“I used my strategies to avoid losing at Etihad; last season, every other major club went there and was humiliated,” said Arsenal. Manager Mikel Arteta responds to supporters of Chelsea and Manchester United after receiving harsh criticism for his team’s defensive play against Man City on Sunday.
“I would be very chubby!” Mikel Arteta argues in favor of Arsenal using “dark arts”
In response to claims that Arsenal employed “dark arts” to grind out a point in Sunday’s box office matchup against Manchester City, Mikel Arteta has defended the team.
John Stones’ spectacular equalizer put City atop the Premier League standings, two points ahead of their primary contenders for the crown, depriving the Gunners of victory in the last minutes of play.
After Leandro Trossard was sent off at the end of the first half, Arsenal had to put the bust away for the duration of the second half.
Many believed that Arteta’s team deserved their fate when they gave up with almost the final kick of the match, putting all of their players behind the ball for forty-five minutes and seemingly telling them to waste time.
Speaking fervently before his team’s Carabao Cup match against Bolton on Wednesday night, Arteta defended his team’s strategy and pointed to a 5-0 loss to City two years prior as the inspiration behind Arsenal’s safety first approach.
He declared, “We had to play the game that we had to play.” We couldn’t for the first ten or fifteen minutes. 11 against11, at which point we clearly changed circumstances and improved significantly. Every group does.
They used ten players to play a 30-second game. Observe their actions; they were typical for a duration of thirty seconds. We had to approach it differently.
Due to the fact that we regrettably experienced such circumstance three times, we also learned from the past. After 37 or 38 minutes, one was with Granit, and we gave up how many? We were defeated 5-0. We had best get educated. I would be quite thick otherwise.
Arsenal’s performance was compared to the strategy that Jose Mourinho, Arsene Wenger’s adversary, used to utilize in crucial matches between Chelsea and their rivals in north London.
Mourinho was frequently accused of using “anti-football,” yet Arteta acknowledged that he had been influenced by a manager who eventually ended the Premier League duopoly between Manchester United and Arsenal.
“You try to understand what really touches that team that makes it special and consistent, especially at this level, and the amount of games we play,” Arteta said. “You learn a lot from all the top coaches,” he added.
Even if you may know where the game will go, will you be able to adjust and still enjoy playing it if it takes a different turn? Since that’s the level at which we are.
