Mikel Arteta reaction — Arsenal boss on FA Cup shock at Southampton, Gabriel injury, squandered chances
Arsenal’s trophy hopes are down to two after a stunning 2-1 loss to second-tier side Southampton at St. Mary’s on Saturday, and Mikel Arteta said his players failed to “capitalize” and reach the FA Cup semifinal at Wembley Stadium.
The Gunners answered Ross Stewart’s opening strike through substitute Viktor Gyokeres but found themselves behind again when Shea Charles scored late with a precision strike on a counter attack.
MORE — Southampton v Arsenal recap, video highlights
Arsenal lost the League Cup Final to Manchester City but are still in pole position to win the Premier LEague and have a favorable Champions League quarterfinal against Sporting Lisbon beginning this week.
Still, this was not the plan for Arteta as his side also saw Gabriel Magalhaes exit with an apparent injury.
Mikel Arteta reaction — How did Arsenal boss respond to shocking FA Cup exit at Southampton?
full quotes from football.london
How disappointed are you with the team? “Yeah, really disappointed in the manner that we lost the opportunity to get back to Wembley. I think the game had many, many, many periods of dominance from our side when we generated chances, situations. We didn’t capitalize on that enough.”
What can be changed about a team that makes but doesn’t convert so many chances? “I love my players. What they have done for nine months. I’m not going to criticise them because we lost a game here in the manner that they tried. And the way they are putting their bodies through everything. Some of them probably didn’t even have to be here today. I’m not going to do that. I’m going to defend them more than ever.
“Someone has to take responsibility. That’s me and we have the most beautiful period of the season ahead of us. And now is the moment. In the season, you always have moments. Normally two or three. This is the first moment that we have.”
“With a certain level of difficulty, we’re going to say difficulty when we’re going to play the Champions League quarter-finals and the run-up for the league. If this is a difficult period, I believe there are many other ones that are much more difficult. So stand up, make yourself comfortable and deliver like we’ve been doing all season.”
How can Arsenal make sure this down period doesn’t reach Premier League and Champions League? “In the same manner that you have to stop when you win, win, win, win, win, like we’ve been doing so you don’t think that you are better than what you are because you are winning. So, very clear, we talked about that many, many times. You have to be very stable in this competition, in any competition that you play, and especially with the amount of games that we’ve played. And we’ll continue to do that.”
Did unfamiliar lineup hurt Arsenal? “That team had very good moments in certain moments. They should have capitalized and been [on to] Wembley and we haven’t done it.”
What’s most disappointing? “Especially the way we conceded the two goals. We had so much dominance in and around the box. We conceded the first goal in a very unusual way for us, the second one from direct play as well. We had two massive chances and needed to capitalize on that. If you make defending errors we made today it’s very difficult to be in the semi-final.”
Too many errors? “They are part of football, and unfortunately, when we make them [they are in big places].”
Gabriel Magalhaes injury update? “I don’t know. He felt something, we don’t know exactly what it is. But when a player asked to be substituted, it’s not ideal.”
Christian Norgaard reaction — Arsenal midfielder speaks after loss
“It was at times a little bit too chaotic. They were very sharp in transitions which we didn’t manage very well. We had the momentum in the second half especially when we equalized [but] we conceded a very stupid goal from a goal kick which we cannot allow or accept. Very frustrating for us, but already a big game on Tuesday and time for us to show what we are made of.”
On if Arsenal never felt in control: “There were times when we felt in control but there were moments when they really had us. Overall not good enough.”
Did the unusual lineup hurt the performance? “There are no excuses for tonight. It has nothing to do with injuries or availability. We had a really good team on the pitch that should have been competing at a high level.”
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