Mikel Arteta says he is proud of players despite their 1-0 defeat to Bayern Munich at the Allianz Arena this evening, but admits his team didn’t have enough to cause the German giants the problems needed to win the game.
It was the Gunners first Champions League quarter-final under this manager, and ultimately it was a step too far this time around to make the semi-finals. However, Arteta was honest about the performances over both legs, and what we need to do to make progress in the future.
“We are very sad and disappointed with the final result,” he told his post-game press conference.
“It was a tie of very small margins in the first leg obviously. We conceded two very poor goals that had a big effect in the tie. We were still alive, came here and I’m really proud of the players and how they stood up and the way they tried to play, what they tried to do, especially in the first half.
“It was a game that you could see an error, an individual magic moment, he was going to decide the tie. The margins are so small.
“We didn’t defend well at all our box in that action and we ended up after trying everything but not having enough to score a goal and to go through.
“It’s true that we lacked that magic moment that is needed in this competition to unlock it, to make something happen when the game requires to open that door. We didn’t have it and that’s why we are out.”
Expanding on that point on the club’s first season back in the Champions League after so long, Arteta continued, “We haven’t played in the competition for seven years. We haven’t been in this position for 14 years. There is a reason for it.
“We want to do everything fast forward super quick in one season, and I thought we had the capacity and the quality to be in the semi-finals because the margins have been very small.
“But those margins, some of them are coming from something else that maybe we don’t have yet and we have to learn it.
“But today that is not going to make us feel better, that’s for sure.”
Arteta now has to pick his players up and get them ready for a Premier League visit to Wolves on Saturday evening. The mood will be low, and the legs heavy, but with Man City also eliminated from Europe this evening, we have to focus 100% on three points at Molineux.
It’s been a fantastic journey and next season should be just as exciting given the direction we’re heading.
Yes we’re a really young side and steadily improving, not to mention with a young manager. We need more experience, which we’ve gained tonight, and hopefully we can kick on and improve our squad and depth. We can’t afford to buy experience like city so despite how quickly we’ve improved already it’s still going to take time to create the right culture where we no longer feel “we have to earn the right to win” because we will already know that we deserve it
It takes time to become a consistent and successful elite club. Standards have to be unfailingly high and consistent. Every player has to be of a level technically, physically and mentally. And the latter – in particular- you fined out about on the job. A decade ago we drew Bayern and the players were filmed laughing and cheering when our name came out. We were an inside joke. We were outraged and offended at their disrespect and arrogance. Then they beat us 10-2 and we went quiet. Many fans were still backing wenger but the industry knew he was a… Read more »
Arteta has done a great job to get Arsenal to this point. Moving forward, I’d love to see more squad rotation throughout the season, and a real Plan B in attack – one that allows for a bit less control but more ferocious counter attacking.
Exactly this. Maybe we can’t afford too many new players this summer but another decent wide player is a must, so Saka and martinelli can be rotated.
Arteta after Villa defeat: “we have to react the right way..”
Arteta after Bayern defeat: “I’m proud of the players..”
:-p
Good effort. No shame. We are at the top level and margins are fine.
I agree – its very fine margins at that level.
We need a proper clear out of the bench because no player is going to get better without playing. Vieira, ESR, Nelson, Nketiah, not one of them was trusted to play a home game 3 days before a CL quarter final when the team was visibly shattered. Letting go of some of them might be a mistake, but wasting their careers on the bench certainly is. Let’s refresh in summer.
You’re right of course and I agree – but their careers is surely not the manager’s main concern. Instead, let’s use them more regularly as they all have a bigger role to play.
But they arent good enough, thats the point.
Exactly, upgrades are needed across the squad. But money will be tight, perhaps there are 115 ways to find the money we need?
These comments here are so much better than elsewhere on social media. This team has come so far over the last few years and the only way is up. There’s still hope for the league this year. COYG
What Arteta is saying here is complete bollocks. The fact is we most certainly DO have enough. We were good enough to beat Bayern over the two legs, but we just didn’t turn up for either game. The performance tonight was pathetic. No guts, no spirit, no ambition. With half an hour to save the tie we didn’t have a single shot on target. Unacceptable. I fear that, just like last season, our season is about to collapse after a brilliant three-quarters. This has absolutely nothing to do with ability but everything to do with attitude. Your players are weak… Read more »
What a twatty comment. (As usual). We all want to win everything, but you need a bit of perspective on where we’ve come from and our current trajectory.
