Mikel Arteta was in a frustrated and angry mood for his post-match press conference against West Ham having seen his side wilt in their hopes of beating their London rivals. It gives the chance for Liverpool to open the gap even wider than before should they beat Manchester City.
He was asked about his side’s struggles in scoring goals and whether that vindicated his position on needing a striker in the January window. He owned the defeat and explained
Here is every word from the press conference as Arteta faced the media:
Mikel, I’m just wondering what the atmosphere is like in the changing room after that, it must be quite difficult to pick them up off the ground.
Yeah, very disappointed, obviously very angry as well. I think you have to congratulate West Ham for the victory and the game that they played.
But as well I think a lot from our side that we never got right and they didn’t allow us to get enough momentum, enough sequence of play with positive action that could deliver into situations of threat for them. And even though the ball that we had and 20 shots of that, I never felt that we were at the standard and the level that we needed.
First of all to have more threat and then not to allow them to run because we lost a lot of balls that we allowed West Ham to run in very dangerous positions.
So when you say anger it’s anger of yourself?
Yeah, we have to be, I hope we are very much because we didn’t hit the levels today and I am very much responsible of that so I am very, very angry.
I think people look at the forwards and the injuries and think ‘Oh that must be why,’ is that it?
No, no and I refuse that completely because I am talking about the standards of the players and the team that we played today, me included. And that was nowhere near the levels that we have to hit to have the opportunity to win a Premier League.
Today no, we were very consistent, yes, but football is about what you do today and today, nowhere near.
Just on Ethan, he seemed to be limping a bit when he came off, is he injured?
No, hopefully not, he was just fatigued I think.
I know you mentioned that you are not happy with the level, you were very vocal in the January window about how you felt you were short and Merino is up front today, do you feel like the fact that there was a struggle to score vindicates in some way why you were so vocal about wanting a second?
No, no, no, honestly again I think we have to look in the mirror of ourselves of what we can do better, what we have done and the will and the desire and the way we run and the way we want it, zero question about that. But at that level this is not enough, you have to deliver and it has to be with a lot of quality to break a really good team down, to win many more games than we have done and to put actions that can end up in really threatening moments for the position to win the games and today we haven’t done that.
So what do you have to do now to change that for the game against Forest?
First of all suffer, 24- 48 hours, suffer and feel the pain and make sure that we come back on Monday with that bite and that anger still in the stomach for Wednesday.
Can you say you included?
No, me first, it’s my responsibility, the team can play much better than we did today, much better, we have to play much better, with much more person, much more quality, much more interaction, much more, not enough.
Do you think you got your team selection wrong?
I would do the same, but when you lose you get it wrong, the tactics, the intentions, everything, that’s what I felt, so I have to do what I feel, after it’s too late.
You said on Friday about being re-energised at the title race, are you worried about the impact that a result like this will have on the energy and the team to go again and go again and keep believing?
Hopefully, a positive one, because it’s already very negative what the result brings and the consequences to that, so hopefully very positive that we understand that we need to raise the level.
Before the game started, could you see the game unfolding the way it unfolded?
No, and especially the way we trained all week, no, but this is football, sometimes you see the warm-up and you see they are flat, then the game starts and we are flying.
I think the way we started the game and how imprecise we were with the ball and giveaways and never got there, I think, affected, but guys, we have 70, 80, 90 minutes to overcome that and we certainly tried, but it wasn’t enough today.
How much has it done to West Ham in the way they played?
That’s the first thing that I said, you know, and they see that we are not there and they start to have more belief and they have the opportunity to run one or two times, to go against the ball. It gets you out of trouble when the situation is blocked, he unlocks the situation and then the spaces are open.
You have to do that and then, yes, before half-time there is a moment that we have them and suddenly they score the goal and it gives them more belief, so again, credit to them.
Just going back to the title race, obviously if Liverpool win tomorrow the gap will be 11 points. Do you think that sort of gap is manageable, do you think that’s it in terms of catching up?
It’s not in our hands. For me, I’m really, really annoyed of the things that are in our hands and we didn’t do as well as we possibly could and that’s the performance and the result today.
For sending off, how did you interpret that incident, any complaints from you?
No, I haven’t seen it back but honestly, I will focus on what we have to do. I don’t know if the decision was right or wrong, I haven’t seen it, I don’t want to evaluate it, but a lot of the things that we should have done better today, it wasn’t.
Myles obviously had a great season but he’s still 18 years old, is that a moment of maybe a bit of naivety there, a learning moment for him?
I don’t know, I have to see the action back to evaluate it.
Just Mikel, on the fans, towards the end when you were pushing to score, there seemed like a lot of frustration, particularly where I was sitting, and anger. Did you feel that, and also is that something that can affect your players when you’re pushing for a goal and you’ve got 10 men? So you need that support and it felt like it was quite an anxious and furious atmosphere.
I understand as well that we won it and we are trying so hard and going against a lot of things and we had a great opportunity today and we don’t believe it.
I think that’s human, you asked me many times what is the ideal and what the team needs and how we overcome certain deficiencies that we have in the squad. It’s them being in every single ball, that’s my dream but I’m not here to demand that to the crowd.
