Post-Ipswich quotes round-up: Arteta, O’Neil, Arteta, Arteta and erm…Deeney
Arsenal made it seven wins from seven with a comfortable 4-2 victory over Ipswich in the Carabao Cup. Max Dowman scored the opener and added another after half-time, while Noni Madueke and Mikel Merino also found the net. The hosts responded through Anis Mehmeti and Chuba Akpom, but the result was wrapped up before the hour mark.
Here’s what the managers, players, pundits and stattos made of the action…
Mikel Arteta on the win…
I’m really pleased with a lot of things that we’ve done tonight – the way we attacked the game, how dominant, fluent and aggressive we were right from the beginning to try to influence the results. We scored two very early goals, which gives us a great platform for the game. And individually some big performances as well. Some debuts tonight, which is great to see as well. So we take a lot of positives from the night.
Source: Post-game press conference
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Ipswich manager Gary O’Neil on the game…
I thought we got punished heavily. They didn’t have loads of shots and when they did, they went in. It was one of those games where you felt like it got away from you really, really quickly without doing too much wrong, [we were] punished heavily for a couple of mistakes. We always looked to threaten. I thought we should have scored in the first half. We had some great opportunities, a couple of 2v2s, 3v2s that don’t end up in shots. But then, obviously, you make a couple of mistakes, you get heavily punished, Arsenal show a couple of moments of quality in the second half, and before you know it, you’re four behind. But not loads and loads in the game. Obviously, they’re a good side, we fought back well, made the scoreline look closer to what it should have been.
Source: Ipswich Town YouTube
Arteta on Dowman’s performance…
Max was brilliant. Some actions made the difference and were outstanding. We know the talent and we have to look after him. The environment around him is really good so step by step. He is only 16 years old and we have to be careful. We don’t want to stop him, but we need to develop him. We’re fully aware of what he needs and he will have full opportunities to play.
Source: Sky Sports
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Arteta on Mikel Merino…
He’s unbelievable. First of all, he’s one of the most intelligent players that I’ve seen and worked with. Then the personality is just full of…I don’t know…he just wants to give to everybody. Hhe thinks about everything. He thinks about everybody. And on top of that, obviously, he has qualities that are unique in football and in our team. His capacity to arrive in the box, his capacity to occupy different places, to play in different positions, to link play with people. And as a midfielder, the ability he has to score goals like tonight is a different one than we’ve seen lately, but another incredible one.
Source: Post-game press conference
Arteta on Arsenal’s attitude towards games…
That’s what we want to, to face every game, every competition with the same mentality, attitude and desire and so far we are doing it.
Source: BBC Radio 5 Live
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Arteta on how pressing can aid Dowman…
The more he plays, the more he trains with us and the more ready he is physically to sustain that level, he will do it. And that will happen in his attacking phase for sure because he will force errors and make mistakes on the opponent and he will then be in a really open situation to exploit his qualities. So he knows that. Today is a big example for him as well and I’m sure that that’s going to trigger even more will for him to do it.
Source: Post-game press conference
Arteta on Marli Salmon…
Really good as well, and it was a really tough match with some of the physicality that they have, and the way they isolate you, and you have to handle. Again, another 17-year-old doing something incredible, so yeah, really proud of him.
Source: Arsenal.com
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Troy Deeney (sorry, we’re feeding off scraps) on Dowman…
I love the way Arteta is handling him, in terms of treating him as a first-team player. You’ve got to earn your minutes, but also understand that this team is really, really good, so it’s hard for him to get in. But what he does as a young player, every time he comes onto the pitch, he impacts the game; he changes it. We’ve all played with younger players; they are up one minute, then down. Their inconsistency is there because they are used to playing week in, week out, but this young man comes in, and the reason you know he’s so special, he impacts the game every time he plays. Unbelievable.
Source: CBS Sports Golazo
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