Mikel Arteta may have made six changes to the side that beat Manchester United but he was clearly frustrated that his rotated team, which was bolstered in the second half by a series of changes, couldn’t get a result at Manchester City.
Nathan Ake’s second half strike sealed a 1-0 win for Pep Guardiola’s team that knocks the Gunners out of the FA Cup and afterwards Arteta lamented a failure on his players’ part to take their chances.
Here’s what he had to say when he answered questions from ITV’s Gabriel Clarke…
On the result…
I’m really disappointed, I think we could have got much more from the game. An action decided the game, it was a really tight match, a really competitive game and an action decided the game. Unfortunately, we are out.
On what he made of the goal…
I think could have defended that much better…in the discipline that we need in the box to stay with their runners.
On being frustrated by missed chances in the first half…
Yes, and in the second half when we had quite a lot of control of the game and we had big situations. We didn’t put them away and in those games you need to do that.
On what he can take from the performance…
We can take a lot of positives, the way we approached the game and the way we competed in the game was really good. It’s very tough to do it against this incredible team. We played face to face against them.
On a sixth defeat in a row against City…
We are closer. In the last two games, we played 94 minutes with 10 men. That’s a little bit difficult against this team.
On how Arsenal can build on this…
In the big moments, in big matches, you have to make the difference. That’s how you win against these teams.
On Martinelli signing a new deal…
I don’t talk about anything on our players until it’s done.
One good goal beat us but we played well and looked more likely winners throughout ! Trossard looked good & Lokonga was much better tonight ! Lots of positives but still shit to lose !!!
Which lokonga? Hope know be arsenal lokonga he does not play anything he was the worse player among them
He was decent tonight in my humble opinion Wanted the ball (despite the fan haters ) and was forward thinking with his passing I thought he did well but certain element of fanbase don’t want him to shine they’ve already decided !!! He’s not Thomas but there’s a great footballer in there he just needs to let it out !
He needs to be aggressive defensively as a DMF. Instead he kept moving backwards and ceding territory to City. He lacks defensive awareness and I don’t know how much he can improve this with coaching. He doesn’t cut it as DMF. Maybe as CMF but worryingly he hasn’t improved his game since he first came. Don’t know how it is on the training pitch but this is what I see when he pulls on an Arsenal jersey.
That exactly is the point (him letting it out).
What is the use of having potential if you don’t “let it out”?
It doesn’t benefit Arsenal locked up inside him or don’t you agree?
Looking at the balance of the game, I don’t know why this defeat doesn’t feel as painful as it should. I kinda feel that we can do better on the next epl encounters. COY Gunners!
Good demonstration of the importance of Partey. We need a better back-up to him.
Trossard probably should shoot the ball on the ground rather than lifting it into the hands of the goalie for his chance. It was a similar location to where they scored their goal, from what I remember.
Lokonga is no Partey, but Partey has 7(?) extra years of experience on him.
Lets see if we sign anyone who can make an immediate impact.
Thought Trossard would have done more – needs to focus on running at the goal instead of “dicking” about
That’s my assessment too – we could easily have won that game
I think it was Sir Alex who said words to the effect that losing is never good (and he didn’t lose that many).
Arteta is right to be disappointed, despite the obvious positives from tonight. At the end of the day the record books show the winners.
Thats was a really solid first half. We gave them problems all over the pitch. You have to give Arteta credit he made an excellent call on the changes. Never nice to loose but very satisfying to see us hold our own against the oil.
Well Done, Holding! Kept the ManBaby out of the game! Sorry you had to get a yellow for doing so ☹️