We have to fight – Wenger

(GSM) – Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger wants his young side to guard against complacency in its future after a defeat at the hands of Shakhtar Donetsk in the Champions League Group H tie delayed their date of progression to the tournament’s second round.

Wenger saw his side slip from a 1-0 scoreline into a 2-1 defeat at Donbass Arena and has warned that his team must learn their lesson to avoid similar outcomes.

“We have learned the lesson that at this level you cannot lose focus at any moment and that is why we were punished,” said the Arsenal manager, “but we are still in a strong position in the group.

“We had a good start, but after we lost our urgency and let Donetsk come into the game too much.

“We lost concentration in the duels and you could see what was coming towards half-time.

“I felt we moved out of the game altogether and moved into the game altogether, so it was more of a team problem, a kind of complacency problem more than an individual problem.

“In the second half we came back into the game and gave a lot, you cannot fault the team, and we were a bit unlucky.”

Wenger wants his team to challenge on all front and keep focus on their campaign, insisting that the team has to ‘fight’.

“At the moment we are not in a position where we can choose – we have to fight,” the Arsenal manager said.

“We have a difficult league game on Sunday against Newcastle.

“We will win what we can and not choose too much.”