Mikel Arteta is a happy man. After seeing his Arsenal side beat archrivals Manchester United 3-1 at the Emirates, he will be going to this international break in high spirits.
Arsenal got their two winning goals in injury time, and although they won, and a win is a win, that win worries Arteta.
The Spaniard isn’t comfortable with his team winning in extra time, instead noting that he prefers his team winning games convincingly and scoring goals early in games. The fact is that both Kai Havertz and Bukayo Saka missed great chances long before we got anywhere near added time.
When asked if he’s haapy we won late in the game, the Boss replied: “I prefer that Bukayo Saka puts it in the net a lot earlier. A team needs different tools to win matches,” Arteta said via Arsenal.com.
The Arsenal manager clearly appreciates his team’s ability to score late goals, but he knows it won’t always work. His desire for his team to score early and win games comfortably is valid; he has every quality in his squad to dismantle any team. Why should they even be in the title race if they can’t dismantle every obstacle?
The Spaniard though is clearly delighted with how his team put up a fight against Manchester United, acknowledging their determination. He added, “I love the mentality of the team, the determination, the eagerness to win and go and go and go. We never give up. Obviously, we gave them the first goal in a situation that we discussed.
“They kill you if you do that, and we did, but we reacted straight away, and I think, overall, over the 100 minutes, the team was very dominant and deserved to win the game, but to be fair, the margins with this team are so small, and it could have gone in a different way.”
As Arsenal fans, we are certainly used to having our hearts in our mouths right up until the final minute, but I am sure we all agree with Arteta that we would rather start scoring goals a lot earlier!
Sam P
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