Every word from Mikel's post-Newcastle presser

After our controversial loss to Newcastle, Mikel Arteta headed to the press room inside St James' Park to tackle questions from the media.

The boss was asked about the winning goal, the performance of his players and how he'll raise spirits after a tough week that brought back-to-back defeats.

Here is everything he had to say:

on Newcastle's goal:

We have to talk about the result because you have to talk about how they help these goals stand up, and it's incredible. I feel embarrassed. But I have to be the one now coming here to try to defend the club and please ask for help because it’s an absolute disgrace that this goal is allowed, it’s an absolute disgrace.

Because it’s not a goal, for many reasons it’s not a goal, for more than one reason at least it’s not a goal. And there’s too much at stake here, we put in so much effort, and it's so difficult to compete at this level. And it's an absolute disgrace. Again, I feel embarrassed, I've be more than 20 years in this country, and this is nowhere near the level to describe this as the best league in the world. I am sorry.

on the fact the goal was checked for three potential infringements:

That makes it even worse, makes it look even worse, it makes it even worse. You just need to see one image, that’s what you need, and you have any doubt you look at the second one. And if this is a goal, okay, that's fine. I don’t care honestly, I don’t care what they say. It’s the outcome. It's too late, whatever they say is too late. I don't want to be in the hands of people.

on refereeing decisions in the first half:

The penalty on Eddie, there are a lot of things. We cannot continue.

on which of the three potential infringements could have led to Newcastle's goal being disallowed:

This is really the question guys, the question is it’s not a goal it’s simple it’s not a goal. Simple. For a goal to be allowed there are certain things prior to that, that the ball hitting one metre from the goal that are not allowed in football, in football in here in China, in Japan, in Spain, in Italy, and in Portugal, they are not allowed. That's what happens.



on if an apology from the Premier League would be of any use:

I have to stand here now and explain, And we lost three points today, guys. You know what that means? It’s too hard, this league, it’s too hard, there is too much at stake. It's embarrassing.

on how the boss will pick the players up after today's result:

I have to praise them, it’s not in their hands it’s not in their control. I have to praise the players the way they play here, and what they did and how much they limited Newcastle to what they did and how much we tried. It's incredible. Honestly,

on William Saliba and Kai Havertz's performances:

So much. It’s incredible the way these guys play with 20-years, 21-years-old, the way they play here, the way they compete against this team because they are a top team. Incredible. So to get a game out of that like this, I feel sick. That's how I feel. I feel sick to be part of this.