on Sunday, seeing Unai Emery's team head into the international break in fifth place.
Atletico 'working very well', says Simeone after draw at Real Sociedad
Atletico Madrid manager Diego Simeone acknowledged his team need to do better going forward, while praising their effective defence, after drawing 1-1 with Real Sociedad on Sunday.
Atleti went a goal ahead through Julian Alvarez after just 51 seconds, but were unable to add to that before conceding a long-range strike from Luka Sucic with six minutes left.
That goal was one of just five that Simeone's side have conceded in LaLiga this season, which is at least two fewer than any other team, but they failed to have another shot on target after taking the lead.
The visitors' attacking impotence is something Simeone was acutely aware of, while also wanting to be balanced and praise the team's efforts at the opposite end.
"The team found the goal and defended very well, it was a collective effort," Simeone told a press conference.
"We needed to have some counter-attacks with the space we had and do it better than we did, which is also a credit to the opponent.
"I'll stick with the positive things about the defence and we'll continue in the same search, to improve the transitions. There are players who know how to do it."
Sucic's equaliser for Sociedad was an early contender for goal of the season. The Croatian hit the ball first-time from outside the box after a misplaced pass from Atletico midfielder Rodrigo De Paul, which looped over goalkeeper Jan Oblak and into the top corner.
While frustrated with losing their lead, Simeone was of the opinion that goals of such quality are hard to legislate for when it comes to defending.
"I don't think [their goal] was a lack of our concentration, it was a great goal from 35 metres," Simeone said.
"There was a loss of the ball, but they hit us from almost 40 metres and he scored a great goal. We have to improve all the small details, but you can lose a ball because it's part of the game. We have to congratulate him for the great goal he scored."
The 1-1 draw leaves Atletico Madrid third in LaLiga going into the international break, four points behind Real Madrid and seven behind leaders Barcelona.
The result means that, while they have won just one of their last four league games, Atleti maintain their unbeaten start to the season.
"The numbers are good, we are working very well," said Simeone.
"We are in a league where the first team has won eight games out of nine and the second team is [three] points behind. We are working well, growing from the defensive to the offensive."
Fonseca fumes at penalty 'circus' from referee as AC Milan beaten at Fiorentina
AC Milan boss Paulo Fonseca was in an angry mood following his side's 2-1 loss away to Fiorentina on Sunday, suggesting the decisions to give three penalties turned the game into a 'circus'.
Remarkably, all three spot-kicks were saved during the match. The home side initially saw Moise Kean's penalty kept out by Mike Maignan, while David de Gea then saved from Theo Hernandez - who was later sent off - and Tammy Abraham either side of half-time.
But after the game, Fonseca's attention was on the performance of the officials rather than the goalkeeping.
"I don’t like to talk about refereeing but this isn’t football. Football is about contact and a mere touch shouldn’t be enough to award a penalty," he told DAZN.
"Just a simple touch can lead to a penalty, we saw that this weekend as well. It makes everyone nervous, and that creates problems. This is football, not a circus."
Interestingly, neither Hernandez nor Abraham is Milan's designated penalty taker despite them taking the responsibility on Sunday.
"Our penalty taker is [Christian] Pulisic. I don't know why the players changed their minds, I spoke to him and said that it must not happen again," said Fonseca.
Pulisic did score Milan's only goal of the night, having equalised after an hour, before Albert Gudmondsson scored the winner for the hosts.
The United States international was visibly angry when brought off for Samuel Chukwueze with seven minutes to go after putting in a bright performance, but the Milan manager explained that he did not want to aggravate an injury.
"It was out of caution for Pulisic, he had a problem with his flexor during the week. Chukwueze came in well and created opportunities," said Fonseca.
In terms of his side's overall performance, Fonseca did not want to focus on their penalty problems and instead suggested they did not do enough to get anything from the match.
"In the first half, we lacked defensive aggression and strength in duels. The way we conceded goals clearly illustrates this; they almost always won the second balls," he said. "We weren't disciplined in our structure."
The defeat ended a run of three straight league victories for Milan, meaning they go into the international break sixth in the table and on the back of a defeat.
Despite that, and the gap to league leaders Napoli extending to six points, he was not panicking.
"In Italy when you win, you’ve played a great match. If we don’t score, we’re the worst team in the world, just as I’m the worst coach. I know how things are," he said.
Fonseca's assessment of the performance was mirrored by defender Matteo Gabbia, who was unhappy with how the game went.
"We are certainly not satisfied with the initial approach. We feel this defeat, as it was our fault and we did not do our best tonight," he said.
"It starts with us, I saw the right disappointment and anger in the dressing room and it can be the only positive from this very negative night. We are angry that we put in this performance."
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