‘Coaches, managers, CEOs’ – Mikel Arteta says people have told him they ‘could not believe’ what Arsenal did to Man City | OneFootball

A defiant Mikel Arteta has claimed many people in football “could not believe” his Arsenal side’s dominance against Manchester City on Sunday, following criticism from others towards his team selection.

Arteta opted to change things at half-time of Arsenal’s 1-1 draw, bringing on Ebere Eze for Mikel Merino in midfield, with the £67.5m summer signing setting up fellow substitute Gabriel Martinelli for his side’s late equaliser.

It led many to question why he did not start with the duo over Merino and Leandro Trossard on the left-wing, however.

But Arteta believes the team he named was a very attacking one.

“For sure, you look at the players that we have,” he said when asked if he feels his team was an attacking one.

“Starting from the keeper. A very attacking goalkeeper. The most attacking goalkeeper in the league by far.

“The centre-backs, in one phase the most attacking one. The two full-backs, you look at every stat, that’s it. Zubimendi.

“We play, on the right-hand side, with an attacking midfielder who played as a nine last year (Merino). So, how attacking that is. A nine playing in midfield, I haven’t seen it in the league. An attacking midfielder that was a nine.

“And three front players that are very much attacking, so I think we have a lot of different qualities in our attacking players, some of them more talented in some areas than others in relation to the game that we play.”

The criticism from pundits, media and supporters has not gone unnoticed by Arteta following his side’s draw. Sky Sports pundit and former Manchester United title-winner Gary Neville labelled Arteta’s side a “one trick pony” and claimed they are too reliant on set-pieces.

Fellow pundit Jamie Carragher also said Arsenal played “with the handbrake on” in the first half of their clash with City.

But Arteta insists he has had several positive comments about his side’s performance too.

“To convince somebody that feels that way of something else, I cannot spend that energy on that,” he said.

“I think you look at the winning record of this football club, the goals that we’ve scored, the clean sheets that we have, the way we played, the way we played against Manchester City, the territory we played with against Manchester City.

“And the intention of those comments, which ones are they? Good ones? Positive? To be better for us? Not to be so good for us? So it depends where the comment is coming from I think. That’s when I can analyse it to see what is the intention, what is the purpose of that?

“I had a lot of things, on my phone, who could not believe what we did to Manchester City. People who are coaches, managers, CEOs, presidents. So proud, and I look at the players and the people around (the club).”