Albert Stuivenberg says he didn’t have direct contact with Mikel Arteta during Arsenal’s 2-1 defeat to Manchester City but the manager, who was self-isolating at home after testing positive for Covid-19, did speak to his players at half time.
Despite producing one of our best performances of the season, the Gunners were left empty-handed at the Emirates as a pulsating game turned on its head during a crazy five-minute spell that included a penalty being conceded, a gilt-edge chance being missed and a red card for defender Gabriel.
The visitors snatched the win three minutes into stoppage time as Rodri pounced on a loose ball to toe-poke home from close range.
A very animated figure on the touchline in normal circumstances, we can only speculate as to how Arteta reacted to the action while watching home alone. It wasn’t something he was looking forward to.
“During the game, there was no direct line with Mikel, but we are always in contact with each other,” revealed Stuivenberg in his post-game press conference.
“I do believe I’m famous for the earpods, so normally I’m in that situation that we’re always in contact with somebody from upstairs, or, in this case, from further away.
“This was the same for the Norwich game, people not involved in the stadium and we have contact there, not a direct line, but an indirect line with Mikel and in between of course, at half time, before the game and after the game Mikel has been in touch because he needs to be involved.
“In that case and we don’t do anything different, only Mikel physically is not here, that’s the only difference.”
Arsenal play Liverpool in the first leg of the Carabao Cup semi-final in six days time and it remains to be seen whether Arteta will be back in the dugout.
“I’ve got no clue,” said Stuivenberg. “We don’t know how this virus develops, so he first has to test negative of course to be able to come back in.”
Stuivenberg also confirmed that Arteta shared his pride in the performance even if the nature of the defeat was hard to take.
“Yes, I was in touch with him at the end,” said the Dutchman. “He’s very proud of the performance of the players, he really enjoyed the game, but of course also he’s very frustrated that we don’t end up with three points because at the end it’s all about that.”
I must say that Amazon documentary is gonna be fire.
I wonder if Mikel special stream showed the incidents like we all saw on TV.
If it’s the same system used when Arsene was in charge, he couldn’t see the incidents.
Same feed the VAR team get as well then.
*special feed it was 😉
I’d not heard Stuivenberg speak before- he’s great. Seems like he’ll be a great manager one day if that’s the way he goes; very articulate and personable while also maintaining that ‘don’t f**k with me’ air somehow. Impressed! Glad that we’re finally putting some focus on VAR too, I wonder whether that was his decision or Mikel instructed him to.
He was a manager and he is already 51
The questions we must ask are if Xhaka can spell apple or if we can continue with this window breaking postman.
Spell apple.
Xhaka: A-P-P-U-L
I can spell swibble , c u n t .
Bang out of order, he was just quoting blogs post on the 29th about players ability to learn from their mistakes or from instructions. This is not how you post to a fellow fan if they have a different opinion.
The postman reference was also from an arseblog post a while ago.
Get over it, read the blog.
Too stupid to even spell it correctly when it it is right in front of you..
Probably still a lot smarter than you though.
I must say, I did laugh.
As it was meant, not to offend.
Or in Xhaka’s case “A PULL” but then didn’t learn and spelt it the same another 20 times a season.
I love when I see martinelli get his head down and charge towards defenders, looks like sonic.
Dear Arsenal, please please please go out there and BUY us a world class midfielder, relegate xhaka to an elneny substitute role like we did with giroud towards the end of his time.
Our missing element is an elite midfield. Partey and Odegaard are amazing but the 3rd mid is subpar (xhaka, elneny, lokonga). If we can snag a great midfielder I think we can comfortably challenge top 4 for the forseeable future and possibly the title. I actually think Torreira would fit into this midfield but I think the time has past for him at Arsenal.
Lokonga is really young but will be superb, as will Patino. I agree we do need a better partner for Partey. Zakaria is left footed so would be ideal, Bruno G from Lyon looks to be in the mix too and it would be great to get both if we let AMN & Elneny go….
