Football news - Arsenal 'lack experience' to cope with difficult situations - Emery
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Updated 25/10/2019 at 07:33 GMT
Unai Emery insisted that he needed to give some of his squad the opportunity to learn by playing in the pressure of the Europa League, despite almost seeing his Arsenal team embarrassed by Vitoria Guimares.
Unai Emery
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The Gunners twice trailed to the side who sit fourth in Portugal's Primeira Liga and it took them until the 80th minute to draw level for a second time thanks to Nicolas Pepe's free-kick.
The 75th-minute substitute added a second in stoppage time to win the game 3-2, again a free-kick, but it was half-time arrivals Matteo Guendouzi and Dani Ceballos whom Emery picked out for starting the turning of the tide.
"Some players need experience and playing sometimes under pressure at this level," Emery said.
"In the first half we didn't play or control the match as we were trying to.
"We needed to change with the midfield, with Matteo and Ceballos.
"After that, we showed our capacity.
"Very good control in the second half, but we didn't control offensively like we wanted. The players showed good character to come back after the first half."
Pepe has struggled under the pressure of becoming Arsenal's club-record signing over the summer but produced two picture-perfect strikes to rescue the north Londoners from an embarrassing defeat.
Emery added: "For him it's good, it's important that he can have confidence and it's better for the team and him [to score].
"He's getting better playing minutes, playing matches, scoring goals. He helped us tonight to win this match."
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