Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang’s own goal ensured another horrible Sunday night for Arsenal as Burnley stole a 1-0 win at the Emirates after Granit Xhaka’s red card for violent conduct.
After the match, Mikel Arteta faced both the BBC and Sky Sports cameras. Here’s a transcript of his answers from each…
BBC
His assessment of the match…
It’s another defeat which is extremely disappointing. I have the feeling that we gave the game away because we had complete control of the game, we were on top of the game, we should have scored one or two [goals] easily, they created nothing and obviously when you give the red card away, the game changes. At a set piece, which is one of their man strengths, we conceded a goal. The team kept trying, kept going but at the moment I don’t know what else we have to do to score a goal.
On Xhaka’s red card…
I haven’t seen the images but whether I have a complaint or not, the decision is made and I cannot do anything about it.
On Xhaka’s action being unacceptable…
Yes. In my opinion, it’s too much willingness to do well, to compete, to give everything you have. We took it to the wrong side. When you step over the line you know you’re going to get punished and we did. We cannot make those mistakes.
On where we are now…
In a worse position. When you have these types of performances you have to win matches, easy. It’s not science. When you play the way we play, when you dominate the game, you have to win. It’s as simple as that. And then you give the game away and it puts us in a really difficult position and on Wednesday [against Southampton] we are going to go and try again.
On being clear about what needs to change…
Yes.
On how he’ll rectify it…
I don’t know how to put the ball in the net, I cannot do that.
On Aubameyang scoring an own goal…
It’s an accident, these things can happen. The ball is going so quick, in a split second this can happen.
SKY SPORTS
On what he made of the game…
You saw the performance of the boys, how much they wanted it, the way they played, the chances we created, the dominance we had and again we gave the game away by giving a silly red card and we lost the game.
On the game-changing with the red card…
You saw what happened with the previous 60-70 minutes, we had control of the game and we should have won it earlier.
On Xhaka’s card being as unacceptable as Pepe’s at Leeds…
[Yes] Same word. And in these conditions, even worse. The conditions we are in – not winning football matches – you cannot do that. It’s related to how much will and commitment they want to put in the games that they overstep the line. It’s not an excuse. I want them to be brave to do what we’ve done today again but they’ve given the game to the opponent.
On Xhaka apologising…
I’m sure he will.
On whether Elneny should have been sent off…
I don’t know, I haven’t seen the image.
On where we go next…
We go on Wednesday against Southampton and we try to win the game again.
On what he needs to do…
We need to score a goal. We need to put the ball in the net. You saw the rest of the things in the team and how they work.
On the sending off coming at a time we were on top…
We were on top from the beginning to the moment of the sending off. Even after the sending off we had some really good moments, so I can’t fault that at all.
On how concerned he is…
Very, because we’re not winning football matches and I’m here to provide wins to the team.
On whether he’s scratching his head trying to find answers…
Every day. Every day we work on it. And I scratch my head like you said.
Please do not let this hysteria surrounding it drag the club onto a carousel of managers and changes for the sake of change.
The carousel only comes when you pick the wrong manager. We appear to have gone with the second best candidate from 2018’s interviewees. Might need to widen the pool next time, although I suppose Vieira is available…
With such volatility surrounding the club and the media there is NO RIGHT manager. No chance. Instant results do not come, they do not manifest themselves out of thin air. It takes time, patience, persistence. Every subsequent manager will soon be swept under the rug because some genius on AFTV has declared that he had enough as soon as he does not like something. Or some expert on Twitter after a couple of pints talking tactics and team selection concluding that this club is in dire need of change it had actually made about 12 months ago already. Arteta was… Read more »
All well and good but word on the street is if we lose weds our Brazilian boss has already singled our allegri (not my preferred choice but the pint of milk and packet of ringos said no already)
The big concern I have is that the carousel will continue as long as we have the same people picking the managers. This is why I feel like we desperately need Arteta to figure this out and make it work.
Of course, I’m as disappointed by this form as everyone else here, but I really do worry about what a long-term disaster could be lurking if we get even more fools in to make decisions and create an even more chaotic squad and approach.
