After seeing his team continue their winning start to the 2023/24 campaign, Mikel Arteta was soon in the Selhurst Park press conference room to discuss the game with the journalists in attendance.
The boss spoke about various topics, including the win, Gabriel’s future, the performance of Declan Rice, VAR and penalty takers.
Here is everything he had to say:
on the win:
I loved it, absolutely loved it. It’s a really difficult place to come. We played how we wanted to play 11 against 11, we dominated the game, we created enough chances, we missed two very, very huge chances that normally we put away, but we never gave up. We continued the way we wanted to continue. Eddie earned us the right to go ahead with his action, we scored the penalty and then we had to play half an hour with 10 men, which is obviously a conflict that we didn’t prepare.
We had to adapt and I think the players worked fantastically because I don’t think we gave anything away. The subs were great, the way they came out, the concentration, the focus on how they helped the team and changed the team’s momentum in many occasions of the game, so I’m really happy.
on the second yellow card for Tomiyasu:
I prefer not to make comments because for me it’s so obvious.
on Gabriel not starting and whether it’s due to speculation:
Nothing at all, it’s about games that we were expecting, how we were going to defend and attack and what I believe is the best thing. He’s played in both games and helped us to win both games for different reasons. He was really good today, he absolutely dominated the box when he came on and he’s going to play a lot of games. That’s the decision sometimes.
on the timewasting rules:
For me it’s not an issue. It’s the referee’s call, they are consistent with that, they explained it and the only thing we are asking for is consistency. If not, we have to play with a stopwatch to understand what it is and what it’s not.
on Declan Rice’s performance:
I think it was great. He bossed the midfield and dominated the game. He was very influential, both attacking and defending. Today he played a different position to last week because of what we expected from Palace and what we needed today, and I think he was really good.
on whether VAR is consistent on red card reviews:
I don’t know. The decision is made, we are not going to change it now. We adapted to it, unfortunately it made the game obviously much tougher and normally you drop points when you have to play in this league for 30 minutes away from home. To survive the way we did is not something that usually happens, but we are so happy that we overcame that big hurdle.
on whether Martin Odegaard is the new penalty taker:
I have no clue, it’s about leadership of players, and if they felt it was the right thing to do, for me I’m fine. They have to make those decisions on the pitch. I was surprised like everybody else, but he scored the goal which is the important thing and we won the game.
on the having the option of big powerful players to bring on:
When you develop a squad that’s something that a squad has to have to be successful, win and be consistently the very best. That’s something we are trying to do, that means a different profile is needed and when we have to be very physical, we are capable of doing that.
on whether we have come close to the level he wants yet this season:
No, because we have to put the ball in the net more often, especially with the dominance we are having in games. But that’s the most difficult thing in football, so if you don’t do that, you have to do the other part, which is be extremely solid. We were last week and we were again today with the chances we conceded. Let’s keep playing better and evolving.
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