Every word from Mikel’s post-Brighton presser | Press conference | News

Not long after our 1-1 draw with Brighton at the Amex Stadium, Mikel Arteta was in the press conference room handling questions from the media.

He was asked about our performance, Brighton’s penalty, our squad’s fitness and more.

Here’s a full transcript:

on the team’s performance and the penalty:
First of all on the game, this is a really tough place to come. I think we started the game well and in the first half scored a great goal and didn’t really concede anything. But in the second half, we dropped our standards and level with the ball, giving too many balls away. That never allowed us really to generate momentum and dominance in the game to control and go for the second goal. And without really conceding much apart from that transition moment with Minteh, [the penalty] becomes a decision that is very, very disappointing. 

on why Ethan Nwaneri came off:
He felt some muscular issue.

on receiving bookings for delayed corners and throw-ins:
We can improve that, certainly.

on the penalty decision:
I’ve never seen a decision like this in my career. I asked the boys if they have and nobody has seen it before. When you look at the incident, the distance, the player, Joao Pedro touching the ball and Saliba touching the ball. You can see contact there.

on whether he’s received an explanation from the officials:
Oh, yes. yeah. He said, yeah, we’ll have a look at it. 

on whether it’s more painful to drop points over a controversial penalty decision:
There are two things. First of all, the things that we must do better, can do better and that we can control. And then obviously there’s all the things that are not in our hands, unfortunately, and can have a huge impact on the game.

on whether we need a similar run to this time last year:
Well, yes, but I mean, the run that we are in. Especially with all the situations, injuries, illnesses and players that we are missing. I think the team deserves a lot of credit. It’s disappointing because it’s not how much we wanted. The effort we put in today was more about the freshness and the quality that we have to deliver in the second half to dominate the game much better. But I understand that a lot.

on illness in the squad:
Kai tried but he really was very honest and said: ‘I can’t even train, I’m not feeling good at all’. We tried yesterday to see if he could train and he tried his best but he wasn’t able to do that. Martin didn’t train and said ‘I will see how I feel tomorrow’ and he did his best to be here because we know the numbers that we have.

on whether we struggled to regain control today:
No I think we ended the game better. I think in the last 10 minutes or so we had a feeling that we could generate something and we were more on top but there was a period that was uncomfortable with some players playing in different positions that doesn’t feel natural and not having the capacity to freshen it up. But again that’s down to us and we can do better.

on whether we need a new signing in the January window:
Obviously we cannot make a decision based on one performance on one day where there are a lot of circumstances – not only the players that were lost, but the sub to take Ethan out, the one with Martin is introduced for very limited time. Hopefully on Tuesday we will be in a better position, let’s see.

on why we only had nine shots today:
You cannot rely just on one player to work. I think the process in the second half, especially we lack certain things and it’s normal because the fluidity that we have in certain areas with the players we have is not the same. But certainly it’s something we can do much better and that’s on us.

on whether we earned the right to win the game:
The defensive part I think we did a lot of great things. With the ball, we should’ve done better and without them creating much because they haven’t. It was a really tight game, and there was not enough to win it.