If Tim Lewis is going to be the guy, I’m fine with one more clear out, especially as a lot of wages fall off the docket in the summer. IMO, edu has less of a claim to his job than Arteta.
Vieira is shit as a manager.
I was being entirely facetious. Just pointing out how Mikel was quickly hired because he was the other main choice 18 months before.
So now Vieira would be next up from the basket of bad ideas.
And he’s been a great success at his clubs?
Meanwhile Emery’s Villareal are 4th in La Liga.
sacking Wenger without letting him see out the final year of his contract cursed us into mediocrity and we deserve it 🙁
“I don’t know how to put the ball in the net, I cannot do that” wow… Game over unfortunately
If only they trained well, oh wait we are top of the training league!
Yep, not the best answer when the idea is to get everyone’s hopes up.. May be he should try and change the players and let them play football instead of dishing out some authentic crap from Pulis’ formula of “how to kill football”. We are literally clueless, in teaching defense, he’s killed all the limited attacking cells that we had, both by his choices of tactics and players. Still can’t believe it, a man who worked with both Wenger and Pep, but has learned nothing from them.
Maybe we should bring McGuiness back and play him in Attacking midfield 😎👌
You can’t win a game by prioritising defence. Goals win games. Wenger > Arteta
He’s struggling, i have real doubts that he can turn this around
I doubted this since the date he said Ozil was out for football reasons.
I miss the days we could blame Mustafi for everything….
The footballing reason was that Ozil probably told him we need goals to win games…oh well.
Will bloggs and others now admit that Ozil being frozen out had to do with non-football matters. China? Covid cuts?
It’s blindly obvious that it was because of China. In hindsight Ozil shouldn’t have talked about it considering the friends he keep. I get that the situation with Uighers are quite terrible and once he fully retires he can be an activist.
As much as it’s concerning how we aren’t looking creative against a packed defence, I feel bad for Arteta tonight.
How on earth do you legislate for your £35m experienced midfielder doing what Xhaka did today when we were getting on top of them? Some players just can’t be managed.
I kind of agree, but Arteta picked him, so Arteta is the one that needs to take the blame. We’ve all known Xhaka is useless for years, hopefully Arteta’s realised now too.
Can’t argue with that. I don’t think he was really justifying selection before today and I hope to God that this is the final straw with him.
If you think Xhaka is the only problem then I am sure you haven’t watched any of the games this season.
As someone who defended Xhaka for years, he may not be the only problem but he is clearly a part of the problem.
Definitely..
Xhaxa’s arrival here has coincided in the club falling further into mediocrity. As a club you reflect your manager and biggest players/personalitites. Xhaxa has been picked by four managers who have cited his ‘leadership qualities’. If that is true it leaves me truly afraid for the future that there are no other characters at the club bigger than Xhaxa.
No, Xhaka is not the only problem. But there are many other Xhaka’s in the team. We have a coach that has to sort that out, it’s his fucking job. When Xhaka came out and Willian came out, even with 10 men we looked more lively, we had some chances. Even a blind man can see that. We we don’t have creators in midfield and we have Smith Rowe and Willock, why don’t you throw them in the game to make them players? Ok, you can’t burn out the youngsters day in day out, but if we have two AMF… Read more »
of course not.. But he is the most prevalent one.
I don’t think Xhaka is the only problem this season but I think he was the main problem with this game. We were well on top when he got sent off.
How do you legislate…when he has previous discipline problems and a history of shitness under 4 different managers. All the mistakes, on field off field, Xhaxa is the lightning rod that led us here.
Look, Xhaka’s action was unforgivable, that’s true, but Arteta gave them the game by subbing Ceballos in for Laca. Taking off a Striker for a CM for me it meant he was scared of a team that have scored even less than us, of fkin Burnley, not Real Madrid or Bayern, but Burnley.
Let Elneny as the DM, sub william off and get ESR in.
Besides, before Xhaka’s red isn’t like if we were amazing, we had half chances sure, but was one of those games where you felt we could play all day long and not score.
I agree to an extent, but Xhaka’s frustrations stem from a lack of support and ideas and management level which is leading to a collapse in results all round. I believe we are over coached.
he keeps picking him though. nothing is a better option than xhaka.
