We have now lost back to back PL games, and failed to score a goal in both of the games. Mikel Arteta thinks the team should have taken the lead in the first half, after we dominated so much.
Alexander Lacazette thought he had given us the lead after heading in a corner, but the officials chucked it off – a decision Mikel Arteta says the officials couldn’t give an explanation for.
Mikel Arteta spoke to the press after the match, and he was visibly dissapointed. Here is what he had to say on the game.
On the performance…
I’m really disappointed, obviously. In the first half, we had the game in our hands, we created enough chances to go in front. We scored a goal and I don’t know how the hell it was disallowed and the second half it was about being patient and waiting for the right moment against a team that wanted to defend really deep. They didn’t have any shots on target and they were just waiting for a mistake to kill us on the break. The moment we made a minimal mistake with no pressure on the ball, trying to step in, they caught us with space at the back and we lost the game.
On whether the referee explained why Lacazette’s goal was disallowed…
No. I asked them and they didn’t say anything.
On the chances we created…
It’s very difficult to create chances against 10 men behind the ball in those spaces. We saw what they did against City and I was expecting them to do it but we had open situations and we should have finished the game better. Then it comes to two or three chances that you’re going to have, set pieces…when you have those moments you have to make the most of them and don’t make any mistakes at the back.
On Leicester coming into the game after the break…
We gave two or three balls away ourselves and gave them a bit of hope and some second balls [too]. Still, I didn’t have the impression that they were creating anything, but you always have the impression when Vardy comes in that at any moment they are going to slide him through and he’s in on goal.
On the way we lost…
At the end of the day, if you can’t win it, you should not lost it. We still had some moments after the goal but we gave too many free-kicks away, we didn’t put the ball in the box enough. It’s something that we have to improve for the future obviously. It’s a hard one to take tonight.
On an opportunity being missed…
Yes, because of the effort the boys put in and the pressure they put Leicester under, they could not get out far, they could not create anything, that’s not an easy thing to do. At the end, we lost the game and there are things that we have to improve.
