Manchester: Arsenal Boss Mikel Arteta affirmed his utter discontent with Granit Xhaka’s red card as his side were thumped 5-0 by Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City. His stated that the allowance of Ferran Torres’ goal, after the fouling Calum Chambers added to his cause.
“I am (angry) because of the consequences that it had to the team,” Arteta told BT Sport.
“I must say that the line we are being judged with is really, really thin because we have seen actions like that in the first two Premier League games and nothing happened and I am disappointed.”
“I am very disappointed with the second goal because of the way that they allowed that goal.”
Arteta claims to have had a strong start to their third match , even though they had zero attempts at the shots, after losing to Brentford and Chelsea, in their first two match with an identical 2-0 score line. He added that poor refereeing decisions took a toll at the confidence of his men, as the Manchester side got the better of them .
“I think we started the game really well and in the first situation they had the ball in our box and we defend the cross, we defend the run into the box, and then we are 1-0 down, so we tried to go again.”
“I think we tried to create some situations, and then the second one, there was a hit and the referee allows it to go and then we are 2-0 down and after the red card (there was) obviously a mountain to climb.”
Arteta further explained his profound gratitude towards the fans, who still provided the coach with immense support even if the results and the conditions were adverse.
“When you lose games it’s impossible (to sell the idea of a project), but you saw we had 3,000 fans today and the way they reacted to the team and to the club and the support they were giving it was unconditional, that was why everyone went over to say ‘thank you’ and that was why I am really proud of that,” he said.
“I am sorry we cannot give them the result right now and we will have to fix it.”
“I’m really disappointed with the things that happened on the pitch and the summary after three games, losing all of them, doesn’t make it any easier.
“It is time to reflect and look in the mirror, each of us, and try to change the dynamic straight away because we need to pick up results.”
When Arteta was asked if he thinks he was the right man for the job at Arsenal, the Spaniard replied in positive.
“Yes I do, if not I wouldn’t be sitting here.” said he.
“I have been most critical of myself and taken the blame every single time when we had defeats. Today I say exactly the same thing.
“I question myself and I have to try and have the right people around me and look at every decision that we make and I make and change it if we think we should have done something different.”
Pep had also backed up on the fact that Arteta is the right man for the North London side and even requested the fans to have faith in him.
He has evolved beyond a good man, the correct personality, the leading, his love for all of us,” added Guardiola. “We were sad when he left and sometimes people expect results immediately.”
“The squad that he played today was not the squad that he dreamed (of) because he has injuries, really important players. Ben White and examples like that.”
“He can’t produce the players he needs to do it. All the managers need the squad. All our players except Kevin [De Bruyne] and Phil [Foden] – I can handle that.”
“I’m a big fan of him and I’m pretty sure if they trust him they are going to do a good job in their season.” said Pep, about his former assistant at Etihad.