Torreira had his moments but he’s too tiny for the PL
Torreira same height as Kante. Not saying he’s the answer but sometimes it’s not the size of the dog in the fight.
Too right.
Id rather Torriera in the middle than fooking xhaka. Considering how many eff ups xhaka has done that have cost the team, one cannot reasonably say Torriera would be worse or a downgrade. Its a shame hes been exiled.
Comparisons to Kante are mostly useless, like to Bergkamp. One of a kind.
How has Lokonga been subpar this season? He should bloody well be playing now. Kid looks like an absolute gem. His last outting he was MOTM and we haven’t seen him since (protocols aside). Lokonga is miles better player than Torreira already and so much room to grow.
Maybe the covid hit him hard, he should play the no few games. Would be surprised if he doesn’t start the 3 cup games.
Dunno… That’s an assumption. I think he missed the shortened quarantine, so he might just be getting back into training and stuff now. We need him for the next month. Partey has been brilliant lately. Xhaka…well he’s Xhaka and he’s clearly going to be playing come hell or high water. Another dumb penalty give away isn’t going to change that. He’s been solid lately, still nothing more than that – just a typical 6 to 7.5 max rating week in week out. Good ol’ mediocre Xhaka. Even without the penalty today I think he was our least influential player –… Read more »
Think once lokonga gets a run of games it will be similar to esr last season martinelli this. I thought he was our best player in the 1st half of the liverpool game, once he gets a run of games he might be hard to shift out of the team.
He was on 4 bookings so I believe he was being protected until he’s given a clean slate
So he hasn’t played for the last 6 games in case he gets a 1 game ban? Not sure about that mate.
He’s our 3rd best choice but he was completely out of his depth against Liverpool and made multiple mistakes that game. He’ll get there but he’s still a bit raw to be a top top prem midfielder which Partey and Odegaard are. I doubt you’ve seen Torreira play in awhile. To play in a double pivot you need to be very disciplined and have great positioning sense, that comes with experience…Height isn’t that important. We had Cazorla and Thiago is an amazing mid for liverpool currently.
Watch the liverpool game again mate, he was our best player. I said the same to daveo after the 1st couple of games of the season. He was convinced by lokonga, when I watched again he was right. He’s a special player.
Torierra played enough games for us, couldn’t get in the athleti team either. He’s back were he belongs. He’s the rich man’s leon britton.
Xhaka’s been out of his depth for 5 years.
And you hand everything on Lokonga for one game (mostly one half of one game – yeah he got schooled in the 2nd half against Liverpool). Then bounced back with a MOTM. His other mistake (Palace) he bounced back with a MOTM (Villa). Ridiculous how a kid with boat loads of talent is on a leash shorter than a shoe lace, while Xhaka’s leash remains infinite.
When did I ever say anything good about xhaka?
Lokonga has not been given a fair crack of the whip yet – he will be a top class midfielder.
Elneny tries his best but does not have the required quality.
Xhaka is just a liability..
I felt better after today’s game than after the Norwich game! Everyone else – apart from Arsenal fans – said Norwich was decimated by Covid, injuries, bla-bla-bla. But today, we took on the best team in the league, and made them look ordinary until the referees (including VAR) decided to take centre stage. This match is a more accurate pointer to where we are at as a team; and dare I say, it is exciting. I am loving the top 4 battle: that seems to be the only real contest left this season. Arsenal, United, West Ham and Spurs are… Read more »
TP5 what a perf! Thats the partey we know from atletico. Of course he’s now off to Afcon. And will be out once back with covid/out of shape/injured.
No gabriel and TP5 for NLD. Looks grim.
Can AFS manage for the next game too without MA?
Won’t Gabriel’s suspension be for our next game, the Carabao Cup, meaning he’ll be back for the NLD?
That’s the way I understand it, 1 game ban for 2 yellow card sending off.
