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Arteta: “First of all, congratulate Man United for the victory. “I think we star…
Arteta: “First of all, congratulate Man United for the victory.
“I think we started the game really well. The first half and hour we’re very dominant, playing the areas that we wanted, scored a goal, had two fantastic chances to score another one. And after that, we gave them the goal, which errors are part of football, very unlikely, unlike us.
“But we gave them the goal and hope, and that shifted the energy because from then to halftime, we really struggled, especially to keep the ball in the right areas after regaining the ball, what we had to do and the game became a little bit open and without the dominance of the first half.
“And after that, in the second half, well, they have two brilliant goals, some individual quality and magic moment in big games.
“That’s a good example of that but with the changes, I think we managed to shift the energy, scored the second goal, and you could feel that everything changed and the game was there to go and win it.
“In the next action, Noni [Madueke] is 1v1 in the six yard box. We don’t get anything out of that. It goes to a goal kick, they close the structure. One pass, win the duel, and Cunha puts it in the perfect angle to lose all the momentum, all the good energy that we were building up and to go and win the game for them.
“So, yeah, very, very disappointed, obviously, but it’s a moment, especially after losing, and the joy and everything that those players are giving us, and me in particular. To take my self-responsibility and be very close to them because it’s exactly what they deserve.”
“I think we started the game really well. The first half and hour we’re very dominant, playing the areas that we wanted, scored a goal, had two fantastic chances to score another one. And after that, we gave them the goal, which errors are part of football, very unlikely, unlike us.
“But we gave them the goal and hope, and that shifted the energy because from then to halftime, we really struggled, especially to keep the ball in the right areas after regaining the ball, what we had to do and the game became a little bit open and without the dominance of the first half.
“And after that, in the second half, well, they have two brilliant goals, some individual quality and magic moment in big games.
“That’s a good example of that but with the changes, I think we managed to shift the energy, scored the second goal, and you could feel that everything changed and the game was there to go and win it.
“In the next action, Noni [Madueke] is 1v1 in the six yard box. We don’t get anything out of that. It goes to a goal kick, they close the structure. One pass, win the duel, and Cunha puts it in the perfect angle to lose all the momentum, all the good energy that we were building up and to go and win the game for them.
“So, yeah, very, very disappointed, obviously, but it’s a moment, especially after losing, and the joy and everything that those players are giving us, and me in particular. To take my self-responsibility and be very close to them because it’s exactly what they deserve.”