He still doesn’t seem to accept that there could be anything wrong with his tactics or team selection, just puts it down to bad luck and poor finishing, which is what I find the most worrying about him. The first step to recovery is admitting the problem and until he does I can’t see a way out of this
It’s almost like he’s too focused on the idea that he needs different players for his preferred tactics to work.
As poor as we are we still have a top 10-6 squad. He is underperforming at our bare minimum seasonal targets.
Nowadays:
Arteta: Blah, blah, blah….
Me: Meh….
The only constant being that Willian starts! But Arteta’s language to Xhaka’s red card is markedly different from Pepe’s.
Merry Christmas everyone
Man the fuck up and step down if you have any integrity left after this.
What a piece of crap we’ve become in terms of football and morality as well.
Man the fuxk up and shut yer cake hole, numbnuts.
I should become a psychic. I predicted 1-0, 0-0, or 0-1 and the phrases ‘we need to score goals’ and ‘we dominated’ following the game. Then again maybe you just need to not be Mikel Arteta to predict all of that. Clearly he has no answers because all of this head scratching has resulted in playing the same players and the same performances.
Aruba who has scored goals like they are going out of style all his career can’t score to save his life now.
Same with Lacazette. Saka who in his short career has being a decent goal threat is firing blanks. Even Willian who contributed a goal or two for his old club.
And Arteta figures the players are the problem and not maybe, just maybe, his tactics?
Some of it tactics, yeah, we’re not built in the striker department for lobbing in crosses to the meat grinder. but some of it is just plain shit player form. Laca had at least 2, Saka 1 great one, another promising, Auba had a few solid looks at goal tonight that in any previous stretch we would have gotten at LEAST two out of the bunch. Nobody is on goal scoring form, and that was the big difference tonight, because we actually did create the chances. But some of the previous league matches, yeah, waste time wide and lump it… Read more »
All well and good Mikel but obstinacy will be your downfall. You’ve alienated players we couldn’t afford to alienate, you keep faith in players not good enough to do one simple thing, advance the ball forward. Xhaka and Willian should have been no where near the starting 11. Willian will be back on Wednesday as will Cedric and Ceballos so nothing will change and we will get beat against a good Southampton side. Steve Round has a lot to answer for as well, someone who’s advice he’s either following or not. Get the young guns in. Inject life into that… Read more »
How can he look into the camera and say that we are dominating the game and that we should easily have scored? Yes perhaps we had a few shots on target but this is not even close to dominating a game. I am sorry but I don’t like this mans vision of how football should be played, and obviously we are constantly watching different games and where he see potential I see a dead end.
This is not the way..
Shame that’s the only thing he’s learned from Wenger, be completely oblivious to your own mistakes..
No need to pull wenger down in to the dirt. I am positive he would have gotten very different results with these players, and played younger players while
Doing it.
The point you’ve adressed is not the point I intended to make. I never said Wenger is or was a bad coach, just that he was arrogant when it came to admitting mistakes..
an arrogance born of actually seeing his methods take us to some of our greatest highs as a football club whereas Arteta’s high point was sitting back and hoping for the best, two games in a row which worked and got us a valuable cup.
Nope not really.. Wenger’s methods changed after invincibles.. switched to a 4231 to accommodate small, soft technical players as opposed to the beasts that got him all the success. Started a sterile passing game as opposed to the quick counters and give n goes he implemented earlier. Didn’t replace Vieria or buy a decent defender or DM in all his 14 years after invincibles..
He did change the type of player he thought he needed and formation but everybody stopped playing 442 for about 10 years and our game was never sterile until his last 2 seasons and even then we got alot more moments of quality than now, even Emery had his fair share.
Name me one game where we dominated from start to finish..Infact any game we dominated period under Arteta that isn’t Europa.
And we should have probably gone down 1-0 when Wood headed wide, which was the best chance of the first half…
Perhaps that is as dominating as we will get under this process.
I really want Mikel to succeed but he looks out of his depth. He keeps making the same bad team selections; players look lost, bereft of confidence. In order to try and salvage the season, the board needs to act. Need a manager with fresh approach / ideas. Otherwise we are going to be fighting to stay out of the relegation zone, which for a club with our history, is unacceptable.