I’m 99% sure he’s some weird spurs troll.
Hilarious! 😂
Bottled it. There really isn’t much excuse this season. We’ve had a great run of injuries and we have the experience of last year, but we’ve tanked when it mattered again. Villa was disappointing because it felt like we didn’t adjust when Villa did. Here we had an amazing opportunity, but players, in particular the attacking players, just didn’t step up to the occasion. That’s becoming a bit of a trend we’re not getting enough big goals in big moments. Saka, Havertz, Martinelli and even odegaard just didn’t show up tonight and looked over-awed. We ABSOLUTELY need another big signing… Read more »
We have no more bottled the CL than Man City have. They got knocked out as well. Rome was not built in a day and with the exception of Jesus maybe I am not sure any if the players have played in the CL before. It’s a big step up and Bayern are still one of the heavyweights in Europe. Some perspective needed!
We take solace in city losing (they won a treble last year) and at the same time we once again let them glide past us on the league with a second half capitulation against Villa. That’s just a loser mentality. This Bayern team is shit by their standards and they looked ripe for the taking across these two games, we gifted them 3 soft AF goals, and we looked intimidated. We have a team of extremely well paid players (overpaid like all top level footballers) and when it matters most they’ve gone missing. Disappointing.
Professional athletes being given a dressing down by “Fatgooner”. Seriously though, you need personality everywhere to be elite. We’ve developed ours at the back. And we need more upfront. Also. Crocks. They have to be binned off. Rice odegaard and saka and knackered. They’ve been asked to play too much because partey Vieira ESR and Jesus aren’t fit. Vieira aside they never are. And btw – being on the bench and not injured doesn’t mean you’re fit to play. If we don’t replace those players and zinchenko in the summer the. I fear another nearly season. But if we add… Read more »
What is truly disgraceful is your comment. There is no problem with the attitude and you would know that if you followed this team in the past years. The problem is physical and especially mental fatigue. You can play brilliantly like we did in the past months but the momentum can be broken after one unexpected result and it affects confidence. Good levels of confidence is needed to pass it around the way we regularly do, but when you’re fatigued and had a bad result or two, it’s so much more difficult to get on the right side of those… Read more »
Man City just lost at the exact same stage as we did. Are they weak and spineless?
No. They had a real go – against a much better team than Bayern – and were unlucky to go out on penalties.
We were utter dross.
Man City, saint Pep and his footballing darlings of the media are a better team than us, the current CL winners and thoroughly experienced in the CL. They were prob favourites to win again whereas I doubt anyone expected us to get to the quarter finals. So in my opinion I would say their loss is as bad if not worse than ours. And yes they had a go but they are clearly not very good at penalties are they. Silva kicked it straight to the keeper 🤣
I agree with everything you said except the remark about Silva. He kicked it straight down the middle and fairly high because no keeper can save that if he dives either direction. We’ve seen it dozens of times. If the keeper has the nerve to stand still, the shooter looks like an idiot–but if he stands still and it goes to either side, he’s the one who looks stupid. Nothing to do with skill here–all psychology and guts.
City had 30+ shots to Real’s 8. If we had done the exact same thing, you’d say “we bottled it, we have no cutting edge, we’re absolute dross”. Losing is shit, but teams lose games. It doesn’t immediately mean they’re spineless. City lost. We lost. Barcelona lost. We will lose the league to City because their 115 financial cheats give them an edge. Liverpool will lose to them too for the same reason. Come this time of the season, City’s preposterously expensive squad isn’t exhausted, because they’ve able to rotate and still win near enough every game. That is a… Read more »
I’ve mentioned this before: against Luton, their bench included Walker, Aké, Rodri, Foden, Grealish, and Bernardo Silva. France and Brazil can do that, but no club team in the world has anything approaching that sort of depth.
Yeah, and people seem to just ignore it. Even our own fans don’t seem to make the connection between their cheating and their squad. It’s not possible to have a squad like that without breaking the financial rules. And it’s that squad depth that is beating us. If they followed the rules and had to have actual back up players in their squad, then they’d “choke” at the end of the season just like we do. The thing we are criticised for is that we can’t do a thing that City can only do because they cheat.
