After Arsenal’s hard-fought 0-0 draw with Brighton, Mikel Arteta faced the Sky Sports cameras.
While frustrated with his side’s performance at the AMEX, he admits he’s pleased with the efforts of his players in the last month.
Here’s what he had to say…
On Arsenal’s performance…
We have to take a point because I don’t think we deserved anything more than that. If we got that point, it’s because we defended really well the last 15 to 20 metres of the pitch. Otherwise, it’s a performance where we need to improve in lots of departments.
On what was missing from Arsenal’s performance…
We struggled. We struggled to interpret their press, the man-to-man press that they imposed right from the beginning. We lost a lot of duels every time we had the ball and tried to connect with somebody, to run off that person and attack open spaces. We didn’t do it well and then the game becomes full of big transition moments with missing numbers from the back and we didn’t have control. We never took the game where we wanted to take it.
On what he changed at half time…
We made some adjustments obviously and we improved. We looked different and the substitutions helped at the end as well to give us an edge with what they were trying to do. We had some big situations, probably the clearest chance of the game, apart from the header that they had, was for Emile but we weren’t concrete enough in the final third.
On what he was hoping from subs Pepe and Lacazette…
Laca, because of his qualities and the way they [Brighton] split and follow everybody in midfield, he’s our best linkup player for this situation and then the pace and the goal threat that Pepe gives you in open spaces.
On Arsenal’s last month…
It’s been a really positive block of results and performances. There are a lot of positives we can take, we conceded one goal in five games, counting as well the Capital One Cup [sic]. Other things we need to get better, consistency with the ball, we need to get better.
On Ramsdale’s performances…
I’m really pleased. I think he’s been terrific. We’re defending really well as a unit, Aaron has been terrific since he’s started to play. He needs to continue to do that and now he needs to focus on the national team and come back healthy.
Honest Arteta, a point is the most we deserved.
Need the attack to improve.
Aubameyang was acomplete disappointment from the beginning to the end. The earlier Arsenal realises they need a top striker, the better for the club.
He’s played well for most of the start to the season (no point evaluating any individual performances from first three games). He had a bad game, which *gasp* happens to everyone. You don’t leap to the transfer market as a solution to every poor performance. Lukaku had one this week as well, and I’d imagine he’d be near the top of you Auba replacement wish list.
Indeed. Auba was incredible last week against Spurs. Our entire team, as Arteta outlines above, weren’t good enough outside our own box today. Bad game, these things happen, move on.
Thought Arteta got his selection wrong. Lacazette should have started. That trio behind Auba against this Brighton team was always light weight and not going to work.
Very true these kind of games suit lacazette style, we really missed his link up play and we weren’t winning the 2nd balls upfront in the air. Arteta should start using laca often as our B plan. Overall it was a poor performance,spurs game was great but the team is still not out of there slumber.
Samson’s comment is fair and reasonable. I wonder why Auba get so much “love” for doing so little. Even on a night where he cannot complain about not getting the service. We have done much changes to the whole squad….need to change the striking force now.
The main issue with Auba under Arteta us he’s the wrong striker for the type of game Arteta wants to play. His real skill is finding pockets of space in the box vs being someone who finishes at an extremely high rate. Under Arteta he’s largely been deprived of service as he’s either been stuck on the wing or we’ve required our center forward to come very far back to pick up the ball. We’ve paid him build the team around him money and have chosen to play in a way that doesn’t suit any of his strengths.
“So little”….?
Take away his goals for us and see where we would have finished in the table each season, had Wenger not signed him.
Twice Golden Boot candidate, 2018/19 shared Golden Boot Winner and an FA Cup Final winning goal.
Yeah, the bloke’s done nothing for this club….🙄
You did not take into account 2019/20/21….we can’t always live on his past glories.
That might just have been due to a severe lack of midfield creativity.
It was Ozil out Willian in, remember..?
Hello….? His FA Cup Final winner came in 2020…..? 🙄
He’s not a player that can make a difference on his own. With support from the other attacking players, he scores goals and it has always been that way.
Save your breath, pal.
Seriously, they haven’t got a clue what the hell you’re talking about.
Forwards requiring service from the midfield? It’s lost on them.
You’ll be telling them next that goalkeepers are there to stop the opposition scoring…
It looks hard for the team to fashion chances when we sit deep with 10 men behind the ball everytime Brighton has possession. It’s a new team though so hopefully things get better with time and Arteta can find the right balance between defensive structure and attacking verve.
I think we created enough and/or at least got into enough decent attacking space on the road in shitty conditions. Not an overwhelming amount, but not nothing. Touch, decisions and finishing were pretty shite. Not sure that is on arteta, ESR was the only forward player to have a decent game and he spurned out best chance when he had a pretty easy pass to make. But we kept our shape, défended well through the middle and at the back. By no means a disaster.
Wouldn’t say it waa an easy pass for ESR. As the report suggests, the Brighton defender did well to block that route off
Don’t agree – just watched that moment again. The defender is trying to get back but is at least half a metre off ESR’s line at that point. Their keeper is 2m away, still near his line. ESR simply had to square with a touch of ‘bend’ – a pretty routine cross for a player of his ability.
Spot on. I tried to give ESR the benefit of the doubt at watched and rewatched. He had every chance to play the pass, he also made a bad wide touch and then clearly thought “I need to score myself now”. Even at his shot he still could have faked the shot and chipped a cross centrally for an easy header home. I love ESR, but that was not a very good moment for him. Still he was probably our best attacker on the day (best of a bad bunch).
