Mikel Arteta refused to blame Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang after Arsenal’s dismal 3-0 defeat at home to Aston Villa.
The striker failed to muster a single effort on goal during the game.
And he has only had eight efforts on target during his 10 Premier League appearances so far this season.
But Arteta insisted fault for that lay with the team as a whole rather than just Aubameyang.
“That’s a team function and that’s a collective thing and we have to do more,” Arteta said at his post-match press conference.
“We certainly are getting some situations. The end product is something that we have to improve.
“About his position, his movement and where we can find him, of course we can talk about if it is the right or wrong place for him, but when things were working and he wasn’t scoring that debate wasn’t there.”
But Arteta admitted that Arsenal’s current lack of firepower needs to be addressed if they are to be major challenges this season.
He said: “What is certain is that with these numbers, scoring this amount of goals, it’s impossible to be fighting with the top teams.
“So we have to maintain the numbers that we had defensively, with our organisation, and for sure we have to improve our numbers attacking-wise if we want to be challenging there.”