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Mikel Arteta likely “tore strips” into his Arsenal team at half time in Sunday’s 2-2 draw with Liverpool to trigger their terrific turnaround in the second half, Gunners expert Charles Watts believes.
On the back of a demoralising Champions League semi-final exit to Paris Saint-Germain, optimism should not have been high among travelling supporters for a trip to the champions, where Arne Slot reverted to a full-strength side and Arsenal were without the influential Declan Rice due to injury.
Gooners’ fears appeared to come true when Cody Gakpo and Luis Diaz sent Liverpool into a two-goal advantage early doors, but a switch was flipped in the second half, as Gabriel Martinelli and Mikel Merino incredibly restored parity for the Gunners.
Even after Merino was sent off, Arsenal could have stolen all three points as Martin Odegaard dragged an effort wide late on, before Andy Robertson had a late winner disallowed due to Ibrahima Konate fouling Myles Lewis-Skelly.
Asked by Sports Mole what changed over the two halves, Watts replied: “Arteta tweaked things at half time. You could clearly see by his reaction that he’d absolutely hammered them in the dressing room. He was absolutely furious with what he’d seen in that first half. I’m sure absolutely tore strips into them.
“We saw Gabriel Martinelli and [Leandro] Trossard switch over. Suddenly you had Martinelli getting behind Konate and [Virgil] van Dijk and causing them problems. Ben White really pushed forward on the right-hand side as well, like Timber did in the first half against PSG, and suddenly just swung the momentum and straight away from the start.
“Arsenal were on it and Liverpool weren’t. I think Liverpool were a little bit surprised; they thought it was done and dusted at half time. At any level, it’s pretty hard to flick that switch back on if you’ve turned it off a little bit and suddenly the momentum’s gone.
‘Liverpool thought Arsenal game was done and dusted’
© Imago
“There were a few things that combined to allow it to happen. Arsenal actually started the game okay for 10 minutes, but then it was really unlike Arsenal. The gaps between the midfield and the defenders, there was no defensive line with a four, they were all over the place. Everyone was switched off and half asleep.
“You can’t do that at Anfield. You’ve got to be bang on it. If not, the game’s going to go away from you. And it very nearly did. It was just a really strange game at the end to really sum up how it went.”
Prior to Sunday’s four-goal stalemate, Liverpool had only ever failed to win two Premier League home games when leading by at least two goals at half time, a 2-2 draw with Leicester City in January 2015 and identical result against Newcastle United in April 2016.
Despite masterminding a wonderful comeback in the second 45 minutes, Arteta cut a peeved figure when addressing the media at full time, focusing on the negatives of the first half as opposed to the positives of the second.
The Spaniard interestingly declared that he “hates reaction” and “likes action”, after his gung-ho Arsenal sides of 2022-23 and 2023-24 completed some extraordinary turnarounds against the likes of Bournemouth (3-2), Southampton (3-3) and Luton Town (4-3).
Watts highlighted Arteta’s comments as further evidence of his shift in mentality from chaos to control, and while he was surprised to see the Spaniard tear into his players in the manner that he did, he admitted it was rather refreshing to hear.
“It’s glaringly obvious how Arsenal have tried to shift away from that chaos that we loved for that first surprise season when none of us were expecting a title charge,” he added. “It was just that chaotic, vibrant young team we saw emerge.
‘Arteta’s emotional side came out at Anfield’
© Imago
“It was really fun to watch, but I’m sure for a manager, it was pretty tough. We’ve seen Arteta move away from that. He is much more about control. I thought he was really interesting after the game; given the week Arsenal had, they could have been excused a little bit.
“They could have been given a bit of a pass for struggling, and more often than not, Arteta will give them a pass, especially publicly – probably behind the scenes, he doesn’t – but publicly he will. So to come out the way he did after them coming back and getting a draw, you’d expect him to be like, ‘great for the player, they deserve a lot of credit.’
“But he went down a different route, a route I wasn’t expecting. I liked it. If we want to be the team celebrating the title, we cannot play like we did in the first half, no matter the context. He’s got high standards and he wants his players to adhere to them.
“I thought that post-match stuff was about next season more than anything else. He’s really been emotional the last week. The Champions League has hurt him a lot. He knew that Arsenal could have won it. He knew they were really, really close if things had just gone their way against PSG. And we’ve seen that in him in all of his interviews he’s done since that game.”
Arsenal’s failure to triumph at Anfield means that they have yet to secure a place in the Champions League for next season, but a top-five finish could be virtually guaranteed before they face Newcastle United on Sunday.
Sixth-placed Aston Villa will not be able to overtake the Gunners in the Premier League table if they fail to beat Tottenham Hotspur on Friday, while Nottingham Forest are six points worse off with a significantly inferior goal difference.
Press play on the video above to listen to the full reaction of Arsenal’s draw with Liverpool.
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