Arteta concedes title after Arsenal hold on to 1-1 at Utd

NicheSportMedia

Arteta concedes title after Arsenal hold on to 1-1 at Utd  09/03/2025  Old Trafford, Manchester, UK

Transcript

00:00It's frustrating not to win the game, but with everything that we did, especially in

00:13the first half, it's 43-44 minutes. The dominance, how we dominate every aspect of the game,

00:19full control. We lacked a little bit in the last 15-20 minutes, so for that shot to have

00:24more purpose, more direction, the last pass, the last action, but the game is clearly for

00:30us and going in the direction that we wanted. Unfortunately, one long ball, we don't manage

00:33that ball well. We give it away, we create a foul in a really dangerous area when you

00:38have to rely on them not taking advantage of the individual quality. That's a really

00:43bad bet against Manchester United. They capitalised on that in the second half. We tried to generate

00:49the momentum, we scored the goal and when my feeling was that they were very struggling

00:54because they could not get out and I didn't feel that they had the legs to do that, we

00:58opened the door for them to maybe win the game because we gave some very unusual balls

01:04away and very basic things done really poorly. Even though we had three big chances, the

01:10reality is that that saved us and at the end, in the last chance, we could have lost the game.

01:14You're obviously chasing down the title and you've dropped points in three consecutive

01:20games, which bearing in mind the standards you've set the last couple of seasons is most

01:24outkeeping. How frustrating is that and what do you put that down to?

01:28Today, the efficiency we had in the last 20 minutes, it wasn't good enough. We know that

01:34because we're big parts of a lot of things that the game demands to come to Old Trafford

01:38and what we did, superb. But at the end, you have to capitalise on that when the team is

01:43so dominant and much better than the opposition. Today, we didn't and then you have to overturn

01:48a result, which we know how difficult it is to do that here and you have to expose yourself

01:53a little bit more because you have to take more risks as well. Then the game, as I said

01:58before, could have gone the other way in the last few minutes.

02:02Can I ask you about the free-kick? Because it's an issue with the trash talk about the

02:08Wall Walls and then also David's positioning.

02:11They just mentioned that if Bruno is on that, football is for smart street players and if

02:16he's done that and capitalised on that, he was more clever than us and the referee.

02:24I don't know, but he's done it, it was a goal, so they took advantage of that.

02:29That's why football is for clever people.

02:32You had Martin Elliott coming off the bench, obviously a big boost to see him back.

02:37Are you confident having that quality back when you've got games in the Champions League

02:40coming up, that could be a real game-changer for you?

02:43Yes, but we have to rely and we can do better with the players that we already have and

02:48we have to do consistently because we did so well three days ago, four days ago and

02:52it's about doing it again and again and again. What you did last week, it doesn't matter.

02:56It's very positive that with the ones that we have we can do better in terms of what

03:02we produce in the final.

03:03Ruben was just going to say that he wishes he had more Brunos in his team.

03:08Do you look at anyone in the team and think, I wish I had more of those guys?

03:12I'm very happy with the ones that I have.

03:15You obviously got Gabby back early, is there any chance of Pacaya coming back early?

03:21With Gabby it was a bit different, the kind of injury that he had and we talked I think

03:26last week that he was much closer than me.

03:28After the international break, let's see where he is.

03:31His progress is really good, he's really willing as we can all imagine.

03:35So we are positive in a few weeks, hopefully he will be back.

03:39When we heard from Ruben he basically said he didn't want his team to play in a low

03:42block, that's not how he wants to play.

03:44Is there a worry for you that opponents when they play Arsenal seem to think a low block

03:49is how to stop them and you sometimes struggle to break that down?

03:52I think he mentioned it and it was very clear that he didn't want to play that.

03:57But in the manner that we dominated the game, they didn't have another chance.

04:01And then he scored a goal and they capitalised on that and we were unable to score the second

04:06one.

04:07The couple of seasons people have asked you about number 9 and centre forward, but when

04:12you look at that last 20 metres of the pitch, is it actually the other areas where Arsenal

04:17can be better in terms of creativity and actually making those chances?

04:21Yes for sure and that's the responsibility of all of us and we don't want to put that

04:25into the 9.

04:26So I fully agree with you, that's the initiative that everybody has to take, especially when

04:30we defend.

04:31We attack against so much density, we've done it in the past, we've done it recently,

04:35but we have to do it consistently.

04:37And this low block, as Simon said, it's becoming a real consistent thing that Arsenal come

04:42up against.

04:42Is your training now very geared around that in preparation?

04:46Yes, and that's why as well, another big part of that is the pieces and the amount

04:50of situations we generate, we generate that.

04:52So that's another tool that a few weeks ago, a few months ago, were exceptional and

04:56opened a lot of games and we lost a lot of players up front.

04:59So we need to recover all those things as well because they are really helpful.

05:13I don't want to say that but today the frustration is that we haven't won

05:16the game.

05:16We know the urgency and they are obligated to win every single match.

05:22You want to have any chance of doing that.

05:24I don't think it's the right moment to talk about that.

Category

Transcript

Recommended