Mikel Arteta addressed the assembled media in a virtual post-match press conference following Tuesday's defeat to Manchester City.
Here's what he said:
on the result...
A really painful moment, again. We started the game by conceding a really early and really soft goal and after that, in this moment, to get through that is obviously difficult. But the players reacted to be fair and they started to grow as the game was moving forwards. We scored a goal, a really good goal and after that I think that we were the better team for the next 25 minutes. But when we had the best moments in the game, we conceded another soft goal and that makes it even harder. But still, we kept going and we had an open situation where we could've played Laca through and we missed the pass and then they scored the third goal in an offside position. Obviously after that moment, the game is over.
on Guardiola saying the game turned on a goalkeeping error and an offside...
I don't know if he was trying to be kind but those actions are reality but that reality is the difference between the two teams in certain moments, but not for the whole match. But still, you look at the game and that's the story of the game in the end.
on Runarsson and whether it's difficult for him to come back...
We win and lose together and Alex has played other games. We decided to play him tonight for many reasons and that responsibility is for all of us.
on whether he regrets letting Emi Martinez go...
There's no point having any regrets. There's different reasons why we had to do that transaction. We did it and it's a part of the past. He had a really good few months last season and he really helped us and obviously when our goalkeeper makes an error, these things are going to come up.
on making eight changes from the weekend...
It was a combination of the amount of games that some of them have played, some injuries that we have at the moment and obviously, there are players that deserve to play.
on our run of bad luck in games...
It is something that we are fighting against but we're going to keep fighting. There isn't any other way. It's a really hard result to take but we have to look at things that can help us in the future as well. I have to say that the young players, in a really difficult scenario, I think they did really well.
on if William Saliba was close to being involved...
He cannot be involved because he is not in the squad.
on if he is eligible to play in EFL fixtures...
We made that decision with him and we'll see what we're going to do in January.
on if the plan is to loan out William Saliba...
We are talking about it, yes.
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