Mikel Arteta sends 'street-wise' warning to Arsenal after Porto collapse

Mikel Arteta has called on his Arsenal players to be more "street-wise" after a touch of naivety cost them in the Champions League against Porto in midweek.

Having conceded a 93rd minute after losing the ball trying to counter attack, the Gunners now turn focus back to the Premier League and closing the gap on leaders Liverpool with the visit of Newcastle United to the Emirates Stadium on Saturday night.

"What happened in another competition [stays] there, but what you cannot deny is what is in your tummy after a defeat," Arteta said as he looked to the Newcastle game, via Arsenal.com.

"We have to use it in a really powerful way to be better."

There was plenty of take from the Porto game, which although a first match in two years without a shot on target, carried a number of positives too.

"We certainly can develop a lot of things and those experiences are really relevant to judge whether we were or we weren't, just because of a goal, I don't think it's that fair," Arteta said.

"I was very clear with them about it because I believe that they did a lot of things right. Managing games and things like that we can still improve, but in a year's time, for sure we can improve and we can improve our build-up phase and our restarts. We can improve in many areas."

The vintage Arsenal sides of the George Graham era and Arsene Wenger's early years had a mean streak about them that, in tandem with excellent technical skill, made them a force. Losing that edge has long been a criticism of more recent Gunners teams, who are seen as 'nice'. Arteta isn't looking for his players to be the exact opposite of that, but he would be happy to see them more "smart".

"I don't know about bad guy but you have to be tricky, you have to be smart, you have to be street-wise and you have to try to take advantage in every situation. They know that," he said.

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