Arteta calls for 'fire in the belly' and calm heads after Arsenal quadruple dream dies
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WEMBLEY STADIUM, LONDON — After watching the Carabao Cup final against Manchester City and, by extension, a shot at quadruple immortality slip away from Arsenal, a visibly dejected Mikel Arteta knew the constituency he needed to address.
Sure, he mentioned his players. As he later pointed out, they've motored through 50 games this term to arrive at the point where history might be on the horizon.
As Arsenal manager, Arteta did not just need to pick up his dressing room; he needed to pick up a large and voluble fanbase, among whom emotion must remain a fuel for the team and not become corrosive after this setback.
"Very sad, it's a hard one to take, especially for our players and our supporters," he said. "We know how much it means to them, how much we want it. And the fact we haven't managed to deliver that obviously leaves you disappointed and sad, and leaves you with a bad taste."
MORE:How Nico O'Reilly stole the show in the Carabao Cup final
This meant a lot to Arsenal fans, who arrived early in their droves. One discerning commentator remarked it felt like an Arsenal home game on Wembley Way, albeit it's easier to come and hang around in north-west London when you're making the short hop from north London and not grappling with the M6 or trains to Euston.
Still, the difference in enthusiasm before the match from the two fanbases was not just a matter of geography. Arsenal had reached the Champions League quarterfinals by dispatching Bayer Leverkusen with the minimum of fuss in a midweek when City endured their latest miserable ordeal against Real Madrid.
Arsenal lead City by nine points, having played a game more, in a Premier League title battle that you'd call a race if it had ever broken into anything more taxing than a tentative jog. It might do now. Perhaps City's deserved win courtesy of left-back Nico O'Reilly's quickfire second-half brace will expose cracks in the edifice that many presume are there.
The thing is, heading into this weekend, there was no real reason to presume Arsenal might be "bottlers". Arteta has done much to move them away from the callow outfit led by Arsene Wenger that City swept aside in 2018 to win his first trophy in English football. He now has 19.
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There was also no reason to presume a City squad overhauled so comprehensively since last January might produce the sort of possession football that dazzles as it suffocates, as Guardiola's best sides did. And yet…
"In the second half, in the first 18-20 minutes, we struggled to get out from that block [Erling Haaland and Rayan Cherki blocking off passing options to Martin Zubimendi], to press them better and to manage the ball when we regained it. Then we conceded the goal in a really unexpected manner and two minutes later they scored another one in similar conditions to that.
"That's something where you have to give credit to the opposition as well, when they have this period and they capitalised on that. We had our periods and we didn't and we have to accept that."
MORE:Arsenal can still have a famous season — but they've thrown history away
This is a version of the game to be spun, if you squint. City made the most of their period on top; Arsenal didn't. O'Reilly took his chances, the first gift-wrapped by a hapless moment from Kepa Arrizabalaga; Riccardo Calafiori drilled inches wide and substitute Gabriel Jesus hit the top of the crossbar.
But the reality is that City started turning the screw after the half hour. Cherki and Jeremy Doku offered an effervescence in possession that Arsenal lacked, with Eberechi Eze and Martin Odegaard sidelined. Piero Hincapie was struggling against Antoine Semenyo, having been booked for needlessly clattering into Matheus Nunes. City were able to zero in on that point of weakness down the Arsenal left early in the second half. This might be a largely new team, but Rodri and Bernardo Silva bending the action to their will must have felt grimly familiar for the red-clad hordes whose songs began to stick in their throats. North London for 45 minutes.
"We have to have some perspective on what this team has done in the last eight months. It has been incredible," Arteta added. "And we're going to use this disappointment and this fire in the belly to have the most amazing two months that we have ever had together.
"I wouldn't mean to the mentality part [when critiquing the performance], especially when you lose or draw a game to go through that. I think it's too easy; that's my opinion."
Arteta won't go there, to the mental toughness of a squad he feels is beyond question. But others will, not least when Arsenal visit a probably baying Etihad Stadium a month from now. That fire in the belly must be harnessed and not allowed to blaze destructively out of control.