You are too myopic to see and appreciate the steady development in arsenal since Arteta became the manager. Is just a matter of time,these boys will rule Europe.
I mean, he’s not wrong. It’s the third season in a row we’ve choked in the final hurdle. It can’t become a habit.
Choked/bottled or had injuries and not enough squad depth? Which is the likely reason why the end of the season has been difficult for us?
Villa had a number of players missing when they came to the emerates. We played Wednesday they played Thursday, we had extra day. Do they have squad depth better than ours. Serious question
At least not those cold November nights at Stoke. 😁
Players being burnt out and tired by the end of the season is not *choking or bottling*. We need further squad depth to give them a break. They are human beings not footballing robots. There is a reason why Man City do so well and not just the 115+ charges against them. They have unbelievable squad depth and their second eleven would beat most first teams in the PL. We have to aim for that but it takes time (not the cheating and corruption obviously) but the squad depth!
The squad depth is a direct result of the cheating. They pay for that squad with money they don’t have. That’s literally the problem. If Man City don’t cheat, they don’t have that squad depth. If they don’t have the squad depth, they lose more games and get more tired. In other words – they would be on a level playing field to us, and Liverpool. The “edge” they have is the cheating.
AFC spent 680 million pounds since Arteta’s arrival and don’t think he was able to sell players at good price (but Belagun). that amount of money and we don’t have a proper striker (bought / will buy another keeper instead) as well as a proper plan B when the opponent game plan is to defend and counterattack. no Arsenal manager had what he’s having in terms of financial support from the club. steady development is the minimum he could deliver.
Agreed and nicely articulated without any prejudice or bias.
😂😂😂 “RamsdaleMyHero” the epitome of unbiased, unagendered arsenal commentary. We lost to (irrespective of league performance) an excellent experienced football team. We’ve made visible progress this season, we still have a hope to win the league but it we don’t – we have still made progress. Man City were banging out the league year after year and still failing to win the Champions League. To win it the first year we were back in after 7 years out would’ve been unprecedented. It’s been a gruelling test, that we sadly failed but we have a young team who will continue to… Read more »
You do talk some crap sometimes!
time to step up yourself, fats!
We could have played another 7 hours, we still wouldn’t score. We looked totally fatigued and out of ideas.
I love this team and very proud of them. The coach and players have shown they learn and improve from previous seasons and mistakes. The season is not over and there is a lot to be optimistic for, and a lot more to be excited for next season.
SEE YOU IN THE UCL 2024/25 FINALS!!!
I love my club,it’s been pretty good journey so far. With same enthusiasm and some little touch in some areas especially striking position, next season will be more fascinating. Kudos the boys for their top notch performance this season.
Though disappointed a little I absolutely believe we were the equal of Bayern throughout both ties.
The experience is something to learn from and with a summer of reinforcing the squad I am sure we will come back stronger next time.
We were hardly humiliated were we going against one of the best sides in Europe..
They did well.
its bitter to loose again in europe but it was an equal game. would have been nice for once to get the luck but were back challenging personally im cool with that. this team is special we may fall short this year but were close
Wise words.
We face our biggest test now, turning things around late in the season.
We have the players to do it, this on them now, can they turn it around & push City all the way until the last day.
Now the dust has settled a bit I’m feeling much more relaxed. Bayern have been mouthing off a bit, but when you see the problems we have with squad depth and fitness and yet they still required a mistake by us to win by a one goal margin over two legs, it shows how far we’ve come and and how good we are now. The season isn’t over by a long stretch, we have to win at Wolves to stabilise things then see what we can do. Had we beaten Villa this defeat would have been easier to take. The… Read more »
I am disappointed we didn’t go through, particularly because we essentially lost on mistakes. Thing is at the highest level, you cannot make mistakes and you have to capitalise on the small margins. That knowledge needs experience as well as skill. A lot of our team have little experience at this level, this will have been good for them. Just remember 4 and a half years ago was the Xhaka incident, Emery was fighting with Ozil and Aubameyang and arsenal were liming to 8th in the league. How many of you would have believed we’d have been in the CL… Read more »