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What Mikel Arteta said in ‘aggressive’ half-time team talk that sparked Arsenal’s win over Leeds

Arteta gave his players a dressing down at the interval and saw them put in an improved display in the second half

Mark Mann-Bryans
Tuesday 07 January 2020 13:02 GMT
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Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta reacts with Nicolas Pepe and Mesut Ozil
Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta reacts with Nicolas Pepe and Mesut Ozil

Mikel Arteta‘s aggressive half-time wake-up call to his Arsenal players was praised by match-winner Reiss Nelson as the Gunners edged past Leeds in the FA Cup on Monday night.

Arsenal were second-best for much of the opening 45 minutes and the visitors wasted a number of fine opportunities to take the lead.

Instead, Arteta gave his players a dressing down at the interval and saw them put in an improved display in the second half, with Nelson’s tap-in securing a 1-0 win and a trip to Bournemouth in round four.

Alexandre Lacazette revealed after the game that Arteta – taking charge of just his fourth game having been appointed head coach last month – “shouted a lot”, while Arteta himself admitted he had got angry at his charges.

But Nelson, who has started all-but one match under Arteta, feels it is a positive that the Spaniard can take on the roles of both good cop and bad cop in the changing room.

“I think that’s good,” the 20-year-old said when asked about Arteta shouting at half-time. “I think as a coach you always need to have the aggressive side and obviously the side where you give love as well.

“In training he is always asking us to press with passion and play with purpose. I think we saw that at times. We played out wide, we played through the middle and it was all going on.

“In the second half we played with a real purpose. The team came out in the second half ready to go and I think we showed that we could create a lot of chances. He (Arteta) just said that we weren’t playing the way we should be playing. Mikel is a manager that wants to play with a purpose.

“He said we needed to be more aggressive and I think we did that in the second half. We showed more fight and character. We went out and did what we were supposed to do.”

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