Mikel Arteta Arsenal
Are you frustrated?
I’m really proud, of the way we played, the way we dominated the game. We lacked that spark in the final third to find the opening to find the right moment and extra pass and a little bit the finishing quality. We had a lot of situations around the box to do better and then yeah, there were two scandalous penalties.
Did you feel particularly the last one?
Both of them. It’s not particular. It’s a penalty or not a penalty and these are both penalties.
You made just one sub. Do you feel your squad is light?
We were chasing the goal, we were in a good moment and I didn’t want to make any more changes.
Have you spoken to the ref?
No.
Is this a game maybe two seasons ago that you would have lost which shows how far the team have come?
I don’t know but we wanted to win it and we still have that in the gut that we did more than enough and we merited a different result. But we didn’t get it and it’s a draw.
Do you feel like it’s two points dropped?
It’s not that. It’s not about the feeling. I feel the team was on top, we were chasing it, we really wanted it. You could see the team was doing everything to win it. We lacked that in the final third and then we lacked the two big decisions obviously.
You had several altercations with Eddie Howe and Jason Tindal. What were you unhappy about?
Just parts of the game.
Do you think that ref had control of the game.
He has the whistle so he has control. I’m not here to talk about the referees sorry.
Do you think only one team trying to win
I don’t know. I talked about my team and we were trying to win it 100%.
Do you think the tension helped or hindered your team?
It’s a football match. It’s very competitive the way we play, the way they play. We’re close on the table and this is the beauty of this league.
Were there times where you wanted the team to calm down?
I thought the team was really composed.
You said you wanted to get business done early this window. Would that have helped if you had got someone in before tonight?
I don’t know. That’s something more for Edu and the board to respond. We are really trying to improve the squad in every window. We’re trying to do our best because we cannot waste any windows still with the squad and the numbers that we have. We will try.
Do you see Newcastle as title challengers?
I don’t know. There’s still a long way to go. We will see. When there’s 10 games to go probably I can respond to that question.
This is the first time Arsenal have failed to score in the league this season. How have the players reacted?
They wanted to win. We threw everything at it to get the points. We could not do it. But I think we should be very proud of the performance against a really good side.
What are you most happy with at the halfway stage in this season?
The way we play. Personality, the cohesion, the determination and the clarity to play the way we want to play. The results have been great but I’m especially proud of the way we play against any opponent.
