Mikel Arteta admitted his side were not at their best today as they beat West Ham 2-1 at the London Stadium, but declared himself pleased with an ‘ugly’ win and three hugely important points.
The Gunners went into this game knowing that Sp*rs had beaten Leicester and only a win would take them back above the old enemy, and perhaps that pressure told in the first half in particular.
Rob Holding headed us into the lead only for West Ham to get one back before the break, before Gabriel completed a centre-half double with a header from a Gabriel Martinelli cross for the goal which turned out to be the winner.
Speaking afterwards, the Arsenal boss was delighted with the win, despite how scrappy the overall performance was at times.
“It’s a massive win, under very difficult circumstances because we put ourselves in real problems, especially with our decision making and in ball possessions, and the spaces we were attacking, and the timing of it and the efficiency of it,” he said.
“But the team showed huge character, not to give up, to continue trying to do the right things.
“The way they fought, the way they understood how they have to manage the game in certain moments, with the way we defended, because we didn’t concede anything, it was phenomenal.
“In England you say ‘win ugly’, I think from my point of view today we won ugly, and I’m extremely happy to see a team that has this capacity to find a way to win and show the character that they showed today.”
However, he refused to blame the paucity of the performance on feeling pressure or nerves as the stakes grow increasingly high each week.
“No, I think when you have to pass the ball from A to B under pressure or under no pressure, I think this is an excuse,” he continued.
“Today we were just sloppy at times, imprecise and that led to a game that we didn’t want to play in in many moments, but we recognise that and sometimes it happens, to play here against this team is not easy at all, and we found another way to win the match today.”
🎵🎶🎵🎶🎵🎶🎵🎶🎵
I know it’s only rock n roll but I like it
🎵🎶🎵🎶🎵😊🎵🎶🎵
I know, it’s only Mark Noble, but I like it.
😂👍
I think Mikel’s either got the wrong end of the stick or deliberately deflecting with his comments on pressure… The journo didn’t mean pressure from an opposing player, they mean the pressure of trying to get top 3.
Who cares? We won. We have the points. Enjoy.
He’s clearly just downplaying the pressure of trying to make CL, anything to take the stress off the players minds!
And the Artenaissance continues….
Something has to be done we the mentality of this team when we score and take the lead. The win was great today, but we can’t let teams score against us every time we score. We need to calm the fk down after scoring and improve our game management. We should have gone to half time 1-0 up.
Yeah, of course, but it’s not like we’re the only club this happens to; it’s so common it is one of those easy cliches that commentators use–you’re most vulnerable right after you’ve scored.
Good call.
They say every team is vulnerable after scoring but our lot turn into a Shaggy and Scooby collective.
“Let’s see who the phantom of the London Arena Park is…..why, it’s Mister Souness…!”
”Aye…and Sperrrrrzz would huv had tup furrrr seeewn oop by now uf it wasn’t fer yoo meddling Goonerrrrrs…”
Just to be clear; you’re saying we have to stop conceding a goal every time we score, after a match where we closed it out for 40 minutes after scoring a goal…..?
What I am saying is, we seem to be very vulnerable right after scoring a goal. Specially with the West ham goal it was so close to halftime. We need to just focus better in that 5 min period right after scoring and calm the nerves.
Earlier in the season, some fans were complaining that we sat back after taking a 1-0 lead. Now, we try and go for a 2nd goal, fans are nagging that we need to calm down.
Our game management has been just fine the last three games. Against three of the top sides in the league, we’ve scored nine goals and neither side could score in the second half against us.
Well said mate
Thinking ahead to next season, if we played these guys with Tierney at LB and a more clinical striker I think we would be beating them by 2-3 goals.
Calm down. ..
Both teams were missing a few players. They rested a couple of players for Europe and the suspended Dawson.
Ugly is the new beautiful game
They all count.
Next is Leeds; if we get another 3 points, and Liverpool do the business, we take 5 point advantage to Sp*rs.
I truly expect us to get a result there.
We could even win there and clinch the spot
Really, because two weeks ago you said you “detest” Arteta, we had a “broken team”, and our chances of top 4 were “nonexistent”.
I’ve said this so many times this season, but we wouldn’t have won this match last season. We’ve improved and I’m excited for what’s ahead.
I’m not sure that’s my takeaway from his comments. I think he mentioned he was unhappy with our performance. We got away with one. Arteta should be FAR from satisfied with the performance. We should not be banking on ‘winning ugly’ There was a lack of conviction in the team today. It was almost too easy maybe and they were a bit second gear. We will be punished if we do not wake up from this Some will prattle on about how beating West ham these days is no mean feat yeah maybe but they are not a deep squad… Read more »
Every single post from you is negative and depressing.
Let me guess, your day job is a motivation coach right? I just double checked, and yep we did beat West Ham yesterday…
I’m really glad I’m not your cat.
His cat ran away ):
Ugly? who care as long as Arsenal win.The days when football was a sport
are long gone. Its money,money
Leed swill be desperate to avoid the drop . Expect flying tackles.
Leeds will get relegated, but not sure if they will come to Arsenal looking for a 0-0 or try to win the game.
Gonna be interesting going round my in laws after that 🤣. Already had the missus not talk to me for a few hours afterwards & all I did was thank her for her team not attempting to get a 2nd equaliser 🤣. 4 games to go, roll on Leeds
Thank you for your pain – it does not go unvalued mate!
This article is a classic example of me misinterpreting a headline if there ever was one: I thought Arteta had won Kane in a Lidl raffle. Glad that’s been cleared up.
Something is wrong – Mike Dean – And We Won?
AND the cunt bottled a perfect opportunity to slap another red on us… wtf is going on with him?
Arteta really has instilled a phenomenal character and spirit in this team.
Holding, Elneny, Nketiah, Laca, who have been in and out of the team, some of whom may not be here next season, you can tell all love the club and are fighting to get us back into the Champions League. All given their debut by Wenger but fighting until the end for the Arteta cause.
If Spurs lose or draw with Liverpool and we get 3 points vs Leeds then we will just need two wins or one win and a draw vs Spurs out of the last three to get 4th place. Never would have dreamed we would be in this position after having dropped three straight heading to Chelsea, then Man U at home and West Ham away without Partey and Tierney. Just an amazing turn around and credit to the manager and the players that have stepped up to get us to this point. Now just have to see it through and… Read more »
You cannot have heavy metal all the time. A dollop of alloy and iron ore might just do it away from home