Emiliano Martinez reveals how “angry” Mikel Arteta was at half time against Leeds United.
Arsenal beat Leeds 1-0 in their FA Cup game last night, but if the Championship side had been clinical in the first half, the result could have been very different.
Leeds peppered Arsenal’s goal for much of the first half but they couldn’t find a goal and paid for it after the interval.
After a poor first half, Arsenal came out as the best team in the second half and deserved their goal which turned out to be the winner.
It was interesting to see how improved the Gunners were in the second half and Martinez has revealed that it was Arteta’s half time team talk that sparked them to life.
Martinez told the Arsenal website: “They were pressing really hard and it was very difficult to get out how we did in training but in the second half, the manager said, ‘If we don’t win 50/50s, we are going to lose the game.
“The lads went out there and, the gaffer says we need to ‘run like a wolf’ and have that animal side to us. I thought we did really well, we ran like we should have from the first minute. We’re delighted for the win and we move on.
“He was really angry but that’s what we need. We can’t switch off after a good win against Manchester United and I think we did in the first five minutes, we did switch off and that shouldn’t happen, especially at home.”
Even Alexandre Lacazette revealed how impactful Arteta’s half time talk was in their second-half performance.
“The manager shouted a lot,” Lacazette explained. “He was not happy because we knew they’d play like this and we didn’t respect what he had said.
These comments show clearly that Arteta is making a difference, the fact that the players responded to his anger says a lot. I am not sure Unai Emery or even Freddie Ljungberg would have got the same reaction, especially from some of the biggest egos in the dressing room.
Hopefully, this continues, however, the fact that Arteta had to have a go in the first place shows the huge job he still has on his hands.