‘Really, really upset’ Arteta pin-points two ‘unacceptable’ aspects of Arsenal first half
Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta admits he was “really, really upset” after Liverpool raced into a 2-0 lead at Anfield on Sunday.
The Gunners launched an ultimately pointless comeback to draw the game at Anfield 2-2 after Cody Gakpo and Luis Diaz had given the Gunners an early lead.
Gabriel Martinelli and Mikel Merino struck back before the latter was sent off for two bookable offences.
But Arteta lingered on that first-half performance as he told Sky Sports after the match: “What we did in the first half is nowhere near the level so to do it after that [fight back] is not acceptable. We reacted, great but it is unacceptable.”
Asked in the post-match press conference what in particular was “unacceptable”, he said: “A lot of parts, especially the defending standards and the errors after we gave the ball away, which is totally prohibited against this team.
“We were very far off it. I was really upset. Yeah, we had a reaction but I hate reaction, I like action.
“If we want to be there winning trophies, there is going to be a moment where you win it or you don’t. If you don’t, you have to play another one when you have been working for nine months. That is here, today.
“If you cannot win it, you have to be the best of the rest. I was really, really upset.”
Arsenal were missing the injured Declan Rice, who joined Gabriel Jesus, Gabriel and Kai Havertz in being unavailable, leading Arteta to claim: “We missed half of the team again and you can still [come back] from 2-0 at Anfield.
“We played the way we played, came back and maybe should have won it, and at the end maybe lost it with something that was in our hands.
“If we want to really win it, the consistency level [has to be there] for 95 minutes. I don’t like to talk about the players that are not here and excuses. I am disappointed.”
Arteta talked an awful lot about the missing players for a man who does not want to talk about the missing players, adding once again: “Again today we played with 10 men, half of our team injured, and some of them playing when they should not, and still we performed in a way we have done for seven or eight months.
“That is what we have to demand from ourselves.”