The NLD is ages away. There are two legs of a cup semi and an fa cup game against forest before that.
We’re all proud as well, Mikel. Keep this level of performance up and the results will take care of themselves. At this point, I’m only looking up in the table.
Our fans and manager being this proud of a defeat is pathetic. A loss is a loss.
We’re going to return to Wenger days where top four was a trophy. This mentality is not good enough for Arsenal.
Going for 8th to 4th is no mean feat, nor is setting achievable goals and upgrading them as we go along. Realistically speaking if we target the title now we’re only going to fail for the next 2-3 years against our own expectations. The best course of action is indeed to make it to CL year on year and then talk title challenge in 2-3 years’ time.
I guess your mentality was not good enough for the priesthood.
Begone, troll-puta madre.
Bet you’re fun at parties.
Well you are a proper barrel of fucking hilarity ain’t ya!
You clearly don’t understand anything about football
Granit Liability Xhaka
Wasn’t. A. Penalty.
De bruyne needs new pants- why is no one talking about this
Ok. I’m interested. Tell me more of this theory. It’s quite telling I think that this is the first mention KDB has had. In fact no one was talking about any of the city players except to laud their nouse for gamesmanship (clever diving). Even Wrightie didn’t avoid this narrative.
Because he’s one of the several City players pocketed yesterday?
On balance you have to be happy considering the performance. If we’re looking for a true yardstick of progress and genuine cause for optimism that this group of players has the capacity to compete with the very best in the game then that was more than evident yesterday.
We were hampered by bad officiating, but we exacerbated that handicap with immaturity in critical moments. Now the boys can show it wasn’t a fluke and put in an equally competitive performance against Liverpool.
I thought the coaching staff were superb in Arteta’s absence. It couldn’t have been easy for anyone.
Another positive to take from an otherwise fucking awful game with the most corrupt display of inept dogshit officiating in recent history.
Despite the defeat against the eleven men of Man City and the “referee/VAR” there are lots of positives.
We may not get top four but it is vital to get into Europe one way or another and use the remaining season to introduce the likes of Patino into the first team. In terms of signings I feel we need a top class centre midfielder, striker and a back up right back – perhaps another centre back and goalkeeper if Leno leaves.
Serious question blogs: do you think match-fixing takes place in the PL? There have been a number of incidents this season that reek of foul play on the officials’ part (mostly surrounding the ‘big clubs’) and VAR’s purpose seems to be to ‘control’ big decisions in key matches. Personally, I think both teams should have had penalties – if officiating and VAR had been consistent – but yet again the richer club comes out on top. What’s your view? Would love to see this discussed on one of the upcoming podcasts – sure a lot of Gooners would be interested… Read more »
Pep’s post match interview said it best and plenty about Arsenal’s progress. We can dissect the match as much as we want, but the way the boys played, there’s much to be proud of this young team. We are on the right path and the future bodes well. 18 games to play for. Maintain this level of technical play and we’ve got a good chance to be in the top 4. The experience will come and they’ll be even better. Come on Arsenal!
Dear god all this hate towards Xhaka for one silly mistake in the game. Would you all have been slagging off Martinelli if it had been him. Athough there is a good chance if it had been any other player they would have got away with it anyway as the refs do single him out! Apart from that he had another good game. He wasn’t responsible for Gabriel getting two very avoidable yellow cards or the poor header by Holding which give them their chance to score which they did right at the end. Constructive criticism is fine but comments… Read more »
The referee needs to take a long hard look at himself after that performance. Yes we gifted them a penalty and yes a very avoidable red card but the foul on Odegaard was a stonewall penalty, the accidental but horrible foul on Martinelli a clear yellow card. And what the fuck was the referee doing in front of Martinelli in the box which he missed that chance? He ran in front of him when he got the ball! The referee should NEVER be that far forward, he was interfering with play! Sometimes I think the opposing players have to break… Read more »