Every word from Arteta's post-Man United presser Press ...
There were plenty of talking points from our dramatic FA Cup third round defeat to Manchester United at Emirates Stadium on Sunday.
After the game Mikel Arteta faced the media and was asked about the performance, injuries, the psychological effect and the possibility of transfers.
Here’s a full transcript.
On the performance…Incredible how we didn’t win the game, that’s basically to sum up, the dominance, the superiority in relation to the opposition and everything we did to try to win the game and that’s it, we didn’t get what we deserve clearly, but there is an element about putting the ball in the back of the net, we did it once, with the amount of situations, chances, penalties that we had, we didn’t. We go home extremely sad but I cannot be prouder of my players, the team, individually, collectively what they have produced, on Wednesday night against Newcastle, against two top teams, it’s incredible. We haven’t got rewarded and that’s the downside to it.
On picking up the players like Havertz after this defeat…To him and to all of them, that I love them, that we all love them individually and as a team they are a joy. What this team produces every three days is incredible regardless of what happens. And I'm not going to lose sight of that because of our results or for two because we didn't deserve those results. What can we do better. Let's try to do it. It's very difficult to achieve. It's an emotional part. It's something related to confidence as well. But it’s very difficult to ask something else from our players.
On the incident after the penalty… I comment about my players and my team.
On whether there is a need for another forward…No, but I mean, we miss from various ways, from different plays. And I understand guys that, but I cannot love our players more. And I focus very much on the ones that we have to perform at the highest level. That's it. The rest is not in our hands, in my hands
On Gabriel Jesus injury…Big worry. That's my feeling. He had to come off on a stretcher with a lot of pain. Touching his knee, it’s not looking good.
On if it was the same injury as the World Cup…No, I think it's the other one. The worrying factor is the feeling that he had. He had to come off and the pain that he was in.
On stopping this becoming a psychological problem… But that's the outcome. Obviously relying on not performing like this and waiting for one shot to go on target and score a goal. I don't want to bet on that. I bet on that team to try. Are we going to win big trophies? I don't know. But playing like this there are very few teams in the world that can play at that level.
On if there is pressure to win the north London derby… Regardless of if we would’ve won the last two games, it's exciting and looking forward to play the biggest game of the season for our supporters and what it means to us.
On whether this is a damaging week… I understand the point, but it's a remarkable week to understand what we did again today after what happened three days ago and what we did to two of the best teams in the moment right now. So this is what I take from the result. I understand that and it’s extremely disappointing but I cannot put my focus on that. I think it will be very, very, very unfair.
On Odegaard stepping up first during the shootout after missing a penalty…The first one that happens, when you want to take responsibility and leadership in a team, it can happen. He missed it. What I loved is that when I asked them, OK, who wants to take it? He was the first one in the sheet because I want to take it. And that's the players that we want. You're going to have difficult moments. It's how you respond to them. and he's the captain and he's the leader. And I love that he's done that today again.
On encouraging the supporters in the stadium… I did it before, because obviously after the draw it was there, so in the moment that I did it, it's just to make sure that we create an atmosphere that is needed.
On whether Jesus has gone to hospital…No, he’s gone home.
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