Mikel Arteta was furious with the first-half performance of his Arsenal players in Sunday’s 2-2 draw at Anfield. The Spaniard was stern-faced and frosty in his post-match interview as he blasted an ‘unacceptable’ opening quarter of the game, which saw the Gunners fall two behind.
They mounted a comeback with goals from Gabriel Martinelli and Mikel Merino after the break. But Arteta, whose side crashed out of the Champions League less than a week ago and have already lost the Premier League title race to Liverpool, did not reflect positively on the game.
“What we did in the first 20 minutes is nowhere near the level,” he snapped on Sky Sports. “To do it afterwards is too late. We reacted, great, but the standards in those 20 minutes were unacceptable.”
Arteta was asked to explain what reinvigorated the players, to which he hit back: “I have already explained in the dressing room.” And when the interviewer probed for details on his half-time team talk, he said firmly: “It’s about action, not reaction.”
Several seconds of tense silence followed as it was unclear whether Arteta would follow up on his snappy response. He went on: “When you’re fighting for trophies, you might win and you might lose. Those are the levels we have to have for ourselves. We have to assess it, and in my opinion, it’s unacceptable.”
Arteta’s fiery remarks came after he was mocked by the Anfield crowd, with one group of fans holding a large banner which showed the Arsenal boss in a dress and read: “Always the bridesmaid, never the bride.”
The Gunners are heading for a third consecutive runner-up finish in the Premier League, having finished behind Manchester City in each of the last two full campaigns and failed to push Liverpool all the way this term.
Merino turned in a rebound from Martin Odegaard’s long shot at Anfield, but he was dismissed for a second booking nine minutes later as Arsenal were forced to hunt for the victory one man light.
“It’s not about the players,” Arteta continued. “It’s about we. No-one accepts those standards. It has to hurt a lot. Six times we played with 10 men this season. Look at what we can do when we are there.
“No-one can promise you win. You’re going to have six, seven teams who pray to be in the Champions League next year and then you see.”