Here is every word from Mikel Arteta’s press conference after Arsenal clash with Brighton in the Premier League
Mikel Arteta faced the press after his Arsenal side were beaten by Brighton
Mikel Arteta faced the press after his Arsenal side were beaten by Brighton(Image: Stuart MacFarlane/Arsenal FC via Getty Images)
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Mikel Arteta spoke to the press after Arsenal’s dismal display on the south coast, where they were comfortably beaten by Brighton. The Gunners boss faces some big questions about the application of his side.
No doubt there will be praise for their opponents, who were excellent on the afternoon and completely worthy of their win. But the displays of some of his players were pretty indefensible.
The Gunners have to fester on their defeat too, with the international break providing a two-week gap till their next game. While Manchester City can now go three points clear with a win at home to Sunderland.
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Here is every word the Arsenal manager said:
How are you feeling? Annoyed, frustrated, what are your gut feelings now?
Extremely disappointed, but first of all, I think we have to congratulate Brighton for the victory. I think they deserve it, I think they were the better team. And from our side there were certain basics that you need to accomplish in football, especially in the Premier League that we were very far from. In the first duel, the second ball, that put the game, especially how direct they were, in a really difficult place for us.
On top of that, when we did regain the ball, especially in our own half, the amount of technical errors that we did and we didn't respect any principle of play that you have to get out of those man-to-man situations, that put us always in the back foot, so it was very difficult to control the game. When we had moments of dominance and control, then we opened them up, but we didn't finish those actions with the quality that is required to compensate all the other things that you have done. So at the end of the day, I think they deserve to win the game and it's a big lesson for us.
Is that a reminder to some of the players how tough every game is?
I think they knew, I think we knew how tough it was going to be today, and the first thing that we had discussed was about the first part. If you don't get out of that first part as winners, it will be extremely difficult to dominate the game and to have any probability of winning the game. We knew that, but that's again credit to them for what they've done because they've overcome us and they had another edge than we did, and that's something that at this level it's extremely important to respect and to understand before anything else.
It's a very uncharacteristic performance for yourself, like you say, it's so good usually in the duels and winning all of them. Why do you think that was the case today?
Well, the first one because Brighton they were really good, and they had another bite, and at the times it was better. There are a lot of moments when the ball is 50-50 and it changes hands and most of the time it was for them. Sometimes there were some technical errors very much involved that opened us up in a really difficult way, but that's something to learn.
That's not going to take away what the team has done and the boys have done in the last six or seven weeks since coming back from the World Cup because with 18 players coming back, what we've done and the way we've competed and the amount of games we've won has been remarkable, but this is a big lesson for all of us to understand what it takes to win at this level.
It felt like in the first five minutes that the pattern was safe? Did you feel it early that something was wrong?
From the first throw-in you could sense it, it was so clear. We put ourselves in trouble one time, two times, three times and we need to get out of that much quicker than that. That's one of the biggest lessons that we have to take from the game today.
Were you tempted to make changes at half-time?
I was, but we believed it wasn't the right moment to do that with the things that we wanted to change for the second half, and that decision was made.
It was the first time that Bruno and Declan have started in the midfield together and it's difficult to build relationships so quickly. Do you feel like that is a partnership that you see in the future being the key core of the team?
It was one of them and it worked extremely well when we played Sunderland away and we managed to win the game and today it didn't work so well for a lot of things that happened as well behind them to make sure that they could play a completely different game. That's something that for sure it will evolve. It's in it's early stages, they only play together a few minutes and that relationship will for sure improve and give us a lot of joy.
I know you haven't been saying this but there's been a bit of a narrative that Arsenal will walk the Premier League. Is this a reminder that no-one can walk the Premier League title.
For us it's crystal clear. We knew, and we talked for two days about what we have to do here. We play the fourth away game in a really short period of time.
We know what it takes to win every single match and we know what it's going to take to win against Leeds when we come back. That's for sure not a surprise, but it doesn't take away the disappointment and emotional state that we have right now.
You've been so dominant this season already. In terms of the way Arsenal have beaten today, it's been some time since Arsenal have been beaten in a way that's just transpired today. What was going through your head when you were watching the game and the mistakes were creeping in and the scoreline was getting worse? What was going through your mind?
Ways to be able to change it. We started to get more control and more dominance. Then we did another action that gave them belief and momentum again.When you get into those moments, it's extremely difficult to change it. At half-time, we tried to change it. We started the second half and we made again two or three really difficult decisions that put us under pressure.The moment we could get some momentum I think it was probably too late.
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