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Wenger disappointed to concede 'cheap goals'

Cape Town - Arsene Wenger couldn't hide his frustration after Arsenal's "poor performance" in their EFL Cup quarter-final loss to Southampton.

The Frenchman watched his side slip to a 2-0 defeat at home with first-half goals from Jordy Clasie and Ryan Bertrand enough to send the Saints through to the semi-finals.

Wenger made ten changes to the team that played in the Premier League against Bournemouth on Saturday, however he was still unhappy at the way the young team performed.

"I’m disappointed," Wenger said. "We had a poor performance, particularly in the first half. We were not good enough defensively and gave cheap goals away.

"It was one of those nights where you look like you could play two hours without scoring a goal. We didn’t have enough urgency and were weak in some departments. We paid for that. We were not incisive enough.

"Southampton were sharper than us and fitter. If you give someone a handicap of two goals, against a Premier League side it’s difficult.

"If you look at the players who played, some of them are regular players in the first-team. The problem wasn’t there. We had players who are used to top level competition. But we didn’t have the right urgency."

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