Wenger rues defensive frailties

Arsene Wenger says Arsenal ‘have a lot of work to do’ defensively after they battled to a 2-2 draw with Hong Kong outfit Kitchee.

Several errors by the largely inexperienced back four first allowed Yago to nip in and slot the ball under Wojciech Szczesny before similar lapses in concentration saw Dani Cancela put his side back in front just five minutes after Theo Walcott had levelled matters.

A late goal from second-half substitute Thomas Eisfeld saved the Gunners’ blushes but Wenger was frank in his assessment of the action.

“I think defensively we looked fragile, especially in the first half,” the Frenchman said.

“In the second half not so much because we were not challenged. Defensively we have a lot of work to do as a unit to do much better.”

Youngsters Ignasi Miquel and Craig Eastmond started in the centre of defence for Arsenal, with Nico Yennaris and Kyle Bartley coming on for the second half.

Wenger said inexperience led to the mistakes, but admitted that he was keeping a close eye over their progress.

“We let everybody play and some players are not yet at the level of the Premier League,” he said.

“It is a learning process. If you don’t do it in pre-season then you never do it – you give them a chance to see what is requested at the top level.

“I played all of the defenders during this tour to see who is ready and who is not. We have Bacary Sagna, Laurent Koscielny and Per Mertesacker at home – three experienced defenders.”