After seeing his side battle hard to maintain their unbeaten start to the season, Mikel Arteta fielded questions from the media at the Etihad Stadium.
He was asked about the key moments, Riccardo Calafiori's full debut, injuries and more.
Here is everything he had to say:
on his thoughts on the game:
We had a very difficult start in the first 10-15 minutes. We were struggling to control certain spaces and we didn’t have enough ability to get out of the first 25-30 metres of the pitch which meant that we never controlled the game. After that, we started to understand what we had to do, we were much more efficient. Obviously, we were thrown into a context that made it almost impossible for 56 minutes, but anyway, we adapted to that context in the best possible way and the way the team competed was just unbelievable. I’m so proud of the team. You can’t be thrown into a more difficult situation against that kind of opponent and the way we handled that. I’m so proud.
on Leandro Trossard’s red card:
I’d prefer not to comment because I’ve seen it. It’s that obvious, I’ll leave it to you guys.
on the atmosphere in the changing room:
The boys were really gutted. They put their heart and souls into every single action and to be punished in the last minute, they were gutted. They have made another big step today as a team and individually.
on Jurrien Timber and Riccardo Calafiori:
Yeah. They haven’t played 90 minutes in this kind of context for sure, but they’re so willing to help the team and we will find solutions.
on Ben White’s fitness:
I spoke to Ben yesterday, I wanted to protect him and he’s not going to ever tell you that he’s not fit. He will run through a brick wall for you and the intention was to try not to use him today, but we had to and I’m very grateful because he performed very well.
on Calafiori’s performance:
He was great. Again, to have the debutants start a game in the Premier League in this context. He has so much personality and quality, I was really impressed.
on whether Mikel thinks we’d have won with 11 men:
I don’t know. I have no clue. We would try for sure but what I can tell you, is that 99 times out of 100, if you play 56 minutes against this side with 10 men, you are going to lose and you are going to lose by a lot of goals. We are very proud.
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