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There was plenty to discuss in the manager’s post-match press conference at the Etihad Stadium.
Mikel Arteta was asked about his team’s performance, their defensive record, the state of the Premier League table and more.
Here’s the full transcript…
On his thoughts on the game…
It was an exciting game, a very difficult game with a very demanding opponent, but I think we performed very well. Defensively, I thought we performed well. We’ve got to go and put them under pressure higher up the pitch – I thought we were really good and caused a lot of difficulty. When they’re good, they get you down here and it’s hard to get out of that, they lose a lot of guys and I thought we did a good job of stopping the gaps and that’s what’s hard about it. This is the first time in three years that they haven’t scored at home, so they are a good team. The downside is that we had some big situations where we needed to score and we didn’t take full advantage of them, the next step is to be more clinical with the ball and especially attack better in the first phase.
Two clean sheets against Manchester City made me proud…
Huge – it’s extremely difficult to do that, but it tells you a lot about the commitment of each player, the discipline they show and how they compete.On the one hand it’s playing football, on the other hand it’s competition [in] it. We did a very, very good job against this team today.
On whether this is a good result for the title race…
I have no idea. You want to win games and we’re ready to win games. If you can’t win the game, make sure we draw, we did. Eleven months ago we came here and things were very different and you have to continue to take action as a team and try to improve and today we have done that. We have more to do.
On whether today’s results show how far we’ve progressed since our last visit…
I think our backgrounds and ways of getting here are also different, but the difficulties remain the same. I went on to say that in my opinion they are by far the best team in the world, with the best coach in the world by far and we have to catch up and try to be better than them and that is the challenge we face.
On whether Bukayo Saka was okay when he came off…
Well, as you know, he’s been out for a couple of weeks because there’s been some little problem and he’s tired. Right now, he’s not training yet. He trained the day before the game – he made a big contribution, but today’s 90 minutes was too long for him.
On how we adapted to the poorer possession of the game…
Pregame clarification: Are you ready to follow 30 passes? After following the ball 30 times and passing the ball, then following the ball 30 times after losing the ball? Yes, then you can play against Manchester City. This is very important – if you’re not ready to do this, you can’t compete with them.
On what today’s results can bring us in terms of running-in…
Obviously, it creates belief, it continues momentum, and the good position we’re in. The fact that the boys were out there, they wanted more, they demanded more of themselves individually, they could have done better and we haven’t done as well as we trained to do. That tells you how much they want it and we’re going to try our best to keep doing what we’re doing.
On whether we can expect Manchester City’s game plan today…
You have a choice, everything is in your hands. When they start putting players out, they can put a winger inside for the goalkeeper and the attacking midfielder, they can put a full-back inside, a center back inside, and you want to follow those seven or eight players inside and let Haaland one-on-one, it’s your choice. If you win, great! If you don’t, you’ll know what’s going on and you’ll have to attack the clearing, so their ranks are very weak.
This result illustrates our development since last season…
We’re improving, we’re competing better, we’re understanding how you have to play these games, but there are more steps to go through to win a championship and you have to come out here and win. We were able to draw today, we still need to improve a lot to do that.
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