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