You know that saying we used to always say: “this is a game we would’ve lost last season”?
Yeah, that.
Can’t win them all, take your point and regroup for another day
Zero intensity! Brighton looks like what we want to be….will be interesting to see Graham potter coach a team with much better players…the amazing part was how they outmuscled sambi and partey in midfield…didn’t see odegaard the whole time..
Outnumbered
Our midfield is still very average and that was the best this squad has to offer as far as a midfield 3 goes.
Partey has been very underwhelming since arriving. I can only see him really doing a job sitting infront of the back 4.
When the options on the bench are M.Niles and Elneny it just screams midtable.
we were lucky to get a point. We were second best on second balls all day long. Think the team was just off today. I know progress is not a straight line but this week was a step back. Mikel needs to keep working with the kids and they will get better or he needs to ship them out.
Terrible just awful!
It’s so annoying when we have a bad game after a good game. I appreciate the conditions were shite, and we were away, but still, it’s ruddy annoying.
We have the youngest team in the league so really need our experienced players to up their game in matches like this.
Ruddy annoying.
The amount of comments about the conditions is baffling.
It was raining so what?
Have you tried playing when the wind is very strong and it’s sopping wet?
Sure you can incorporate poor weather conditions into training and preparation but you can’t train for the exact type of wind that decides to blow when you’re attempting a pass…
Ruddy annoying is ruddy annoying
‘Muddy’ annoying would have been more accurate.
Brighton have been a better side this us for a while now. Thought this was a hard fought away point. I like that the back five is taking pride in defending.
On a side note, I really liked the Brighton winger Marc Cucurella. Apparently he’s only 23.
Brighton..? I thought they were all a bunch of cunts, but there you go.
Gabriel Martinelli should quite definetely hand in a transfer request to save his career!
It is disappointing that we see no european action this year. We need games to keep everyone sharp. Just domestic games alone not enough to give everyone the needed minutes.But it is also true to say that Arteta have his “favourites” that is not based on performance. Outside that, you won’t get your minutes
It is disappointing, and there are fewer minutes to go around. That has its good and bad points – or rather, bad points and silver linings. Realistically speaking, if we’re out of Europe for any more seasons, we’re going to have problems retaining and recruiting – it might sound alarmist but I think it’s just realistic. It’s hard enough bringing people on board to a project with no CL, let alone no EL. I think the players we have at the moment are on board with the objective of being in Europe as soon as possible (the standard we need… Read more »
Thanks Mike-l for explaining to me what I have seen. Still don’t know why our team play like that but guess you need another 2 years or so to explain to players yours ‘ philosophy, right? No worries I’ll be waiting, I’m just Arsenal fun(ny) so going nowhere… thanks again
The true arsenal fans will have patience with this team and it was a very hard fought performance..if we had lost most of us would have accepted it as Brighton were better and u will many big teams struggled against this Brighton side at the Amex stadium this season…Gunner for life ..
Sorry kid, but “true Arsenal fans” will never except Brighton being better than us.
And why should they be better? We’ve bought their “Rolls Royce player”, and we’ve spent much, much more to build our squad – Arteta’s squad – then they did.
If they play better football than us, might that have something to do with the quality of our respective managers?
We need still more quality and physicality to beet teams like brighton or brentford who play rugby
I guess you’ve found the root of the problem.
The optimist would say it was a blip. The pessimist would say it is the norm. The realist would recognise that this team is somewhere between this performance and the one at Spurs. Average…
Our midfield was pretty much non existent,we defended well to be fair,only bright spots were Saka and Smith Rowe.Bad conditions didn’t stop Brighton zipping passes around,cutting through us at will – we were lucky Bissouma didn’t play.
Take the point/clean sheet and move on.Spurs might lose today- that always cheers me up !
15 days until next Arsenal game,it’s going to be a long interlull
Unfortunately, I couldn’t watch the game, so I won’t comment on it, bit I have two general observations about the discourse surrounding it.
1. A lot of people are saying the problem was too many players had an off game and the team looked slow and tired.
A bunch of players having a bad game at the same time is usually on the manager.
2. Arteta should be really worried at how little it has taken for the pitchforks to come out.
I kind of agree with you in principle re if many players had a bad game it might be down to the manager, but having watched the game I personally don’t think that’s the only explanation in this case. On another day the chances that presented themselves in this game might have led to goals. Hard to attribute misplaced shots to manager. There was also a moment where ESR could have laid off a pass instead of shooting (yes that’s a very rare statement to make regarding ESR!). I would hope MA is more focused on getting the team to… Read more »
‘A bunch of players having a bad game at the same time is usually on the manager‘… And you base this sweeping generalisation on what? I’d lean more towards the cyclone swirling through the ground… the ‘come-down’ after a euphoric NLD… an extremely well-organised BHA side… and the fact that, when one or two key players (Auba & Saka) fail to convert chances on a night when the players know it’s going to be a slog, it has a bit of a ‘downer’ effect on others. Here’s an alternative view: this was an elemental-sized banana skin… BW’s old club out… Read more »
Credit for the defensive work as Brighton have scored in all their matches prior to this game. They are a more stable team than us now. In tight matches like these we really need a player who can make the difference. Right now we dont have any. Auba is not anymore.
An excellent Capital One Cup performance.