I’m surprised his immaculate haircut is still in place, what with all the head scratching he has been doing lately.
Just sack him. Tired of his “1+1=2” things.
Yeah I can’t defend Arteta after tonight. No excuses, this group of players should of beaten Burnley’s.
They didn’t.
That’s on him.
Given Granit was extremely stupid and should have controlled his anger better (maybe someone needs to tell him to play the victim instead of give in to his testosterone all the time)…we have had 6 red cards since project restart. Xhaka is only the most recent before Guendouzi, Pepe before have also been guilty of ill discipline. but this must land on the manager’s lap. Seen the training sessions and I am all for a bit of relaxation to calm nerves. foster a bit of camaraderie but its all a bit too lax and Arteta does not seem to inspire… Read more »
We’re not dominating, though, it just looks like it. But really nobody except Mikel believes we are on top in these games. We are not deadly, threatening or incisive. Instead we are insipid, lame and purely laughable. We have become irrelevant but predictable. And whilst I don’t like the Kroenkes, I don’t like what Mikel is saying and doing either. Ideally everybody in the hierarchy goes. Sadly I once wanted to believe in Mikel, but today i lost faith and I think we are fooling ourselves when we constantly refer to past glories, MA’s age and Pep-connection and his amazing… Read more »
Top comment here
This new crossing tactic is so insipid and illogical. and has added a new annoying wrinkle and flaw in an already shit team. How do you get paid millions and that is your solution.
This has saved me making my own comment and is spot on. We are looking down the barrel of another 4 defeats in a row this month the way things are going. We are not dominating and his comments have me extremely worried.
Sadly , there are so many issues now, that all the fans can do is sit back and watch.
On a funny note….. souness and that prick evra having a laugh at the club, and at Alan Smith , tells you how low we have gone.
That story Evra told of Henry turning the TV off before an Arsenal game because Xhaka was captain. Whatever we all think of Xhaka after tonight, and his stock certainly isn’t high at Twatsloch Towers, I don’t think that shines a particularly good light on Henry. But then he’s been known for knocking Arsenal players before.
Henry ex-ayer is flat track bully
Rubbishes everyone. Cheap shots at his old club. And at AW – the man who pulled him from total obscurity and pending nonentity status and penury – and shit on him. Repeatedly.
No. No thank you. Fuck right off. No loyalty. No class. Henry can piss off.
Bullshit. The man has more right than most to say how he feels about the club. He was shit on sky because he was always sugarcoating what he really felt.
Did you forget his famous scowls before he was sold to Barca?
I remember him being down on Giroud to the point where some photo op was engineered for them to kiss and make up. Everything was allegedly so fucking rosy. I bet Giroud thinks he’s a twat.
It was a private conversation with his mate, not for general consumption. He didn’t take a cheap shot as he didn’t make those feelings known to the world, Evra did (which is totally out of order). And as a fan (like he is and was clearly acting in that capacity at the time) who would argue with that reaction and sentiment?
He hasn’t voiced anything nobody on here hasn’t. Imagine the club all time scorer not being allowed an opinion on his old club.
He’s allowed his opinion as much as anyone else. When he’s being constantly negative about our players then he can also be criticised. Great player in his day, piss awful pundit.
He should go????
where’s the none negotiables? what he did is just as worse as Guendouzi I will see if he banishes Xhaka just as he did Guedouzi because based on stats Xhaka has more disciplinary recrord than Guendouzi has more yellow and red cards than Guendouzi. SO im waiting to see how Arteta handles Xhaka. left for me he should be sold and never play for arsenal again. if they can banish Guendouzi for grabbing maupay they must banish Xhaka for grabbing the guys throat. same and similar offense lets see if the punishment and decisions is consistent. Arteta talks a lot… Read more »
Where are the fans that were defending Xhaka and Arteta now? Can we all fking agree now that they both have to go? If this was Emery, everyone would be calling for his head. Arteta is a nice guy, but that means nothing for winning football matches. LETS FKING get a proper manager with experience and stop PLAYING UNDER PERFORMING PLAYERS FOR FKS SAKE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Xhaxa already has Wenger and Emerys graves in his garden, Artetas will follow soon if he chooses to die on Xhaxa hill.
