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Arsenal news: Alan Smith reveals one thing he does not like about Unai Emery's men
ARSENAL legend Alan Smith admits he has been disappointed in the Gunners’ defence in Unai Emery’s first four games in charge.
Emery brought in two new defenders in the summer transfer window, but one of them, Stephan Lichtsteiner, is yet to start a game.
The other new face Sokratis Papastathopoulos has partnered Shkodran Mustafi in every game so far this term.
However, Arsenal are yet to keep a clean sheet and have conceded eight goals already.
Smith admits there is no issue attacking-wise for his former side and was pleased to see Alexandre Lacazette and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang start together in the win over Cardiff.
It has been a disappointment I would say, the number of chances, never mind about the number of goals, they’re conceding
However, he has been underwhelmed by the lack of improvement in the opposite direction.
“That would have been an area that I would have hoped got better quicker,” Smith told Sky Sports News.
“It has been a disappointment I would say, the number of chances, never mind about the number of goals, they’re conceding.
“Some of that is down to his insistence in playing from the back and obviously Petr Cech looks less than comfortable in some situations.
“It’s giving encouragement to the opposition.
“Any manager would want to start from the back, build a good platform, that might take him a few transfer windows to do.
“Arsenal will always cause problems going the other way, they’re always score goals.
“It’s nice to see Lacazette and Aubameyang in the same side, it looked like that can be worked out.
“But it’s up the other end. You sense they need to score goals in order to win matches.”
Arsenal return to Premier League action this Saturday when they visit Newcastle (3pm).
The Gunners are looking to win their third game in a row.
Rafa Benitez’s Newcastle side are yet to win this season.
They have just one point from their four matches.