Mikel Arteta has strongly denied criticisms to the contrary and commended the performance of his team in a 1-1 draw against Manchester City. The Spaniard stated that the display was a good one and his team deserved a lot more than what they got.
Erling Haaland opened the scores at the Emirates in the ninth minute while Arsenal were still finding their feet in the match. However, late on in injury time, Gabriel Martinelli leveled the scores.
As Arteta’s midfield trio of Mikel Merino, Martín Zubimendi, and Declan Rice was deemed too cautious by some fans who accused him of playing ‘with the handbrake on,’ the Spaniard took a different view by stating that his team had done the unimaginable.
“I was hearing the comments made while I was checking them on my phone—they were stunned by what we did against Manchester City,” said Arteta. “People who are coaches, managers, CEOs, presidents…”
City managed only 33% of the possession in the game, which is the lowest percentage for a Pep Guardiola side. Arteta highlighted that as an example of going beyond the handbrake theory. “How can you be dominant against such a team if you have a handbrake?” he asked.
The coach also denied that was the reason for Eberechi Eze not being included in the starting line-up and said it was necessary to control the workload. “Football is a team game, not the game of one player,” he said.
