Mikel Arteta Reviews Martin’s Performance against Chelsea

After seeing his side draw 1-1 against Chelsea, Mikel Arteta headed to the press conference room at Stamford Bridge to tackle questions from the journalists in attendance.

He spoke about topics including

Here is everything he had to say:

on the result:
Disappointed with the result because I think we deserved more and at the same time very proud of the team, the way we played here against this opponent, in this stadium, they have battered every opponent here and obviously it wasn’t the case today. But after doing the most difficult thing, scoring the first goal, very disappointed with how we conceded the goal, nowhere near the standards, our defensive habits, how we allowed that and the moment you allow that space and time to any of their players with the quality they have you’re going to get punished, so that’s not bad luck.

But in the end, the team showed its teeth, how much they wanted it, they took risks, full determination, put Chelsea under every problem. We were very aggressive, we created three big chances and unfortunately we weren’t able to put the ball in the net to win and I think the team deserves it.

on Martin Odegaard’s performance:
I don’t know any other player in the league that is capable of doing that after six weeks out, he had a day and a half, a training and a half. Just physically and mentally to be connected the way he was with the team is unbelievable.

on dropping points from winning positions:
That is not very much like us but I think today on that sense the way we conceded we have to fault ourselves and that’s something that we certainly have to do better, especially when you are not scoring two or three goals at the moment, as we are not.

on where today’s result leaves us:
There is nothing we can change today about that. What I am just praying is that after the international break I have the team fully equipped physically, they are available and they are fit because it has been an absolute nightmare for eight weeks. Issue after issue, not only the ones that are not able to play, but the ones that are able to play only for certain moments, only for certain days, not able to train. So I’m just asking that because the team, the desire that they have and how much we want it, there’s no question about that. So, it’s going to come, we just need that on our side to be able to be more consistent.

on if our performance was a step in the right direction:
Today was about winning and how you perform and against Inter we were much better than them, 100%, I’ve watched it back twice and I’m more convinced about that. Today I think we deserved more but this is football, the margins are so small so you cannot give anything to the opponent.

on Bukayo and Declan’s fitness:
It doesn’t look good because two players of that importance tell you that they cannot continue in the game, so it obviously isn’t good news.

on if they’ll go on international duty:
Two players that have just come off? I don’t expect them to be fit, because if they were, they wouldn’t have come off.

on what we need to do to bridge the gap on the frontrunners:
Win, win and win because these guys, they don’t stop winning, so that’s what we have to do.

on if we’ve had to dig in with all the circumstances:
When it gets nasty, show your teeth and show how much you want it. When it’s Disneyland, it’s easy, everyone is next to you and telling you how beautiful you are and when it gets dark and difficult, everyone is questioning it. That’s when I want to see people, that’s when I’m always looking around, who’s going to step in that role, yes or no.

on if he has spoken to Martin about international duty:
I haven’t spoken to the player yet. I will speak to him and then I’ll tell you what I prefer.

on finding the right formula to score goals:
Well we don’t put the chances away and some other times, we haven’t had that determination inside the box to make it happen. We are just hoping that it’s going to happen, which is something that’s very different in football. Certainly, the team is in the right direction, that team doesn’t do that because I haven’t seen any team against Inter Milan do what we’ve done today here, so we have to transform it into winning matches.