Mikel Arteta met the media at full-time of our Champions League win over Shakhtar Donetsk on Tuesday night.
The boss was asked about the performance, injury worries, Gabi Martinelli and more.
Here’s a full transcript from his press conference…
On getting the job done tonight:
Well I think there were two very different halves, first one we were very dominant, we created four big, big chances we should have converted them and put the game to bed with the amount of dominance we had, the second half very different, we look tired, we lacked that sharpness with and without the ball to regain the ball in the right moments as well in the right areas and giving certain balls away that allow certain transitions. We had two big chances again, missed a big penalty and that emotion again was difficult to overcome and we have to begin but credit to them they are a good side the moment you allow them space, don’t finish actions and give them the chance to run they are a threat. Overall it’s Champions League, get the win, clean sheet. Let’s move on.
On Ben White and Riccardo Calafiori:
Ben was my decision to take him out, he had a yellow card, we have played enough with 10-men in certain periods. They had a lot of intensity on that side and a lot of attacking players on this side, we didn’t want to take any chances. With Riccy it’s something different, he felt something, I don’t know the extent of that so in that sense it’s not great news.
On preparing the team to face Liverpool on Sunday:
Well we played two and half days ago, after internationals, after flying from Brazil and many countries, I was expecting that we could drop off a little bit. And the fact we put so much in the first half and didn’t convert and get the distance in terms of the result and the scoreline that far, I think we paid a little bit of that and then we made life more difficult for us because obviously we started to give the ball away and not regain the ball in the right areas and it was more open so that didn’t help but we have four days and believe me on Sunday we will be flying.
On whether this week will be a good time to prepare for the weekend:
We’ll review what we have to do, we have a day off and then two days to prepare the game and Sunday is far and we are more than comfortable that we’ll be in a great place.
On Martinelli’s performance:
He looked really sharp, he looked really fresh, fresher than anybody else on that pitch. You noticed that against Bournemouth, you could tell that was different. He had another gear, he added another level of threat, he started the game really well and he had a great performance today.
On the decision for Trossard to take the penalty:
Yes, they made that decision, the penalty taker normally is Bukayo or Martin and after that we have two or three players who can take it, they made the decision and unfortunately Leo missed it, but as you said it’s an opportunity missed.
On Gabriel Jesus getting back to his best:
Very important because he can play in different positions and roles, his attitude again was exceptional, very unlucky because he had two big chances that he could’ve converted to a goal, in many other areas he was good and we need everybody.
On the importance of qualifying from the Champions League as early as possible:
That would be great but at the moment very difficult to look at the table because tomorrow it will change and the amount of games and different opponents that we playing, but Champions League, a win, a win at home, in this format especially is key keeping the clean sheet but as you said the amount of injuries we are dealing, the situation we are dealing, happy and let’s move on.