Lol
This is a very bad situation for Arsenal Football Club.
Not sure what comes next.
There are many reasons to be a supporter and a fan of any club, but the core reason is always how the teams conducts itself on the pitch.
Something is vastly awry.
We absolutely should have been ahead when Xhaka got the red card, but this loss is completely on him and his stupidity yet again. I so wish we never have to see him on the pitch again for Arsenal.
Disagree.
We looked absolutely the same level as a bottom 5 club.
Swinging in hopeful cross after hopeful cross does not count as creating chances.
It’s pathetic.
Fulham look better than us.
Aubameyang should go
Oh come on guys. This is pretty dark times, but this was always going to take time. Get behind the manager. I still believe he can turn this around.
Why doesn’t the press/journalist ask the question ‘ Is your job on the line ? ‘ or ‘ You planning to resign after the worst start of AFC history ? ‘
Waiting for Southampton to put 9 past us in an incredible turn around in there and our fortunes in the last year. This was meant to be a poor joke but while typing it, considering it is us you cant rule this out. I might even put a cheeky fiver on it just in case.
Dortmund fired their manager after a few bad game plus an embarrassing defeat. What’s a joke we are if we still let this clueless guy damage our club more.
Dortmund is a well run club that goes from strength to strength. Arsenal is anything but that right now. We can’t compare ourselves to them.
Would anyone consider Arsene takeover until end of season? He can surely keep us from relegation and allow search for new manager!
Non-Kia players might actually want to sign for Arsenal, which is not something I can say the longer this drags on.
I had very high hopes for Mikel this season, but unfortunately he’s looking more and more like he’s just rigidly mimicking a perceived managerial formula that he’s learned from Pep, and now it’s not working, he doesn’t know what to do. He looks a bit lost, and he hasn’t got the lived experience to work out how to improve things. It’s a shame, but I can’t see him being able to turn this sinking Arse ship around.
Same players, same system, and we got the same result. Dominate seems a bit ambitious if not bordering on delusional.
“Non negotiable” must mean that however shit you play each week, your selection for the next game will always be certain.
Arteta looked shell-shocked during that Sky interview. As if he was struggling to find his bearings. It was painful to watch.
I have supported Arteta but I will criticize him for his comment on Xhaka. He slaughtered Pepe (a player I’m not a fan of, nor do I rate) in the media after his stupid red card incident. All I see here is him making excuses for a serial fuck up. Where’s the same energy in his reaction to Xhaka? If he rates Xhaka this much to try to protect his position in the team, I have to question my support of Arteta. I would question anyone’s footballing IQ if they seriously think Xhaka is a good player. I feel for… Read more »
“On Xhaka’s card being as unacceptable as Pepe’s at Leeds…
[Yes] Same word. And in these conditions, even worse. The conditions we are in – not winning football matches – you cannot do that. It’s related to how much will and commitment they want to put in the games that they overstep the line. It’s not an excuse. I want them to be brave to do what we’ve done today again but they’ve given the game to the opponent.”
I don’t see him taking any prisoners with that answer.
That was my impression until I read the second half of the article. Hopefully, Xhaka gets docked a good month’s wages!
Someone you chose and trusted above everything else at your disposal threw the game away. Embarrassingly 4 or 5 players could count.
He’s lost the dressing room. His Non Negotiables, haven’t resulted in team spirit.
His tactics are resulting in a lack of attacking play. We’re afraid to shoot.
I think they’ll give him Christmas to turn it around.
If he does go, they need the replacement lined up immediately.
Arteta has to change now. It’s not working. He seems to think he’s got January to fix things but the Ozil thing is bizarre because will he let him back wven though he won’t apologise for the china comments? And Saliba and Guendouzi making those comments.
He has to play the kids but he won’t.
Any reason why my posts are not being approved?
I apologise for sleeping at night
You’d be better off sleeping during the games!
You slept after that performance?
Look. Were in a tough spot.
But all you fuckers saying – gimme merdhino, are you goddamn kidding me? Really. Forgetting the club motto are we?
Victoria Concordia Crescit.
Its NOT Voctoria via mouriho douchebaggery.
This whole “poch” pipedream is total nonsense as well; whats that fucker won, the almost/wannabe trophy? MA has more in the locker. Think about that.
Character people. Courage is out best route now.
Who is saying all that bullshit.
I think most people are just tired of looking like the shittest team in the league and unable to have more than two shots on target vs Burnley at home. While what the manager says does and enforces does not seem to translate on the pitch and only seems to apply to certain players and not others.
Should’ve offered him a job as a PR officer rather than a manager.
Thank the Lord, our forwards are scoring again.
Two seasons ago we were complaining we had no aggression.
Now we have Jackie Chan and Chuck Norris.
Great, just fucking great.
I am expecting a series called “Being Arsenal” next fall on Amazon Prime or Netflix.
Which is extremely embarrassing considering the accomplishments of the people working together that made this club great from its start in 1886 until now.
Brad
Was too easy to wind up Xhaka, but have to say the other players and especially the youngsters showed our previous captain how you should keep your wits.
Love how Saka came over to the right side to help break the deadlock, finally someone taking some initiative.
As for Mikels situation it really defines you as a coach when your weakness is exposed and you need to react. So far all the issues we had he dealt with, with great composure and conviction, as the structural and individuals problems really were part off his best skill set. Next week or two should be interesting, before the board are forced to commit to a position before the next transfer window opens. We know they won’t DO anything. But must be seen to be. Which has an effect too. See their Wenger and Emery playbook when they procrastinated at… Read more »
Call me crazy, but I’ll be interested to see what Dani and Mo do with the midfield on Wednesday.
Hopefully they have Willock or ESR with them at the pointy end of the stick.
Gave the game away?!?! Hahahaha! You do that the moment you put Xhaka on the pitch!
Arteta does the same thing every time and plays him game after game (as past managers did) and expects a different result. Einstein called that the definition of insanity.
Only big and successful managers (Pep Guardiola, Joachim Low, Jose Mourinho) appreciate, understand and know how to play their best quality player (Özil) and would never drop him like what happened at Arsenal. Why? Coz we domt have a big and successful manager. Ours is just a small manager. Face the fact fans….the last time we had one like Guardiola…was a few seasons ago (Wenger). Its sad. Its frustrating
Have you heard what went down between Ibrahimovic and Guardiola at Barcelona? Or the numerous players that have been bullied by Mourinho? Hazard for example..
2020, I long for you to end
Guys, there is no sudden turnaround coming. Even if we do get a goal, nick a win, it’s not going to change the underlying issues and kickstart a return to form. We could have better players, yes, but we do have good players! We should be in the mix, top 5-8 with what we have right now, without any miracles at all! By the end of the week it will be two more losses and MA has to be gone by January to let someone help us recover. I’m all for a caretaker who can bring Ozil back and put… Read more »
Arsene Wenger for 6 months until the summer window please.
Have it on good authority that it was Luiz who leaked to the press about his bust up with Dani. He’s sees MA for the fraud he is. Also PEA? his agent was pleading for him not to sign but €€$$ was too great a pull. And finally as posted earlier MA is gone if we lose weds and Allegri will b in pace come Jan
Arteta’s poor excuses and terrible mistakes – that he will live to regret – are completely unacceptable now. He is however only part of this horrible mess. Edu and the rest of the club no longer represent or emulate Arsenal football club’s class or long-standing philosophy. To offload 50 staff; to decimate the coaching team/network without any real plan to replace it; to ditch loyal Arsenal people/employeees unceremoniously in full view of the world at the drop of a hat – like Gunnersaurus; to ask our players to take a 12% drop in wages – based on a promise that… Read more »
You have to start wondering if Özil’s treatment- along with others (Sokratis and Saliba) has not affected the team/squad spirit. You have to wonder was Özil’s banishment political? You also have to wonder how you’d feel if you agreed to take a 12% drop in wages based on a promise that it would save the jobs of loyal Arsenal staff – only to see them cast out soon after by this ruthless uncaring Billionaire owner. As we know Özil did not follow suit as he did not believe in such false promises. Yes – we do have players that are… Read more »
That’s very charitable.
I dread to think what we’re going to give away at Christmas.